American Planning Association

Penny Wise, Pound Fuelish: New Measures of Housing + Transportation Affordability July 20, 2010 Under the traditional definition of housing affordability, seven out of 10 U.S. communities are considered "affordable" to the typical household. But in almost all metro regions of the country, when the definition of affordability includes both housing and transportation costs, the number of communities affordable to households earning the area median income decreases significantly. The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has developed the Housing+Transportation (H+T) Index to address this shortcoming. The index is a publicly available database that demonstrates the transportation costs associated with a home's location thereby providing a more accurate measure of a community's affordability. Peter Haas from CNT provided an overview of the H+T Index, key findings, its public policy applications, and reported on related federal policy initiatives.

More Smiles, Less Miles May 11, 2010 Transportation is a major consideration when planning a region, city, suburb, or even a town center. It has become increasingly common for plans to discuss greenhouse gas emissions in addition to traffic congestion. The good news is that every day, more people are riding clean, riding less, and riding together. This means that millions are spending less on gasoline, helping our country become energy secure, and reducing emissions. John Addison, author of the book Save Gas, Save the Planet, discussed how planners, government leaders, and engaged citizens can help create vibrant and sustainable communities through rail, bus rapid transit, last miles solutions to make transit accessible, bicycle and walking mode shifts, electric and high mileage cars, transportation demand management programs, and smart growth initiatives that include transit oriented development.

This podcast features Scott Shuford, AICP, Planning and Development Director of Onslow County, North Carolina, Suzanne Rynne, AICP, Manager of APA's Green Communities Research Center, and Jan Mueller, Senior Policy Associate with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the three coauthors of PAS report 558, Planning for a New Energy and Climate Future. Listen as they discuss the various regional effects of climate change, different approaches to mitigation and adaptation, and how different communities are reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions while exploring ways to increase renewable energy opportunities.

Chicago's Central Area Action Plan April 20, 2010 Over the past decade, the central six square miles of Chicago have undergone a dramatic transformation with unprecedented growth in both the residential and educational sectors as well as the construction of new public facilities and museums (most notably the opening of Millennium Park and the modern wing of the Art Institute on the north side of Grant Park). The 2003 Central Area Plan provided a broad framework for new infrastructure and open space projects as well as a basis for Zoning Reform in 2004, and the 2009 Central Area Action Plan builds on this framework. The public projects are prioritized and quantified and growth projections updated to reflect current market conditions. The CAAP takes as a given that the majority of new construction will be by the private sector, but that key public improvements will facilitate this investment and improve the quality of life for everyone who lives, works, or plays in the core of this world city. Benet Haller

Clear As Mud Hear authors Rob Olshansky and Laurie Johnson discuss their new release Clear As Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans. Olshansky and Johnson discuss how Hurricane Katrina differed from other international disasters and their experience in tracking the rebuilding of New Orleans.

The Evolution of Our Suburbs March 16, 2010 For the last few decades the Chicago region has been suburbanizing with little regard to energy use, climate change, and urban form. The relentless pursuit of property tax revenue and a focus on single uses and single-site developments distracts many suburban communities from the task of planning for a sustainable and livable built environment. As planners, what should be our approach to the future of our suburbs? Can we afford to continue the growth and development patterns of the past few decades? Are there new growth patterns and new development tools that we can get ready now to be prepared for a different future? Mahender Vasandani from M Square Urban Design shared thoughts on these and other questions in an effort to start a dialogue among planners about where we go from here and how.

Food and Planning in New Orleans Among the many things New Orleans is famous for is its food. Increasingly, that food is locally grown. Vanessa Ulmer, the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator with the Prevention Research Center at Tulane University, joined Broadcast APA to talk about local food, fighting obesity, and citywide polices that increase food access. She also gives listeners tips on where to eat in New Orleans — all of which are included in the New Orleans Food System Guide, compiled by APA's Planning & Community Health Research Center.

Visiting Fellowship in New Zealand In 2008, Center Manager Jim Schwab, AICP, was invited by the Centre for Advanced Engineering in New Zealand (CAENZ), located at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, to serve as a Visiting Fellow, studying New Zealand hazards planning and offering consultation on national hazards policy. Schwab's trip lasted three weeks from July 25 to August 15, 2008, during which time he traveled the country, delivering seven different lectures and seminars, including presentation at the Australasian Natural Hazards Conference and to a joint meeting of staff members of the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management. A year later, in October 2009, Kristin Hoskin, who had managed Jim's itinerary for CAENZ, visited APA in Chicago, where she delivered a presentation and was interviewed for a podcast.

Updates on government planning policy

New Book Sounds Death Knell for Suburbs Media Briefing Presentation CHICAGO — The suburbs are in a fragile state and it is only going to get worse. The recent foreclosure crisis has masked the true, underlying problems facing U.S. suburbs. These are basic structural problems that will not vanish with a global economic recovery. Foreclosing the Dream: How America's Housing Crisis Is Reshaping Our Cities and Suburbs, published by the American Planning Association (APA), is the first book to look beyond financial manipulations to understand what truly fueled the foreclosure crisis and what it means for the future of suburbs and cities. According to the book: Higher rates of foreclosures in new suburbs and exurbs compared to lower rates in cities show that the American Dream is changing. The number of households in the 30 to 45 age group has declined by 3.4 million since 2000 and this has reduced demand for large suburban houses. The stereotypical "white flight exodus" from central cities has been reversed in

Post-Katrina Demographics Estimating the population of New Orleans was a tricky business in the months — and years — after Hurricane Katrina. With the 2010 Census coming up, planner Rafe Rabalais talks about what the official decennial count means for the city, shifts in local demographics since the August 2005 storm, and the tool his company developed to track the resettlement of New Orleans.

Beyond Burnham February 23, 2010 Since the publication of Burnham and Bennett's Plan of Chicago in 1909, powerful institutions such as the Chicago Plan Commission and Regional Transportation Authority, among others, have emerged to promote metropolitan goals in the Chicago region. In their new illustrated book on the topic, Joseph Schwieterman and Alan Mammoser show how the human face of planning appears in the interplay between public officials and citizen advocates. Schwieterman and Mammoser shared how a century of visionary planning for metropolitan Chicago has shaped the region's identity and character. From Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett's famed 1909 Plan of Chicago to the push for superhighways and airports to battles over urban sprawl, they described the big personalities and the "big plans" they espoused.

Data Mining on Federal Websites January 26, 2010 Since the late 1990s, planners have grown to rely on the rapid exchange of information and enhanced data analysis tools enabled by sophisticated computing power. With this proliferation of information and technology, planners need practical strategies for making sense of electronic information. John Shuler, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Rana Salzmann, from APA, discussed how to use the Web to find relevant planning information efficiently and commented on how the Internet's reach has changed the practice of planning through the expansion of digital government services.

Green Community Energy (Part II) In this episode, listen to Green Community contributors Erica Heller, AICP, and Mark Heller, AICP.