APA - PA Southeast Section | Blog, Upcoming Events, and Jobs

October 3: DesignPhiladelphia Festival

September 26, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

2025 DesignPhiladelphia Festival Kickoff Party

320 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Philadelphia

Friday 03 Oct 2025

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Join us for an exciting night as we launch the 2025 DesignPhiladelphia Festival with the anticipated Kick-off + Inaugural Awards Celebration! This event marks the beginning of the city’s annual design festival, bringing together Philadelphia’s creatives and design enthusiasts for a night of connection, and recognition.

The night will honor the individuals and organizations whose work and dedication have made an impact on Philadelphia’s creative community. The Awards will shine a spotlight on those who have pushed boundaries, fostered collaboration, and elevated the city’s design landscape through their vision and commitment.

Guests will enjoy music, curated cocktails, and and a fantastic crowd that reflect the spirit of Philadelphia’s creative scene. Whether you’re a designer, architect, artist, or simply a design lover, this is the party for you.

Category: Upcoming Events /

Please take the PAB/UPenn survey!

September 22, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

As part of the accreditation process for planning programs, the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) is interested in learning how local APA Sections interact with the “Master of City Planning” degree program at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). Programs accredited by the PAB are expected to maintain a relationship with the profession, the local planning community, and the local APA Chapter. To that end, PAB has requested that the APA PA Southeast Section conduct a survey of its membership – linked in the button below.

Please submit responses by Monday, October 6^th. The survey is very short – 7 questions – and should only take a few minutes to complete. Also, it is open to all APA members, not just UPenn alumni. Thank you for your time!

Category: Education /

October 29th: 2025 APAPASE Annual Event, Planning for America250

September 15, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Please join us for APAPASE’s 2025 Annual Event, Planning for America250! Tickets are available here: https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/apapa-se/planning-for-america-250-2025-apapase-annual-event

The event will take place Wednesday, October 29, 2025, 5:30 – 8 PM at DesignPhiladelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia.

The theme of this year’s annual event is Planning for America250! Come learn how the region is preparing for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (signed just a few blocks away), both in the city and the suburbs. We intend to offer CM credits (stay tuned!).

Confirmed speakers include:

Kathryn Ott Lovell, President & CEO, Philadelphia Visitor Center & PHL250
Michelle Kichline Esq. – Former Chester County Commissioner (2015-2024) and Chair, Chester County 250 Commission Board
MaryAnn Tierney – Chief Officer, Control Center, SEPTA (manages special events planning and operations)
Matthew J. Edmond, AICP, Moderator – Executive Director, Chester County Planning Commission

This is a great opportunity to meet planners, students, and related professionals in the Southeast Section. Admission includes drinks and appetizers.

DesignPhiladelphia is located two blocks north of Market Street, between N. 12th and N. 13th Streets, with easy access to highways and transit.

Please contact the Events Committee Co-Chairs if you have any questions: Danielle A. Baer, AICP at dabaer@urbanengineers.com or Lorianne DeFalco, AICP at ldefalco@akrf.com.

We want to send a warm thank you to our gracious Sponsors for helping us host this valuable event.

Event Picture

Category: Upcoming Events /

Recruiting for the 2026 PA Infrastructure Report Card

August 20, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

The PA Infrastructure Report Card Committee is recruiting ASCE members from across Pennsylvania to join the 2026 effort. Infrastructure Report Cards are our opportunity to communicate our state’s infrastructure needs and priorities to lawmakers and members of the public. Our last PA Report Card was released in 2022 and covered fifteen categories of infrastructure.

We anticipate holding our kickoff in October 2025 and publishing in November 2026. Currently, we are recruiting for the following categories:

Aviation
Bridges
Broadband
Dams
Drinking Water
Energy
Hazardous Waste
Inland Waterways
Levees
Public Parks
Ports
Rail
Roads
Schools
Solid Waste
Stormwater
Transit
Wastewater

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the interest form linked HERE. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Justin Komp, EIT (jkomp@langan.com) – 2026 PA Report Card Co-Chair

Paul Ackerman, Ph.D., P.E. (packerman@ycp.edu) – 2026 PA Report Card Co-Chair

Category: General /

Oct. 29 – Save the Date – Section Annual Event

August 14, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Please Save the Date for our Annual Event coming up on October 29th, 5:30-8PM at DesignPhiladelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107! This is a great opportunity to meet planners, students, and related professionals in the Southeast Section. Admission

includes drinks and appetizers. Stay tuned for information on programming and how to purchase tickets. We hope to make this year’s event as memorable as last year’s!

Category: Upcoming Events /

Sept. 20: Levittown Bus Tour – Save the Date – Postponed

June 9, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Thank you to those who expressed interest in the Levittown Bus Tour. The tour is being postponed until Spring, but please stay tuned for other learning opportunities this Fall.

Levittown, PA celebrated its 70th anniversary recently and this bus tour provides an overview of its history, warts, and all. Levittown (in all 3 locations) is the prototypical post-World War II American suburb and reflects America in many ways – in its design, discrimination and hostility. Our tour will take us through several of the neighborhoods, including seeing some original homes and some renovated homes (including a TV series makeover house), we will see both the forward-looking designs that Levittown pioneered and its legacy today after 7 decades. We will also highlight how systemic discrimination and racism of federal and local policies and laws played a role in Levittown, and the little-remembered riots after the first Black family moved in.

A model for modern suburbia, a cautionary tale of racism and crowd violence, Levittown remains a living and evolving example of the American suburban landscape. The bus will make stops to see the nearby Delaware Canal, for lunch, and some infrastructure and historic sites, which includes the original mansion.

Interested individuals are strongly encouraged to contact the APAPASE Events Committee Co-Chairs at ldefalco@akrf.com or dabaer@urbanengineers.com to express their interest and reserve a spot by Friday, June 27th. The cost of the tour is anticipated to be approximately $25 per person. The tour leaves from Levittown SEPTA station at 10 AM on 20^th and is anticipated to last approximately 5 hours.

Stay tuned for how to purchase tickets.

Category: Upcoming Events /

June 18th: Pride Happy Hour

June 5, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

4th Annual Pride in the Built Environment Happy Hour

Writer’s Block Rehab
Wednesday, June 18th
6–9 pm
Free & 21+

Join us on Wednesday, June 18th at 6:00p at Writer’s Block Rehab for our fourth annual Pride happy hour, an event for LGBTQ+ landscape architects, architects, planners, interior designers, and allied professionals in the Philadelphia region.

Come raise a glass with colleagues, friends, and peers as we celebrate Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ community within the design industry. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, this is a great opportunity to network, unwind, and show your pride in a fun and inclusive environment.

Let’s come together to toast to creativity, inclusivity, and the power of design to shape a more equitable world.

The event is free and open to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies that work in the built environment (bring your friends and colleagues)! Attendees will receive a free drink ticket. The event is 21+ and is sponsored by OLIN, WRT, ASLA PA-DE, AIA Philadelphia, ASID Pennsylvania East, and APA PA Southeast.

For any questions, please reach out to Max at mdickson@theolinstudio.com

Category: Upcoming Events /

July 10: Section Summer Happy Hour

May 29, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Please join us at Independence Beer Garden (IBG) on July 10th from 5pm-7:30pm for our Summer Happy Hour (cash bar)/Section Council Meeting (weather permitting)!

IBG is located at 100 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106 at S. 6th and Market Streets one block west of the MFL 5th Street/Independence Hall station.

This is a great opportunity for planning students and professionals to learn about our Council, the work that we do, and how you can get involved. We also want to hear from you about planning topics and issues that are important to you, or that you’d like to learn more about, including ideas for the theme for our Annual Event, which will take place this Fall (more details to follow).

The meeting will kick off with a toast to the late Terry Robinson, to honor his service as one of our Citizen Planner representatives. Although he was an actuary by trade, he was willing and eager to join in the activities of APA PA and gain a new perspective on the Philadelphia region. He was an enthusiastic tour guide for the orientation tours at the 2023 NPC and he loved attending section social events and contributing his excellent amateur photographer skills. Terry made friends wherever he went, and we hope that you will join us at this event in his memory.

If you have any questions, please contact the APAPASE Events Committee Co-Chairs at ldefalco@akrf.com or dabaer@urbanengineers.com

Category: Upcoming Events /

June 21: Transportation Camp PHL

May 22, 2025 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

The TCPHL24 team is pleased to be hosting our fourth-annual Summer Gathering event on Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Initially formed as an extension of our 2021 virtual conference to offer a safe, outdoor in-person experience, the event was such a blast, we’ve been keeping it going as a standalone event… even as we’ve returned to an in-person conference!

As with years past, the event will feature a day of urban exploration with fellow TransportationCamp participants, concluding with a happy hour in the afternoon. What’s it like? Check out photos from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The event is open to recent and former attendees of TransportationCamp PHL, other TransportationCamp conferences, APTAtech attendees & affiliates, members of YPT chapters from Philadelphia and beyond, and their friends and family. (Yes, we’re family-friendly, and have had some families join!)

Are you a local or looking to make a long weekend out of it? Our event is designed to help you make the most out of your time in the Philadelphia region… particularly if you’re coming to Philadelphia for the very first time.

We’re ecstatic to be seeing you in-person and hopefully connect with others throughout the region and beyond. Let the summer fun commence!

Tickets are complimentary; there is no charge to participate, although food, transportation, and admission to any activities (e.g. museums, events, sports) are not included.