We thoroughly enjoyed the 2024 National Planning Conference (NPC24) hosted by the American Planning Association (APA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota!
ViewPro team: Bailey Bullock and Suhag Kansara.
We were proud to team up with enCodePlus and Kendig Keast Collaborative at our exhibitor booth to showcase how plans, zoning code, and GIS can seamlessly integrate for cities and local governments.
We were grateful to host Elliot Hartley from GD3D, who joined us to demonstrate how CityEngine can take planning from words on a page to an immersive visual and interactive experience.
Our Founder and CEO Suhag Kansara’s session “Expanding Informed Decision-making with ArcGIS Urban” drew quite a bit of interest, as demonstrated by the standing-room-only crowd. We were glad to continue the conversation in the exhibit hall to discuss how GIS tools (including our flagship product GeoZone) can simplify workflows for planning professionals.
We also took the opportunity to learn from other leaders in our profession. Our Urban Planner Bailey Bullock was excited to attend the session “Using YouTube to Reach All Ages” featuring Ray Delahanty of the YouTube channel CityNerd. We enjoyed conversing with Ray at our booth afterwards, and we look forward to staying up to date with his content.
Ray Delahanty of CityNerd.
Other sessions that Bailey attended included a panel on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and a presentation on resilient housing in the rural coastal context. We are eager to incorporate takeaways from these sessions into our approach as we continue to center sustainability and equity in our planning practices.
Nathan Lipson from the Metro New Orleans Section of the Louisiana Chapter of APA presenting on DEI successes and challenges.
We were delighted for APA to welcome leaders from peer organizations abroad, including Lindsey Richards of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in the UK. We were lucky enough to spend time with Lindsey and other UK colleagues at the Planning Black Mirror social hosted by the APA Technology Division.
Left to right: Elliot Hartley of GD3D; Lindsey Richards of RTPI; Suhag Kansara of ViewPro; and Bret Keast of enCodePlus
Joel Albizo, CEO of APA, shared insights with us about the unique expertise that planners bring to addressing the increasingly complex issues that communities are facing. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss how GIS tools and other technology expand the capacity of planners to meet the needs of today and plan for the challenges of the future.
Above all, we were glad to engage in so many thoughtful conversations throughout the conference, not only during the standard programming but also at evening socials including the joint reception hosted by the state APA chapters of California, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. As a proud Texas-based firm, we enjoyed connecting with other Texas planners while also getting the chance to learn about the distinct experiences of planners from other states.
We look forward to staying in touch and keeping the conversation going. See you next year in Denver!
