APA NPC24 - Chillin' in Minnesota

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Each year my excitement for the upcoming APA National Planning Conference (NPC24) starts to build in January. That’s when registration opens and I start planning for my time at the conference.

Although I’ve been to Minneapolis/St. Paul quite a few times, it’s mainly been to visit a friend in the suburbs and go to a Twins game. But now it is time to immerse myself in what the downtown area has to offer. Minneapolis as a whole has a vibrant arts and culture scene. But I’m also looking forward to checking out the extensive Skyway system. But of course, there’s the food. The wide array of food. Including Scandinavian food like Swedish meatballs and one of my grandmother’s specialties, lefse.

NPC24 is Hybrid

Once again, this year’s conference is a hybrid event. For those who cannot attend in person, the American Planning Association has decided to offer online sessions as well. But I’m “All In” and ready to go.

There are a few that have piqued my interest, though they might not be based on rural communities, they may have aspects that could be helpful to us on the rural side:

Nightlife Planning: More Than Fun and Games
Metrics and Measuring Success in Comprehensive Planning
Big Impact. High Visibility. A Regional Planning Story
Preventing the Extinction of Small Farms Through Planning
Improving Digital Zoning Codes: Focus on Customer Experience
Connecting Parks to Housing and Housing to Parks
From NIMBY to YIMBY: A Downtown Housing Transformation
Implementing Innovation Districts: From Vision to Reality Post-COVID
Using Scenarios to Plan for Hazards
Streetscapes as Canvas: Memphis’ Artistic Mobility Playbook
Realizing Housing in Small Towns
Leveraging Federal Funds in a Food Desert

This year, it appears that the online version includes a few sessions with linkages to rural planning as well:

Plan Now for Just-in-Time (JIT) Post-Disaster Recovery Training
Tuning In: Understanding Music in Your City
Small Town Urbanism: Plans, Politics and People
Dynamic Downtowns at Various Scales
Transit Transforming-A Case Study in Small City Needs

Much like last year, I’ll do a follow-up post on what went down, what I learned, and what readers might see more about in the coming months due to the conference.

Looking forward to munching on a Juicy Lucy and discussing some rural planning.

Be sure to follow Rural Resurrection on Twitter as I’ll likely post a few times during the event.