How to Stay Updated on Planning News from the Georgia Planning Association

The Georgia Planning Association (GPA) publishes planning news on its website through a dedicated Current News section, where members and organizations can also submit their own items. This is the primary way to follow student and professional planning activities across Georgia, and it works alongside the site's events calendar and job listings to give you a full picture of what the planning community is doing.

Where the news lives on georgiaplanning.org

The GPA site organizes community information into three connected sections:

• Current News – announcements and updates from the planning community, with a "View All News" link to browse the full feed and a "Submit Your News" option to contribute.
• Upcoming Events – a calendar of conferences, institutes, and other gatherings, with "Submit an Event" and "View Calendar" links.
• Job Listings – open positions across Georgia and neighboring states, with "View All Jobs" and "Submit a Job" options.

Reading them together is more useful than reading any one alone: a news item often explains the context behind an event or a hiring push.

What kind of news the GPA publishes

Based on the site's news feed, coverage centers on the people and institutions that make up the planning community. One example from the feed is a September 8, 2026 item about bringing together students, alumni, faculty, staff, and planning professionals — the kind of story that connects academic programs to practice.

The GPA describes itself as an official chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) and a 1,100-plus member organization of professional planners and planning officials serving Georgia at all levels of government, in the private sector, and in not-for-profit organizations. News reflects that mix.

How to submit a news item

If you have an update to share — a project milestone, a student achievement, a staff announcement, or an organizational change — the site provides a Submit Your News link in the Current News section. The same pattern applies to the other sections:

The site does not publish submission requirements, deadlines, or editorial review details, so check the submission page itself for current instructions before sending anything.

Staying current without checking manually

The site's most visible recurring touchpoint is its conference programming. The GPA notes that its conference program is paper-free and directs attendees to download the conference app before arriving to plan schedules, meet speakers, note special events, and learn about sponsors. If you attend GPA events, the app is where time-sensitive updates surface.

For everything else, the practical routine is:

1. Open the Current News section and use View All News to scan recent items.
2. Check Upcoming Events for anything relevant in the next few months.
3. Browse Job Listings if you are job searching or tracking how the field is hiring.

What you can expect to find there

The events calendar shows the range of what the GPA runs or promotes. Examples from the site include:

• 2026 Fall Conference — September 23–25 in Augusta, themed "Masters of Transition: Driving Sustainable Growth," open to planning professionals, community leaders, students, elected officials, and industry partners.
• Fall Community Planning Institute — October 28, offered by the DCA Office of Planning in partnership with the GPA as a series of classes for Georgia's planning commissioners and elected officials.
• National Planning Conference — the 2027 edition is set for Houston, TX, with registration opening in February 2027.

Job listings on the site span roles such as Transportation Program Manager (Atlanta, Georgia), Community Development & Planning Director (Norcross, Georgia), Senior Urban Planner (Spartanburg, South Carolina), Planner I (Villa Rica, Georgia), and Building Inspector, Senior (Decatur, Georgia) — a reminder that GPA's reach extends beyond Georgia's borders for some listings.

Bottom line

To stay updated, treat georgiaplanning.org as three feeds rather than one: Current News for announcements, Upcoming Events for what's happening, and Job Listings for who's hiring. If you want your own update to appear, use the matching submission link in each section.