Podcast
American Planning Association
Hosted by American Planning Association · EN
Welcome to the American Planning Association Podcast. This is your source for discussions, interviews, and lectures on a multitude of planning topics.
14episodes
Episodes
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Connecting Communities: Rural Solutions for Transportation Challenges
Mar 2100:52:33Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Critical Conversations in Transportation Planning, co-hosts Divya Gandhi and Em Hall spoke with Luke Van Denend, Outreach Coordinator at AECOM, and Zoe Miller, MPH, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Moving Maine Network, for a wide-ranging discussion focused on rural Transportation Demand Management (TDM) and mobility access. The conversation explores how rural communities require fundamentally different approaches to TDM than their urban counterparts, from coalition building and community-driven solutions to rethinking the metrics we use to measure success. Luke and Zoe challenge the assumption that technology alone can solve rural transportation barriers, emphasizing instead that trust, local knowledge, and cross-sector collaboration are the real drivers of change. The conversation digs into what it actually takes to bring community members with lived experience into formal transportation decision-making, and why simply inviting people to the table isn't enough. Luke and Zoe also reflect on what's giving them hope: a growing willingness among rural employers to engage in transportation conversations, and a generational resurgence of interest in mutual aid as a foundation for mobility solutions. Episode URL: https://planning.org/podcast/connecting-communities-rural-solutions-for-transportation-challenges/
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Embracing Transformation: The Gwinnett County 2045 Unified Plan
Mar 1300:34:55Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the APA podcast, Roberta Rewers, senior communications manager, explores the 2045 Unified Plan from Gwinnett County, Georgia, recipient of the Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan in the 2025 National Planning Awards. Joined by Yang Chen, Planning Division director at Gwinnett County, and Allison Stewart-Harris, lead consultant with TSW, they discuss how the plan reimagines suburban planning through a “mode-agnostic” approach to the 15-Minute City—prioritizing access to daily needs no matter how residents travel. Episode URL: https://www.planning.org/podcast/embracing-transformation-the-gwinnett-county-2045-unified-plan/
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The Circular Economy, Climate Action, and Urban Sustainability with Helen Santiago-Fink
Feb 2700:33:23Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the Trend Talk podcast, a companion series for the 2026 Trend Report for Planners, Joe DeAngelis, research manager at the American Planning Association, chats with climate urbanist and researcher, Helen Santiago-Fink. Helen shares insights drawn from her extensive experience working with international organizations and city governments as the two discuss the convergence of the circular economy, climate action, and technological innovation, highlighting how cities can harness AI and digital marketing approaches to promote sustainability. Planners and city leaders will find inspiration and practical insights for integrating circularity at the local level, as well as an exploration of how community engagement and forward-thinking strategies can pave the way for a more sustainable future. The 2026 Trend Report for Planners is created by APA in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Episode URL: https://www.planning.org/podcast/the-circular-economy-climate-action-and-urban-sustainability-with-helen-santiago-fink/
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Memphis Math: A Formula for Meaningful Engagement
Feb 1200:25:11Tap to summarizeWhat does it take to prove that community engagement didn’t just happen — but actually shaped decisions, priorities, and outcomes? In this episode of People Behind the Plans, APA Editor in Chief Meghan Stromberg talks with planner Christina Edingbourgh about a framework her team calls “Memphis Math.” The approach turns open-ended community input into trackable, quantifiable data — without losing the nuance, emotion, or lived experience behind what people say. Drawing on her background in nonprofit community development, Christina, who serves as the administrator of the Office of Comprehensive Planning for Memphis’s Division of Planning and Development, explains how Memphis built its engagement strategy for Memphis 3.0 around a simple but demanding standard: Every interaction should feel safe, comfortable, and meaningful. The conversation digs into how Memphis Math works in practice, with more technical details described in here recent PAS Memo “Everything Counts in Memphis: Community Engagement for Data-Driven Planning.” Christina walks through the meeting structure, consensus-building, and the labor-intensive but scalable process of coding and tagging notes so feedback can be analyzed across the city’s 14 planning districts. The method measures how widespread an issue is, how deeply people care about it, and whether different neighborhoods are actually talking about the same thing in the first place. Along the way, Christina reflects on rebuilding trust in a city that went 40 years without a comprehensive plan and why public transparency — posting meeting notes, maps, and feedback online — has been critical to changing how residents see the planning department. “We’re professional recommenders,” Christina says. “But we can prove that what people said mattered.” For anyone grappling with the question of how to honor community voices long after the meeting ends, this episode offers both a practical framework and a powerful reminder that listening only counts if you can show your work. Episode URL: https://www.planning.org/podcast/memphis-math-a-formula-for-meaningful-engagement/ Episode Sponsor: Scenario Planning for Urban Futures certificate course from Michigan Engineering Professional Education ope.engin.umich.edu
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