Our CEO Kim, Senior Climate Communications Manager Joey and Sustainability Project Coordinator Margot just got back from the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference – NPC25 – in Denver. From their perch at KLA’s booth in the Exhibit Hall and attendance at multiple sessions and receptions, they shared these 7 observations:
Sustainability is Cool in School
Tons of students stopped by our booth sharing their strong interest in incorporating sustainability into urban and transportation planning. Many of them are pursuing sustainability minors or have taken related coursework. There’s a clear trend for planning programs to offer an environmental or sustainability focus. That’s good news for those of us who would like to hire them one day!
Southern Communities Face Sustainability Challenges
We chatted with lots of planners from neighboring Texas and Oklahoma along with Florida and other Southern states where local governments and communities do not fully embrace sustainability – at least not when using that language. Although some NPC25 attendees were proud of their climate action plans, many talked with us about reframing their work: “resilience” as “safe and healthy” or to talk less about “climate change” and more about “clean air and water.”
This still generated plenty of thoughtful conversations, as planners know that they are responsible for the infrastructure needed to recover from extreme weather, the transportation options that will help people get around town affordably and efficiently, and the like – regardless of how they talk about it. And even though the KLA Dashboard was developed for local climate and sustainability action, it can be the storytelling homebase for any plans and initiatives. And it can help build and maintain support for your work even among skeptics.
Unease at the Federal Level
We were not surprised to hear planners and fellow consultants express concern about what is happening at the federal level. From tree planting to weather and climate data, funding and policy upheaval is impacting local governments’ bottom lines and ability to plan.
Some planners described their approach as choosing to “fight” for their federal grant funds rather than just let the money disappear (while probably checking this new tracker frequently!). We chatted with Armed Forces personnel about using alternate language like “readiness” instead of “resilience.” It’s clear that we’re all waiting to see what happens next, how it all shakes out, and when and how we’ll need to pivot to move forward. The Department of Housing and Urban Development did not show up for their booth space which didn’t go unnoticed.
Burnout is Real
Perhaps related to some of that unease, one of the best – and most crowded (shown here) -- sessions we attended was "Burnout: Real Talk." The speakers defined “burnout” as “chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed.” Sound familiar?
At KLA we’re constantly trying to assess internally how our team is managing their work load, personal lives and the toll that current events might be taking on our mental health. Ultimately, that impacts us as individuals, our work product and our colleagues. This is the website for one of the session speakers if you want to check it out.
Storytelling Keeps Gaining Steam
We noticed quite a few sessions on the NPC25 agenda related to storytelling, and we applaud the increasing focus on and interest in this topic. It’s at the core of our work and has been since day one.
Back in 2017 at NPC in New York City, we led a session in the Tech Zone “Using Data and Engagement to Advance Sustainability.” In San Francisco at NPC 19, our session was “Building Resilience through Strong Social Networks.” Both of those sessions were based on the key elements and value of storytelling, and since then we’ve developed and compiled a boat load of related resources on our website in our Communications Boot Camp – including a Storytelling Guidebook and Climate Conversation Guide.
Interest in KLA’s Best Practices
In addition to our focus on storytelling and how our Dashboard can be your storytelling home base, people who stopped by our booth or with whom we spoke during and after sessions were most intrigued by:
You can access some of the handouts we had available at our NPC25 booth here. Some of our climate action and sustainability plans:
Ready and Resilient Barrington (RI)
Fun was Had, Champagne was Enjoyed
We’ll hand it to this year’s NPC event planners, they put on a good show. We appreciated the engaging, fun conference environment with unique attractions. Our personal favorites were the dog petting station, stilt performers, snow globe photo booth, pickleball and our chance to be super heroes. Had a blast catching up with clients and partners at the receptions, too (photo evidence below).
And #humblebrag people seemed to LOVE our champagne station during the Opening Reception. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the toast KLA’s 10th anniversary with us!
We’ve already booked KLA’s space in the Exhibit Hall for NPC26 in Detroit. We look forward to seeing you there next year. In the meantime, make sure you’re signed up for our monthly emails. Here’s a taste of what we’re working on so you know what to expect when you sign up for our newsletter:
P.S. One of the highlights of every National Planning Conference is meeting up with current and past clients, partners and team members. Denver was a blast for that as these photos show!