Through its networks, Urban engages with CPA practitioners, planning professionals, policymakers, university centers, philanthropy, and local residents through presentations, trainings, and workshops. Our research, prototyping, and engagement continues to build a strong case for the benefits of CPAs, with the goal of supporting the expansion of current CPAs and launching new ones. The following are presentations, given by Urban or its collaborators in the Community Planning Academy Project, that exemplify this work:

• California Chapter of the American Planning Association 2023 Conference, Fresno, CA
• George Washington University Sustainability Planning Program Summer Lecture Series, featuring Joe Schilling on community planning academies, July 2025
• Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association 2024 Conference
• National Conference of the American Planning Association, 2022, San Diego, CA
• National Conference of the American Planning Association, 2023, virtual

Building Blocks of a Community of Practice

The Community Planning Academy Project continues to serve as a catalyst for a national community of practice that elevates the value of community land-use education and empowerment and the need to make existing land-use and land-development systems more just and inclusive. The following are a few preliminary principles and practices that support this emerging community of practice:

• Increase the knowledge and resources available to community members so they can engage in conversations, decisions, and actions around land use and zoning.
• Examine how past and present land-use policies and development decisions have reinforced patterns of exclusion and unequal access to opportunity.
• Provide space for conversations between participants, planning officials, and other land-use and development actors on difficult land-use topics.
• Explore a range of reforms to current land-use and land-development policies, plans, programs, practices, and projects.
• Recruit and work with people who are underrepresented in decisions about land use and zoning, including leaders of color.
• Build networks and pathways for participants to apply insights they learn, collaborate with the people they meet, and advocate for improvements to planning and zoning policies and practices.