2023 APA Oklahoma Planning Conference

By: J. David Chapman/March 9, 2023

The American Planning Association (APA) held its 2023 Oklahoma Planning Conference this week in Enid. The theme was “Plan It Forward: Planning for a more resilient and diverse future.” Sessions and events allowed for the participants to network, learn about current trends and best practices, and continue their education.

I was honored to talk to the group as one of their keynote speakers. The title of my talk was “Cities: Spaces, Places, & the Built Environment.” I discussed the areas of our research on resilience, sustainability, and happiness.

Resilient cities are cities that have the ability to absorb, recover, and prepare for future shocks (economic, environmental, social and institutional). A sustainable city is a model of an urban center that makes a rational use of the natural and technological resources that its population requires. Our latest thought is that we should also focus on happiness.

In the end, what I care most about is cities and the effect of the built environment on the human experience. One measure is happiness. We have been performing research for years on what it takes to become a resilient, sustainable city. We are now in the process of developing the relationships of resiliency, sustainability, and happiness.

Jane Jacobs said, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

I believe this and believe the key to developing a city with happy citizens is their involvement in the process. In my talk, I listed the preliminary results of our research we call the happiness factors: green space, active space, access to social spaces, education, economy, public safety, transportation, and sleep.

Then, I spent the remainder of my time with the planners talking about the biggest issues I have seen facing Oklahoma cities while serving on a city council. I talked about economic development and incentives, Oklahoma’s tax policies, the problems with the initiative petition process to create policy, marijuana’s effect on municipalities and their limited control, lack of attainable housing and NIMBY attitudes, dealing with growth and the relationship between sprawl and the lack of density, utilities and the need for updates in infrastructure, the need for quality-of-life amenities, and city code that doesn’t allow the development of the desires of city leadership and citizens.

J. David Chapman is professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).