Winterbrook Planning staff attended several talks at the American Planning Association Oregon Chapter‘s 2021 annual conference. The conference included talks on everything from affordable housing, to how we can work to put pedestrians first in suburbs. Equity in small towns, public schools, transportation planning, climate planning, and health was the focus of several speakers–one speaker on Wednesday led a segment titled “How engaging the past can help us build an anti-racist future.”

As natural hazard planning becomes an important part of the future of Oregon, with one talk focused on “Wildfire recovery, Resiliency, and the New Normal.”

Jaime Crawford, our Assistant Planner, shared her thoughts on the conference:

“It was refreshing to hear how equity and inclusivity were interwoven into planning projects across the region. The WA-OR joint APA conference made me proud to be a planner in this day and age. I know we’ll continue to learn from one another as we grow together with our communities.”

She was so energized with some of the talks, that she brought forward some ideas for a future presentation on some of the approaches Winterbrook Planning takes on some of these topics. Stay tuned for some engaging work coming out of the desk of Jaime Crawford on Winterbrook Planning innovations!

The annual conference was held virtually for the second year in a row, due to the ongoing pandemic. We sure do miss seeing the rest of the community, and look forward to next years conference [hopefully] being able to see everyone again.

You can see the full 2021 OAPA schedule here.