Archive for Upcoming Events

May 21 – APAPASE Events Committee Meeting

Thu, May 21, 2020

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

Register here

Do you like to organize events (both virtual and in-person) like happy hours, walking tours, and educational events related to planning? Then join the APAPASE Events Committee and help us plan fun events! We would love to have volunteers to help with all aspects of the event-planning process – for now that might include brainstorming event ideas, inviting speakers, and advertising/marketing events. Eventually that will expand to in-person support including working the registration table, coordinating with venues, and ordering food/beverages.

May 28: #ReadyforPreservation: Tools and Tips to Support Your Downtown’s Recovery and Revitalization

Register here

Thursday, May 28th at 10:00 AM

Pennsylvania downtowns are the economic, social, and cultural heart of many communities. Downtown buildings, businesses and activities often reflect a community’s history, values and economic core as well as the aspirations of local leaders and community members. Today, Pennsylvania downtowns are facing the daunting task of responding to the current economic havoc and planning for future challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of those efforts, there are many ways in which the application of a traditional downtown design ethic can be appropriately and thoughtfully integrated into recovery efforts.

Join the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and staff from the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office for a one-hour webinar to explore different ways your community can sensitively manage the changes we face as a result of the pandemic’s impact. Based upon the Main Street principles of Economic Vitality and Design, this webinar is focused on providing realistic and practical suggestions for communities of all shapes and sizes whether they are in the reaction, response, or recovery phase. Among topics to be covered will be messaging, vacancy management or prevention, Historic Architectural Review Board or Preservation Commission activities and more.

Speakers include:

  • Mary Tate, Pennsylvania Downtown Center
  • Cory Kegerise/PA SHPO Eastern Region Community Preservation Coordinator
  • Bryan Van Sweden/PA SHPO Central Region Community Preservation Coordinator
  • Bill Callahan/PA SHPO Western Region Community Preservation Coordinator

May 28: Research in Action: Trends in How Municipalities Are Addressing Increased Demand for Safe Public Space

Thu, May 28, 2020 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Register here

Learn about the various strategies communities are implementing in response to increased demands for safe public space for walking and cycling during the COVID19 crisis.

Researchers at UNC’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center will present on an effort to collect and analyze data on these strategies in order to identify community-based factors related to their adoption, impacts, long-term viability, and potential unintended consequence.

Tools for collecting pedestrian data in all communities will be presented and a range of possible indicators and creative indirect measures of pedestrian activity will be explored.

Attendees will be invited via instant polling to contribute to this ongoing research by sharing observations and opinions about the changing demands on public space in your community:

  • Are space considerations a significant issue in your community?
  • What is your experience in sharing public space and social distancing?
  • How safe are you feeling?
  • What feedback are you hearing from others in your community about what’s working (or not working for them)?

Presenters will also share suggestions for creative approaches attendees can use to estimate the impacts of COVID19 on walking conditions and pedestrian activity in their communities. Join us and become a citizen scientist for helping us all understand the many ways that COVID19-induced stay-at-home orders and social distancing are changing the way we use public space.

Presenters

Dr. Tabitha Combs has expertise in transport and land use planning, the built environment-travel behavior connection, equity impacts of new mobility innovations, and transport planning in developing contexts.

She has a particular focus on understanding the social and environmental impacts of transport policies. She has a Ph.D. and master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an undergraduate degree from Davidson College.

 

Dan Gelinne is a Senior Research Associate at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. Mr. Gelinne manages research and technical assistance programs related to road safety with an emphasis on pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

He serves as a Program Manager for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), and has managed the development and delivery of numerous training programs for State and Federal clients.

 

Heyden Black Walker (CNU-A, MSCRP) is Director of Planning for Black + Vernooy, carrying forth a family legacy of local urban design and community advocacy. Together with her father, Sinclair Black, she created Reconnect Austin, a community-based call to lower the main lanes of I-35 through downtown Austin, creating a vision of the highway rebuild that reconnects neighborhoods while providing multi-modal access to jobs, medical facilities, transit, and civic resources.

With the goal of equity in transportation and increased access for all, Heyden also donates her time and advocacy efforts to the City of Austin Pedestrian Advisory Council (member), the Congress for the New Urbanism – Central Texas Chapter (Board of Directors), Vision Zero ATX (member), and Austin Outside (Board of Directors). Heyden is a 2016 fellow of the national Walking College.

DVRPC COVID-19 Training

DVRPC has several planned webinars on COVID-19. Click here for the full list and more resources on COVID-19.

Adapting Streets for Safe Outdoor Social Distancing

Date: Friday, May 15, 2020
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Many towns and cities are adapting streets to offer more safe space for walking and biking during social distancing. Some places have removed street parking to increase available space for walking, and others have closed entire streets to vehicle traffic. Learn about these adaptations and get ideas to try in your community, now and in the future.

Host: Greg Krykewycz – Associate Director of Multimodal Planning
Registration

Best Practices for Facilitating Remote Meetings

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm

DVRPC’s Office of Communications & Engagement will share some of the practices the Commission has adopted to move our regular convenings online. We’ll share tips for making working meetings with colleagues less painful, and what things we’re considering for online public meetings. Time permitting, participants will be asked to share their experiences with remote meetings.

Host: Alison Hastings – Manager, Office of Communications and Engagement
Registration

Bike Sharing, Bike Libraries and Bike Matching

Date: Friday, May 22, 2020
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm

With the uncertainties around reopening our region, it’s likely that more of us will rely on bicycling as a safe way to commute and recreate, but not everyone has access to their own bike. Join us as we discuss the new considerations for getting bicycles safely to those who don’t have their own bicycles.

Host: Liz Compitello – Manager, Local Initiatives and Betsy Mastaglio – Manager, Office of Transit, Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning
Registration

Tips for Successful Telework

Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Whether you’ve always had a telework program for your employees, you had to implement one quickly during the COVID-19 closings, or you’re still thinking about implementing one, this webinar will give you the basic info you need to get the most benefits from telework, at any stage of the game.

Host: Stacy Bartels – Manager, Office of Marketing and Commuter Services
Registration TBA

Webinars Coming Soon:

  • New COVID-19 Practices for Emergency Responders
  • The 5P’s that Aren’t Pandemic – Retail Strategies

April 30: Webinar – Re-imagining and Re-purposing Engagement During COVID-19

Connect the Dots, a Philadelphia- and Dublin-based civic engagement group, equitable engagement, and design thinking specialist agency, is teaming up with Project for Public Spaces, a leader in public space development and placemaking having completed projects in more than 3,500 communities in over 50 countries and all 50 U.S. states.

April 30th @ 11am EST

Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/9192592714748597776

This webinar will feature a conversation featuring a variety of perspectives, tools and experiences related to engagement practices considering the difficulties posed by COVID-19.

 

  • As a result of what’s happening now, how will engagement evolve moving forward?
  • How are communities included in the recovery process?
  • What can we do to better inform our practice?

This international conversation comes at a critical time, as the world’s inhabitants share an unprecedented experience, from billions of individual perspectives. While commonalities exist, respect for diversity and equity is the key to creating solutions that work on a massive scale.

After pulling questions in advance from registered participants, we will look at sharing best practices that can be applied to a range of contexts, and why, instead of putting engagement on hold, it is more important to do what we can right now.

April 21: CM Webinar: The Front of the Line is Not Inclusive: Why We Need a Better Way to Save Our Small Businesses

The Front of the Line is Not Inclusive: Why We Need a Better Way to Save Our Small Businesses 

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EDT

Government programs to save small business are rolling out weekly. They are a big and blunt instrument that is slow moving and wide. But they are not reaching the targeted needs of the small businesses in our communities. And they are not being deployed in a way to ensure inclusive access to save our small businesses.

Ilana Preuss, founder and CEO of Recast City, leads a discussion on concrete steps we can take to ensure inclusive access for small businesses, a framework that can help us look at this issue, programs already being adopted by local governments that are targeted to under-represented populations in business owners, and models from non-profits, CDFIs, major corporations, and philanthropy to ensure an inclusive recovery from this economic crisis.

Participants of the live webinar are eligible for 1.5 AICP CM credits. 

Register via the link below. 

Register For The Front of the Line is Not Inclusive: Why We Need a Better Way to Save Our Small Businesses

May 14 Council Meeting – COVID-19 Update

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, APA PA SE Council meetings will be held via teleconference for the foreseeable future. Bi-monthly Council meetings occur on the second Thursday of every other month at 5:30 PM, with the next meeting occurring on May 14.

 

Call-in information is 1-866-499-7054; Code: 7352890020. All are welcome.

Thursday, March 5th: Launch of Greater Philadelphia’s new transit coalition: Transit Forward Philadelphia

RSVP here

You are cordially invited to the launch of Transit Forward Philadelphia, a member led coalition of organizations and individuals that have come together to advocate for a safer, more accessible, equitable, and sustainable transit network across Southeastern Pennsylvania. This event is open to the public and the announcement will be an opportunity to learn about why this group of organizations has joined together to fight for better transit, what SEPTA and the Kenney administration want to accomplish, and how everyone—transit riders, community organizations, and residents—who want to improve public transit in Philadelphia and its suburbs can join this fight alongside us.

On Thursday, March 5th from 5:30PM – 7:30PM at Azavea (990 Spring Garden, 5th Floor) Transit Forward Philadelphia will be hosting an open house with our new Transit Coalition organizer Yasha Zarrinkelk, who will discuss the principles and priorities that brought together this coalition, and the opportunities we see to improve our public transit network, and increase access to jobs, housing, and opportunities through the Philadelphia region, while making the system fairer in the process.

There will be a panel discussion and Q&A portion featuring representatives from SEPTA and the City to discuss the steps that officials are taking to strengthen our network and improve service for all Philadelphians. Transit Forward Philadelphia is pleased to welcome the following guest speakers:

  • Leslie Richards, General Manager of SEPTA
  • Chris Puchalsky, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (oTIS)
  • Helen Gym, City Council Member at Large for the City of Philadelphia

With important upcoming decisions about SEPTA’s fare policies, the forthcoming bus network redesign and trolley modernization initiatives, and looming funding challenges, it’s more important than ever to come together and support better mobility and access for Philadelphia and Southeast PA families. We take great inspiration from transit advocates in cities across the country who have successfully organized transit riders and community organizations to win faster, more reliable service, fair fare policies, and sustainable transit funding, and we look forward to building a powerful voice for transit here in Philadelphia.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, March 5th at 5:30PM at Azavea! Please RSVP here.

March 7: Vision Zero for Philadelphia Conference

Saturday, March 7th 2020 – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

at Temple University Student Center South

hosted by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia

For six years, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s Vision Zero Conference has been bringing leaders and expert voices from around the Delaware Valley and the country into Philadelphia for a day of talks, panels, and workshops.

This year, the Bicycle Coalition’s 2020 Vision Zero Conference, presented by Lyft, will both reflect upon the progress made in Philadelphia and the region, and discuss the accelerated speed at which progress over the next four years will need to proceed to make Philadelphia’s roadways safe for all.

This year’s speakers range from New York City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Managing Director Michael Carroll, Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams, Zabe Bent of the National Association of City Transportation Officials and many others.  Mayor Jim Kenney will make remarks at the end of the day.

  • Program details and speakers can be viewed here
  • Tickets (sliding scale) are available here
  • Sponsorship opportunities are available here

Feb. 28: PBCD Philadelphia Networking Mixer

Come network, socialize and converse with Black Urban Planning Professionals in the Philadelphia Area at our networking mixer event. Planners, Elected Officials, Engineers, Students and others are welcome.

RSVP on Eventbrite

Date And Time

Fri, February 28, 2020
5:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST

Location

Tir na nÓg
1600 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103