American Planning Association

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The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of city and regional planning in the United States. The APA was formed in 1978 when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Planners and the American Society of Planning Officials, were merged into a single organization. The American Institute of Certified Planners is now the organization's professional branch.

[edit] Functions

Like many professional organizations, the American Planning Association's main function is to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas between people who work in the field of urban and regional planning. The organization keeps track of the various improvement efforts underway around the country, which may include the improvement or construction of new parks, highways and roads, or residential developments.

The organization is also a starting point for people looking for employment[1] in the city and regional planning field.

The association holds an annual conference which attracts planners and planning students from throughout the United States, Canada and the world. Three recent annual conferences were held in Washington, DC [2], San Francisco, California [3], and San Antonio, Texas [4]. The 2007 Conference was held in Philadelphia, PA, from April 14 to April 18; among the discussions were items on Hurricane Katrina, universal design, transit oriented development, open space, land use, the development of Philadelphia itself (as well as the surrounding area), and other planning-related topics [5]. A future conference is to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. [6]