Who We Are Urban Design and Preservation Division
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If you embrace the past and future of our built environment, we invite you to join the American Planning Association Urban Design and Preservation Division.
We are a nationwide community of urban design and historic preservation emerging professionals and experienced practitioners in the public, non-profit, educational, and private sectors. Our Division promotes the importance of design excellence, an equitable public realm, and stewardship of our historic places throughout the planning profession and beyond.
Our Division has been honored with the 2023 American Planning Association Division Achievement Award for Overall Division Performance for the scope and quality of our programs. We also received the 2023 Contribution to the Planning Profession Award for our Design-Preservation Rapid Assistance Program (D-PRAT).
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2024-2025 Student Scholars
Are you seeking a unique opportunity to work with experienced professionals from the American Planning Association Urban Design and Preservation Division on our D-PRAT Program or Historic and Cultural Resources Policy Update? We have two Division student scholar opportunities! Apply by August 16.
2024 D-PRAT Community Selected
We are excited to announce Enfield, Connecticut, as our 2024 D-PRAT community. We will work with the Town to examine strategies to address neighborhood revitalization, downtown development, placemaking, and other goals. Stay tuned for more information!
2024 Student Planning & Design Competition
Now in its eighth year, the competition invites multidisciplinary teams of students pursuing graduate degrees in planning, public policy, urban design, architecture, and real estate development to participate. We are excited to announce the location of the American Planning Association's 2025 Student Planning and Design Competition. The selected site is the Colfax & Federal Clover Leaf, a 23-acre parcel in Denver, CO, which will also host the 2025 National Planning Conference. This site is adjacent to Empower Field at Mile High to the east and multi-family neighborhoods to the west.
The APA Urban Design and Preservation Division, Student Representative Council, and Divisions Council proudly sponsor this annual competition. In 2024, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team placed first, followed by the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Congratulations to the finalists, and a big thank you to our jury and organizing committee.
APA Historic and Cultural Resources Policy Update
The APA Urban Design and Preservation Division (UDPD) and Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) are exploring preservation planning policy updates to more effectively advocate for federal and state action as planners deal with the intersection of planning, preservation, and change in our built environment.
Our approach to updating APA's policies and positions will consider historic and cultural resources through the lenses of housing production and affordability, zoning and regulatory reform, climate change and the environment, hazard mitigation, economic and community development, and equity. We invite you to join us!
Career Paths What is Urban Design?
Interested in a career in urban design? Three experienced urban designers--Jason Beske, Senior Urban Designer at Stantec Urban Places, Jeff Shumaker, former Chief Urban Designer of New York City, and Ifeoma Ebo, Urban Designer/Planning Strategist--offer helpful advice to students and emerging professionals interested in becoming urban designers, and planning practitioners desiring more familiarity with urban design issues. The video was produced by Katelyn Huang, the Division's 2022-23 Scholar.
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