NPC 2026 Session: Equitable Urban Planning for a Changing Climate

This session will be presented by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy at the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference.

This presentation offers actionable strategies to help planners advance equitable policies that simultaneously address climate change, housing affordability, and economic inequality. A new Lincoln Institute Policy Focus Report, Planning in a Polycrisis, synthesizes responses from surveys of professional planners and policymakers working in cities across North America. It highlights emerging innovations and the trade-offs in effectively integrating these considerations into their work. Other constraints are due to shifting political landscapes, limited funding, and deepening social vulnerabilities. However, these planners’ work also advances integrated, equity-driven urban climate planning, and their innovations form a framework for cities to move from ad hoc responses toward a long-term equitable climate urbanism.

The report’s authors and practicing planners explore practical strategies to address the barriers and trade-offs cities face. The conversation sheds light on how climate and housing planning can co-adapt to counter rising socioeconomic vulnerability, with a focus on the most recent shifts in practice. Showcasing these examples aims to empower city leaders with specific recommendations and strategies for advancing a model of climate urbanism that responds to the demands of polycrisis.