Reimagining Planning is a monthly series of public webinars that focuses on the edge of innovation in urban planning and policy. Traditionally Urban Planning has had a long legacy of harming communities of color, developing and implementing racist policies, and destruction of the built environment. This series openly critiques this current iteration of urban planning in the hopes of proposing new theories, strategies, and concepts that help us arrive at an iteration of the field where we all belong. We are interested in helping foster meaningful conversations among urban planners hungry for more and to engage with new audiences that have always been curious about urban planning but may not know what exactly do urban planners do.
Upcoming events:
Webinar 8: Planning for (dyspotian) Futures | Dec 12, 11 - 12:30 PM PT
Amidst global wars, the inevitable and forthcoming climate catastrophes, an ongoing and ever changing economic crisis, we must ask ourselves what is the future of planning? What are we planning for? For whom? This webinar seeks to answer these questions and problematize the role of the urban planner as we prepare for uncertain futures.
Speakers:
Rachel Hatch serves as Chief Operating Officer of Institute for the Future, whose mission is to help organizations, communities, and leaders become future-ready. For more than 55 years, IFTF has pursued a vision of a world that systematically harnesses futures thinking to steer toward more equitable and sustainable societies. Community-based foresight is a passion area for Rachel, including current research on how people living with low-income are facing climate futures first, as an input to the state’s 5th Climate Assessment. In 2024, Rachelhas launched IFTF’s Future-Ready Regions Fellowship program, and has recently led projects on the future of affordable housing with Neighbor Works, future of land use with 1000 Friends of Oregon, and future of community colleges with Frederick Community College.
Angela Brooks is the Director of the Illinois office of the Corporation for Supportive Housing. She currently serves on the Chicago Board of Zoning Appeals, the Illinois Affordable Housing Advisory Commission, and is co-chair of the national Housing Supply Accelerator helping communities meet the housing needs of residents. Brooks is a native of Seattle and a graduate of Jackson State University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies, and the University of New Orleans, where she received a Master of Urban And Regional Planning. An active member of APA since graduate school, Brooks has held numerous leadership positions in the Housing and Community Development Division, Planning and the Black Community Division, Diversity Task Force, Washington Chapter, and co-chair of the Housing Policy Guide. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Incorporated.
Connie Razza is the Executive Director of Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project (SEJ), a movement utility that provides progressive leaders space to plan along a longer time horizon that they otherwise are able to, to prepare to meet conditions beyond our control, and to practice responding to crisis and opportunity across organizational lines. Before joining SEJ, Connie built the strategic research department and served as chief of campaigns at the Center for Popular Democracy. She also served as the vice president of policy & research at Demos, a senior policy analyst for health issues at the New York City Council, and a union organizer and strategic research campaigner.
Past events:
Webinar 1: State of The Practice, April 4
Webinar 2: Arts and Cultural Strategies in Urban Planning, May 2
Webinar 3: Embodiment and Urban Planning, June 3
Webinar 4: Advocacy In Urban Planning, July 11
Webinar 5: Urban Planning and its Relationship to Land, August 8
Webinar 6: Urban Planning and its Relationship to Economics, September 12
Webinar 7: Belonging and Urban Planning, October 11.
All of the previous webinars are available to watch at this archive page.