​AGENDA-AT-A-GLANCE 

SESSION TRACKS FOR #FNT2025
 

1.      Design, Development, and Preservation

How to encourage growth while preserving character. People embrace communities of lasting value that reflect historic preservation, cultural resources, community character, and exceptional urban design. Communities built on principles of interrelated patterns of land use, transportation, and urban form foster some of the most desirable characteristics of human habitation: neighborliness, sustainability, and economic efficiency. We invite proposals that address urban design, public art, historic preservation, and new urbanism along with other proven practices that how had success in managing growth in North Texas.

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2.      Housing, Community, and Economic Development

North Texas is confronting a housing crisis that is exacerbated by its rapid influx of people and businesses. The shortage of livable and affordable housing reinforces inequality and limits access to opportunity, while meager housing options hurt the economy and constrain social and economic mobility. The national office of APA recently published its Housing Accelerator Project which acts as a catalyst for informed housing development. Included are issues of social equity (institutional, political, and economic strategies advancing equity; environmental justice; mitigating gentrification/displacement).  Consider discussing how institutional bias and marginalization of “other” groups may be embedded in typical zoning ordinances.

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3.      AI and Its Potential Impact on Planning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing field of opportunity but also raising concerns.  How will this new technology impact planning now and in the future?

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4.      Small Town Planning

How do you plan if you don’t have a planner?  Is there an economic incentive to small towns in hiring a planner?  When small towns feel the onslaught of new residents, what are the best practices for managing development?

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5.      Elected & Appointed Officials

Focus North Texas offers several sessions designed for the layman planner who serves cities and counties as Planning & Zoning Commissioners, City Councilmen, or other committees designed as advisory groups to city decisions.  Sessions proposed for this topic should be geared to the general populace and provide helpful insights into the roles, obligations, and restrictions inherent with their positions.  (these sessions will not qualify for CM credits)

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6.     Texas Legislative Landscape

What bills are being considered in this legislative session?  What is expected to be the impact of these bills on planning and the greater industry?

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7.      Planning for Health and the Natural Environment

Many local governments are beginning to incorporate goals and objectives that integrate public health into plans, policies, and processes. These efforts will impact how people make choices about where to live, how to get around, and how to access healthy foods and physical activity. They will affect everything from clean air and water to social equity. Through citizen engagement, plan-making, capital improvements, development review, and other planning actions, planners promote fiscally sound investments and decisions that protect and restore the natural environment, conserve resources, and build more sustainable communities in both rural and urban areas.  How can rapidly growing areas make a healthy environment a higher priority?

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8.      Transportation Planning for Rapid Growth

More roads or more rail?  What is needed now and what will the impact of our current decisions be on the future transportation grid? As urban transportation preferences evolve, transit, biking, and pedestrian travel and safety have become prime considerations impacting street design. Simultaneously, technology and personal choices are affecting transportation planning. Transportation planners must adapt.  How to deal with a high demand for road improvements with a limited budget.

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9.      Disaster Resilience and Climate Change (Sustainability & Resilience - mandatory credit topic)

Planners must pay special attention to the long-term and interrelated consequences of their actions. Planning actions may have potentially detrimental long-term consequences, especially on their most vulnerable people, places, and systems. Climate change affects all areas of the state. Currently, major coastal cities are planning for sea-level rise, landlocked cities are experiencing extreme weather and changing weather cycles, while droughts, floods, and seismic activity are occurring in new locations. Even communities that regularly focus on other planning issues should be aware of potential impacts from natural hazards and a changing climate and be ready to address them.

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10.    Planning for Inclusiveness and Social Justice (Equity - mandatory credit topic)

How can planners best foster socially equitable and just communities? In what ways can the profession engage resident groups and other constituencies that have historically been under-represented in planning processes? How do we learn from community-led planning and citizen planners? How do issues of race, gender, age, ability, and sexual orientation impact planning? How can we better recruit, educate, and support planners who reflect the diversity of the communities they serve?

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11.    Ethics (mandatory credit topic)

AICP-certified planners pledge to uphold high standards of ethics and professional conduct. The Ethics session can focus on a specific topic of the AICP Code of Ethics.

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12.    Law (mandatory credit topic)

Planning practices are dependent upon state and local legislation, which change frequently. Any law session should ensure that planners have a current understanding of case law, regulations, and statutes and their impact on planning practice. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• The Short-Term Rental Dilemma

• MUDs vs. city water rights

• Ordinance Drafting, Interpretive, and Regulatory Issues. What phrases and words have created problems in court and likely to result in a lawsuit?