Mobile Workshops

Youth Are Not The Future, But The Now ?

Are you interested in integrating youth into your planning initiatives? Are you committed to building lasting connections with historically marginalized communities, while also contributing to the diversity of our profession? This deep dive workshop will provide the theoretical underpinnings to approach both goals with practical tools, while also planning for interactive engagement activities for youth!

Young people have incredible excitement, eternal optimism, and a contagious spirit! We believe that youth have the power to positively shape the future of all of our communities, and thus we have made it our mission to encourage young people to learn, create, and participate in activating change in the world.

Youth Engagement Planning (YEP!) is a non-profit that creates tools for youth participatory planning and project-based learning - involving more than 7,000 students (ages 5-26), educators, and community partners nationwide. This workshop will introduce YEP! methodology, best practices, and examples from across the country for developing young people’s civic leadership, integrating younger voices into planning processes, and recruiting diverse voices into our profession.

We will be developing our signature Youth Action Plans to provide engagement activities for the 5th graders at East Livingston Elementary School that will inform the goals of the planning efforts of MORPC and the City of Columbus in bikeway trail planning on the east side of Columbus. Participants are encouraged to learn the best practices and then put those skills into practice during a youth engagement event. Our goal is for every participant to leave with an experience of successfully planning engagement with youth.

Develop and implement approaches to empower, inspire, and encourage young people to learn and engage in the topics of urban planning, civic engagement, environmental justice, and the strategic planning process.
Learn best practices for effectively incorporating diverse youth perspectives and engaging diverse youth in equitable and harm-reduction planning processes, culturally sensitive engagement, and trauma reducing methodologies to amplify youth voices.
Gain familiarity with the YEP! mission and educational methods, learn general principles for developing and empowering young people’s civic leadership, and apply it to planning processes in community engagement forums.

^{Transportation: Shuttle}

^{Cost: $25}

^{CM 2.25
 Eq  2.25}

Where the University and City Meet: University Square

This mobile workshop will engage participants in a walking tour and detailed discussion of how OSU, Campus Partners, the City of Columbus, and the University District have collaborated over the past several years to create a new district, called University Square, at the intersection of 15th Avenue and High Street. University Square features mixed use development, campus uses, and community spaces at the critical nexus of the university and the city. Designed to welcome all, the new development is purposefully configured to have intimate urban spaces (Pearl Alley), commercial development that serves neighborhood and university users (the region’s first urban format Target and hotel), and university programs that span High Street (WOSU headquarters, office space). All of this new development is anchored by a new public plaza space at the intersection of 15th + High and is linked together by a system of reconnected public streets and alleys. Participants will learn how this important work was shaped by community leaders, responded to City design standards and overlays, and overcame the constraints of existing property owners. By involving all project partners, the result will be a high quality public space that truly brings the University and the community together.

^{Transportation: Public Transit + Walking}

^{Cost: $25}

^{CM 2.25}

Planners at the Statehouse

^{Note: This workshop is from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM}

Join your fellow planners in a trip down High Street to our state's Capital. You'll hear from APA Ohio's legislative committee and receive policy updates from your state lawmakers. Attendees will also get a guided tour of the Statehouse! Take part in this unique opportunity to see where important decisions are being made daily and learn how planners can directly engage in the legislative process.

^{Transportation: Public Transit or Walking}

^{Complimentary box lunch provided}

^{Cost: $20}

^{CM 2.25
 L  2.25}

Downtown Columbus Riverfront Paddle and Pedal

The Downtown Columbus Riverfront has been revitalized over the past 20 years. Planners in the 1990s had the foresight to envision a rejuvenated riverfront through downtown that connected the community to a system of parks and trails that run through the heart of the city. Through a paddle and pedal mobile workshop participants will get out on the water and paddle the Scioto River in Downtown Columbus. Participants will return on bikes along the Scioto Riverfront trail system to the conference location. This tour will highlight the numerous plans, projects, and infrastructure investments that shaped the rebirth of the Scioto riverfront through downtown. Along the way, we will be joined by representatives from Columbus Recreation and Parks Department to talk about their new Paddlesports Locker and the new bike path bridge and kayak/canoe access point in Astor Park. We will also hear from the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation about the summertime activities that enabled people to rent kayaks and get out on the water in downtown. At the end of the paddle portion of the tour, we will also hear about the fountain reconstruction project at Bicentennial Park. By directly experiencing these two recreational assets in downtown, participants will learn about the ins and outs of building, maintaining and operating riverfront parks, trails and water access points and the value they bring to the community.

^{Transportation: E-bike + Kayak/Canoe}

^{Cost: $40}

^{Note: Thanks go to Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks for the free use of their boats for this mobile workshop. Participant costs associated with this workshop do not include the use of Metro Parks boats.}    

^{CM 2.25}

A Bold Future-Forward Move for Columbus: Building on 147-year history of North Market

For this mobile session we will take a walking tour of the new North Market Tower (Merchant Building) site just one block from the Hilton (conference hotel). This tour will walk through the impacts of the Newest Tower to impact the Columbus Skyline. The project expands beyond the footprint of the parking lot and elevates the user experience from all sides of the project. From elevated streetscape improvements all around the project, public plaza space off Spruce Street the building base is activated with retail and North Market expansion. The southside has a 5-story parking garage, 2 floors of office, 1 floor ballroom and meeting rooms, 2 floors of residential lofts, 5 floors of hotel rooms, 2 floors of amenity and 11 floors of apartments. We will review the catalytic impact of this project on the neighborhood and how it will expand and support the North Market for the future.

^{Transportation: Walking}

^{Cost: $20}

^{CM 2.25}

Planners 5k Fun Run!

^{Note: This event is from 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM}

Get up, it is time to run! Come join us for a fun run that will get your blood pumping and your juices flowing. This will be a thrilling adventure that will take you by the North Market, Nationwide Arena, Huntington Park, National Veterans Memorial and Museum, and along the Scioto River. The run will be an unforgettable experience with other practitioners in the planning industry and provide a way to connect with new friends. So, it is time to dust off those old sneakers and come have some fun! Meet us in the lobby at 7:30 AM to warm up, stretch and prep for this adventure.Transportation: Running (or speed walking!)

^{Cost: Free}

^{Transportation: Running (or Speed Walking!)}

Walking Tour of East Franklinton

This mobile tour will include a walk through the East Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Franklinton is a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just west of downtown. A portion of the neighborhood is sometimes called The Bottoms because much of the land is subject to flooding from the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. The floodwall, completed in 2004, spurred developments in East Franklinton. Franklinton benefited from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of and its follow up, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The funds from these acts passed through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and led to the building, rehabilitation, or demolition of over 100 houses in Franklinton, through organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Franklinton Development Association. Today, Franklinton is home to attractions and experiences big and small, with business owners drawn to the community for its supportive nature. This walking tour will take participants throughout the Franklinton neighborhood seeing sights such as, The Idea Foundry, Makers Social, Land Grant Beer Garden, Cosi, and the Scioto Peninsula Development.

^{Cost: $30}

^{Transportation: Shuttle + Walking}

^{CM 2.25}

Quickbuild Mobility Projects

This mobile bike workshop will showcase quick build projects meant to encourage mode shift, implemented by the City of Columbus's Department of Public Service in the right-of-way. Four to five stops will be made on a roughly five-mile loop within the city's urban core, and each stop will focus on a different mode of transportation (bike, scooter, bus, and car). Participants can be both practitioners and citizen planners, and the material will be primarily introductory. Each stop will describe the planning and implementation process, metrics for success, lessons learned, as well as thoughts on next steps. Several of the installations are pilot programs, so plans for expansion will be discussed. Stops will highlight different strategies for creating safe, sustainable, and forward-thinking environments, which make it easier for people to take trips without relying on a motor vehicle. The common thread will be encouraging safe and equitable mode shift with emerging best practices.

^{Cost: $30}

^{Transportation: E-Bike}

^{CM 2.25
SR 2.25}

Transforming South Columbus: Green Spaces, Trail Connectivity, and Community Revitalization

Discover the transformative power of green spaces and trail connectivity in South Columbus. Learn about the revitalization of neglected industrial spaces into vibrant recreational havens through Scioto Audubon Metro Park, Great Southern Metro Park, and the Scioto Trail Extension. Explore unique partnerships between Metro Parks, ODNR, City of Columbus, local community organizations, and developers. Experience the positive impact of the Scioto Trail Extension, connecting these parks, providing alternative transportation options and improved greenspace access. Join us to be inspired by the transformative potential of these projects on community well-being, connectivity, and economic vitality.

^{Cost: $30}

^{Transportation: E-Bike + Walking}

^{CM 2.25}