Webinar

The American Planning Association's Japan/USA Planners Network invites you to join a webinar with planners from mountain communities in Japan, USA, and Canada to understand how they became destinations or have been forgotten and how they are tackling the issues of growth and sustainability. Our panelists from Breckenridge, Banff and Zao Onsen will discuss their planning initiatives and challenges, lessons learned and lessons still being learned.

Use this link to register. Webinar Registration - Zoom 

Lessons from the Summit

Learning from Mountain Towns

One webinar, but different time zones to accommodate our speakers and audience.

• US/Canada: Thursday, Nov 6 @ 8pm EST / 6pm MST

• Japan: Friday, Nov 7 @ 10am

Small towns are faced with planning challenges usually associated with big cities, but at a different scale and with fewer resources. Small resort towns face planning challenges that are compounded by their own popularity, a thriving and growing seasonal visitor population offset by a shrinking local residential base due to limited range of job opportunities and being squeezed out of the housing market.  

However, not all mountain towns are created equal. For every Niseko, Park City or Whistler there are others struggling to compete or to find new directions to maintain a thriving, year-round local community.

Join planners and community advocates from mountain towns in Japan, USA, and Canada to understand how they became destinations or forgotten and how they are tackling issues of growth and sustainability. Our panelists from Breckinridge, Banff and Zao Onsen will discuss their planning successes and challenges, lessons learned and lessons still being learned. Their insights will inform your own planning practices regardless of the size of the community where you live or work.

Learning objectives – Join our panelists as they share their insights on the following questions.

• Understand common planning challenges faced by both small towns and big cities, and discuss how small towns are tackling them with limited resources.

• Not every mountain town is a regional or national destination. Many mountain towns face the issue of shrinking populations and job loss. Join the discussion on building sustainable futures that celebrate local place-making.

• Popular mountain towns are identifying creative solutions to address housing affordability challenges to maintain a thriving local residential community and provide for a year-round workforce, while balancing local politics to protect historic community character

Panelists:

Chris Kulick, AICP

·      Ass’t Community Development Director, Town of Breckenridge, CO

·      2011 APA Colorado Excellence Award for Sustainable Planning

·      Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community

Darren Enns

·      Director, Planning & Environment, Town of Banff

·      Former Councilor, Kananaskis, Alberta Improvement District

·      National Park Conservation & Development, UN-Habitat Settlements Program

Takafumi Inoue, AICP

·      Co-Chair, Japan/US Planner Network

·      Founder & CEO, Hirotoba Design, Inc.

·      Co-Founder, U-Share, International Student Co-Housing Developer

Moderator: Len Garcia-Duran, AICP

·      Co-Chair, Japan/US Planner Network

·      Professional Development & Training Manager, NYC Dept of City Planning

·      Former Staten Island Planning Director, NYC Dept of City Planning