October 9, 2025 8:30 am

Welcome & Opening Remarks

The APA Utah Fall Conference will open with a warm welcome from Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall and APA Utah Chapter President Jason Boal. Together, they will highlight the importance of planning i...

October 9, 2025 9:00 am

Keynote: Planning with Purpose

What is our purpose as planners? Emerging trends and the convergence of global disruptions, such as political polarization, policy, and legislative mandates, have altered how we plan, design, and b...

October 9, 2025 10:00 am

Awards Ceremony

October 9, 2025 11:00 am

Downtown & Capitol Hill Bike Tour

Let’s explore the Downtown and Capitol Hill neighborhoods on bikes! Join us for a tour of several newly reconstructed complete streets. This is a chance to experience the new transit priority lanes...

October 9, 2025 11:00 am

Beehive & Lion Houses

Please join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Beehive House and the Lion House during restoration. These 1850s adobe structures have been used as residences, schools, social centers, offices, ...

October 9, 2025 11:30 am

TBA

October 9, 2025 11:30 am

Seeing is Believing: Virtual Tour of New City and Town Center Resources

Centers are the heart of a community where people gather, where public spaces, commerce, housing, and transportation choices meet. A new State-funded website with exciting new vignettes and 3D pano...

October 9, 2025 11:30 am

Step Into the Plan: Public Engagement Gets a Digital Upgrade

Explore the shift from conventional public meetings to immersive technology in land use planning. This highly graphic and interactive presentation showcases how immersive technology, blending story...

October 9, 2025 1:45 pm

Going From Advisory General Plans to Mandatory Compliance – A Good Idea?

Utah has always been a state where local general plans are advisory. There has been discussion in recent years at the legislative level of switching to make us a mandatory plan compliance state. Is...

October 9, 2025 1:45 pm

Ballpark Next: Co-Creating a Human-Centered Design Framework for the Smith’s Ballpark Site

Since 1928, Smith’s Ballpark has been a beloved sports and cultural landmark in Salt Lake City. With the Bees’ departure, the community now looks ahead to a bold new vision for the 14-acre site. He...

October 9, 2025 1:45 pm

A Way Forward: Urban Design Roles, Tools, and Imaginations

Urban design practice is changing rapidly, and planners are part of that shift. This session explores the expanding definition of the “urban designer” to include planners, policymakers, data scient...

October 9, 2025 1:45 pm

Growing a Walkable Urban Center in Sugar House

This walking tour explores the zoning and planning that shaped a thriving, walkable business district in Sugar House, one of Salt Lake City’s oldest neighborhoods. Sugar House has rapidly developed...

October 9, 2025 1:45 pm

Ground-up Community Led Placemaking

Join us for an open conversation about community-led placemaking in the Central Ninth neighborhood, where residents, creatives, and local advocates are shaping public space from the ground up. This...

October 9, 2025 3:00 pm

Great Salt Lake Basin Water Planning

Similar to patterns observed in other major waterbodies worldwide, declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake (GSL) Basin emphasize the challenges posed by a limited water supply in the face of ...

October 9, 2025 3:00 pm

Ethics Cases of the Year

Mitchell J. Silver challenges planners to see ethics not as abstract rules but as a compass and rudder guiding daily practice. Drawing on the AICP Code of Ethics, allied professions, and his own re...

October 9, 2025 3:00 pm

The Visualization Recipe: Tools and Techniques for Community Engagement

Behind every successful planning visualization is a thoughtful blend of tools and techniques. In this session, we’ll explore how planners can “cook up” compelling visuals using a variety of ingredi...

October 9, 2025 4:30 pm

Evening Event: Mead Ave between Jefferson and 200 W, Salt Lake City (Central 9th)

Join us for a unique welcome reception! GSBS, Central 9th, and APA Utah invite you to the Mead Avenue Underpass Project—a one-of-a-kind space transforming the freeway underpass into a vibrant commu...

October 10, 2025 7:30 am

Registration & Networking

October 10, 2025 8:30 am

Welcome & Opening Remarks

October 10, 2025 8:45 am

Keynote: Youth Are Not the Future, But the Now

Youth Are Not the Future, But the Now Too often, youth are seen only as the “future leaders” of our communities. But young people are already shaping our cities, policies, and civic lif...

October 10, 2025 9:45 am

Form-Based Code in the Real World

This walking tour will discuss how Salt Lake City’s first form-based code has resulted in significant mixed-use, infill development in the Central Ninth neighborhood. The emerging neighborhoo...

October 10, 2025 10:15 am

Zoning for Zucchini: The City Planner’s Role in Nourishing Communities

Explore how city planning shapes access to healthy food. This presentation highlights the use of healthy food audits, zoning policies, and land-use strategies to address food deserts and food swamp...

October 10, 2025 10:15 am

Corridors Versus Centers: Match of the Century

City and town centers are a key part of Utah’s approach to handling growth. But what about corridors like a “Main Street”? Do they matter too? We’ll talk about the pros and ...

October 10, 2025 10:15 am

Planning Made Practical: New and Enhanced Tools & Resources for Land Use Planning in Utah

Local governments are on the front lines of shaping how communities grow—and the citizen planner is a significant piece of those efforts. This session is about the most recently created and enhance...

October 10, 2025 11:30 am

Plugging Your Community Into the Grid

This session will help planners understand the Statewide MPO Regional Roadway Grid Study’s value and impacts for their communities, including performance metrics, projects, and starting point...

October 10, 2025 11:30 am

Trees are Infrastructure Too: How to Plan Ahead Before They’re Gone

In cities across Utah, cities are cutting down mature trees due to reactive planning, policy gaps, or infrastructure conflicts. This session explores how to prevent those losses by treating trees a...

October 10, 2025 11:30 am

Youth Voices, Real Choices: Engagement in Action + Fishbowl Discussion

Youth are not just the future — they are key voices in today’s planning decisions. This interactive session, led by Meagan Booth and Jake Young, will highlight practical, tested methods for involvi...

October 10, 2025 11:30 am

The Planning Commission and Planning Staff: Who’s in Charge?

It sometimes seems like that the Planning Commission’s purpose is primarily to rubber stamp the work of the planning staff. When The Planners Journal broached this topic several years ago, comments...

October 10, 2025 1:30 pm

Multifamily Infill and Adaptive Reuse in SLC Historic Districts

Salt Lake City’s South Temple and Central City historic districts preserve many of the city’s early mansions and ornate homes. Learn from city planners and developers about the districts and visit ...

October 10, 2025 1:30 pm

Take Back the Streets: Reimagining Streets as Public Space

Public streets are our most abundant shared spaces—but are they serving people or just vehicles? Join us for a walking tour of Salt Lake City’s downtown to explore how streets are being reclaimed a...

October 10, 2025 1:45 pm

Bikeways.utah.gov: Your definitive source for statewide bicycle infrastructure…and more!

Transportation partners have developed a public friendly web based map that includes the totality of known existing bicycle infrastructure across the state, a first in Utah. Come explore the map, l...

October 10, 2025 1:45 pm

Beyond the Wheelchair, Inclusive Play is so Much More

A common misconception is that “All-Abilities” playgrounds need to be designed for the mobility device or wheelchair user. Inclusive play involves so much more! Statistics show that more children h...

October 10, 2025 1:45 pm

Resources, infrastructure, regulations. What’s the deal with Utah’s housing supply?

Utah is growing fast and, despite record permitting, housing supply is struggling to keep up. Several constraints limit our collective capacity to build more housing, but the comparative impacts of...

October 10, 2025 1:45 pm

Infill Options

The concept of infill housing options has become a Statewide issue. Many communities are discussing what sorts of infill, often called “the missing middle,” might be suited to their community. This...

October 10, 2025 3:00 pm

Public Transit’s Multiplier Effect: Quantifying Indirect Benefits Beyond Ridership

This session explores the direct and indirect impacts of public transit on reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions. Using multilevel structural equation modeling and data...

October 10, 2025 3:00 pm

Re-imagining Public Spaces: Playful Learning Landscapes

Playful Learning Landscapes is a global movement that is situated at the intersection of placemaking and early learning. By transforming public spaces into opportunities for playful learning, we cr...

October 10, 2025 3:00 pm

The Everything Bagel Approach to Development Agreements

This session will explore how to construct project specific development agreements that address a wide variety of items, but not too many items can create the right balance for the community and de...

October 10, 2025 3:00 pm

Revisit HB 368

Since HB 386 was a somewhat overwhelming bit of legislation, the intent of this session is to review the top ten changes that communities should be aware of. This session should enable cities and t...