Renaissance is thrilled to have strong representation at this year’s National Planning Conference (NPC) for the American Planning Association (APA). Staff members Kate Ange, Caroline Dwyer, AICP, Alex Bell, and Kohl Malo, AICP will be participating in person and virtually.
Renaissance conducted a Healthy People, Healthy places workshop in Nogales, AX at the US-Mexico border.
An image from the last in-person NPC in 2019. We presented on EPA’s Healthy Places for Healthy People with community participants from Monett, MO; Wenatchee, WA; and Montgomery-Smithers, WV.
On April 30, Project Manager Caroline Dwyer, AICP and President Kate Ange will participate in a session for the conference in San Diego, California. Their session, Crossing the Line: Womxn, Planning, and Border Cities, uses Tijuana (located just south of San Diego) as a case study for the social, economic, political, and environmental challenges faced by women living in border cities. Caroline and Kate draw from previous experience working nationwide on engagement with a focus on women’s issues related to walkability, livability, and community revitalization. Other panelists will dive into the systemic issues contributing to the sex trafficking, economic exploitation, and gendered violence in border cities. Combined, these perspectives help reinforce solidarity in continuing to develop a strong equity lens in planning.
Additionally, Kohl Malo, AICP – who serves APA as the Board’s Student Representatives Council Chair – is working with the APA Students Council on three in-person events for students and emerging planners: a mentor match event, an emerging planner social, and a student session for learning what students need in a rapidly evolving world. Students and emerging planners can stay up to date on these events via the APA young professionals LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8262811/.
Finally, to accommodate those who cannot travel to the in-person conference, APA is offering a robust virtual program featuring exciting speakers and unique, future-oriented sessions. For the May 19 session Trail Blazing a ‘Path to Equity’ session, Alex Bell will discuss how multimodal accessibility analysis can provide a reliable framework for defining and addressing equity needs highlighting work he has been leading in Richmond, Virginia.