Smart Growth America’s Equity Summit
The 2024 Equity Summit was a huge success! We’re so thankful to have spent two days with thought leaders, advocates, and practitioners learning more about how they’re working to create more equitable transportation, housing, and land use outcomes in their communities. Read more about this year’s Summit in our recap >>
Read the discussion guides
Whether you’re a policymaker, planner, advocate, or community organizer, you can use our discussion guides that hone in on key themes and takeaways from the 2024 Equity Summit to keep the conversations going in your community. Click the images to access the discussion guides below, or click here for all Equity Summit discussion guides.
Equity Summit 2024: Meeting the Moment
Advancing smart growth in the face of resistance
Smart growth practitioners must proactively integrate strategies to advance racial equity into their planning, transportation, and land use work, especially at the current moment. Over the last several years there has been increased attention and investment targeted at overcoming inequitable planning systems, but to date, these efforts have fallen short of our stated goals. In the face of capacity concerns, surface-level interventions to systemic challenges, and the recent Supreme Court decision effectively ending affirmative action, our movement is at a critical inflection moment.
Read the panel descriptions and meet the panelists
Meet our 2024 Keynote Speakers
Event Keynote: April De Simone
At the intersection of social dynamics and spatial design, Ms. De Simone is a socio-spatial practitioner who navigates and investigates the intricate relationship between individuals and their built environment. Her interdisciplinary approach incorporates architectural phenomenology, a philosophical framework that delves into the lived experiences and perceptions of architectural spaces.
Day 2 Keynote: Charles Brown
Charles T. Brown, MPA, CPD, LCI, is more than a transportation expert—he is a catalyst for transformative change at the crossroads of mobility, equity, health, and the environment. As the dynamic force behind Equitable Cities LLC, a minority and veteran-owned consulting firm, Charles exemplifies leadership in action, shaping urban futures that thrive on inclusivity and innovation.
Thank you to our 2024 Equity Summit sponsors
Want to sponsor the Equity Summit? Learn more here and reach out to us at [email protected]
Learn more about our past Equity programming
At Smart Growth America, we deeply believe that advancing racial equity is at the core of a smart growth approach. But what does that mean? How does it work in practice? And how can smart growth advocates do it better?
The Equity Summit—SGA’s largest event of the year—is a gathering of thought leaders and practitioners who work to ensure that racial equity is a key priority in any smart growth approach. Since the Equity Summit’s inception in 2021, our annual event has brought together an amazing lineup of speakers to discuss the intersections of racial equity and the smart growth movement, making the case that smart growth without a focus on equity isn’t smart growth at all. Learn more about our past Equity programming: