APA 2017 National Planning Conference

This year’s American Planning Association (APA) annual conference will be held in New York City! Our co-director Jay Shockley will be speaking at the Tuesday May 9th morning session, “Preserving Community History and Identity: National and Local Perspectives,” at the Javits Center, Room FD Hall 1E14 (JCC). At the session, Jay will be discussing landmark designations at the city and national levels as well as our project. He will be joined by Abdulla Al Shehhi; Richard Dorrier, AICP; Joshua Laird, National Park Service; and Michael Levine, AICP.

All that follows is from the APA website:

The Stonewall National Monument in New York City was designated as an historic and notable American symbol for LGBTQ equality in June 2016. This session discusses the history and issues with this designation process and its relevance to other sites and communities across the U.S.

You’ll learn about:

• Issues with new park designations (Federal, state & local) that celebrate our community identity and history
• Overcoming challenges associated with establishing LGBTQ site, parks, memorials and monuments
• Planning for new sites to educate the public about LGBTQ rights and contributions to American society

Following the 2016 National Register designation of the Stonewall National Monument, where the LGBTQ community’s uprising sparked the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement in the U.S., the Gays and Lesbians in Planning Division (GALIP) and Federal Planning Division (FPD) are co-hosting a session to discuss the relevance and means of preserving other spaces important to the LGBTQ community. This discussion will bring together representatives of the National Park Service, LGBTQ cultural historians and historic preservation specialists to discuss different ways in which spaces important to the LGBTQ community – or any community – can be preserved and protected. Together with notable professionals whose roles are critical to state and local landmark processes, the audience will examine the relevance of historic preservation in a planning context – from a local perspective and a national perspective. The audience will also be introduced to innovative ways of collecting and maintaining historical information about places of importance to community identity and history.