Roundtable Projects

Planning Leadership Academy

The California Planning Roundtable Planning Leadership Academy is a professional development program created to help planners prepare for leadership roles in their organizations. Through the program, participants will gain knowledge and skills in leadership, organizational dynamics, communication, and career planning to help them identify and achieve their professional goals while equipping them with tools to make even stronger contributions to their organizations.

Voices of Impact

With the concept of systemic discrimination becoming significantly more prominent in the public dialogue, and, in particular, how the planning practice has contributed to systemic discrimination and, conversely, helped integrate communities, the California Planning Roundtable (CPR) is well positioned to advance the dialogue and help improve understanding among California planners.

CPR completed a film in April 2022 that is an oral history project focused on identifying how past planning practices have impacted communities of color, described by those people who have experienced the impacts. The project looks to give voice to people who ordinarily may be reluctant to share their stories, to raise public awareness, and to suggest how planning professionals and policy makers can change their practices in response. A detailed project description is available here.

Housing Listening Sessions

In 2022, the Roundtable is partnering with local APA CA Sections to organize listening sessions to discuss the housing crisis, the effects of recent and proposed housing legislation on local government planners, and ideas to prevent or mitigate displacement.

2020 Census

10 Questions : 10 Minutes : 10s of thousands of $$ per person at risk

Planners - make sure your voice is heard so we can plan for a better future! 

Leadership Training

CPR provides a variety of training opportunities about Leadership.

Planners4Health

Planners4Health California in Full Motion - In collaboration with APA California, members of the CPR Healthy Communities work group prepared and submitted a successful Planners4Health grant application to the American Planning Association. Planners4Health is intended to build capacity within the eight APA California' Sections in collaboration with the American Public Health Association. Among other activities, a statewide convening focused on efforts in southern California is being planned for late summer/early fall. More details to come. To read the press release, please follow this link.

Essential Professional Skills for Practicing Planners

CPR is committed to enhancing essential planning skills for practicing planners to promote effective planning and develop leadership and management skills. To accomplish this goal, CPR will offer interactive sessions and workshops at the APA California conference and other venues on core skills that may not be taught in typical planning curriculums, but are usually "lessons learned" through direct work experience. Possible workshop topics include strategic thinking, communication skills, project management, and effective community engagement and education. Other topics could be selected from the AICP Core Competencies developed by the American Planning Association (see https://www.planning.org/aicp/commoncore/). AICP CM credit will also be sought for these workshops.

Healthy Communities Workgroup

The California Planning Roundtable Healthy Communities work group strives to provide tools and resources to assist planners in informing Californians about why the places where we live, work, play and learn have an inherent effect on community and individual health.

Overcoming Obstacles to Infill

While building near existing transit, infrastructure and conveniences can help address social, economic and environmental challenges, developing within established communities can be difficult. CPR’s “Infill Project” examines obstacles to infill development and how they can be overcome. Visit CPR’s Infill Project page.

Planning for Changing Demographics

California’s demographics are changing rapidly, and adopting new planning strategies to address these changes is critical to sustaining California as a highly desirable place to live, work, enjoy and invest.  The California Planning Roundtable, over the next two years, will develop conference sessions and web-based reports that will help planners and communities understand and plan for these evolutionary times. 

Reinventing the General Plan

The goal of this project is to reinvent the General Plan as a vital tool to help California tackle the tough issues of the 21st century.