City Planning LOLCATS

APA's Fast, Funny, and Passionate sessions at the national American Planning Association conferences are designed to entertain and educate. I'm serving as the moderator and a speaker at the Sunday morning session. My talk is called "Pin, Post, and Push to Promote Planning." The purpose is to share lessons about how planners can use social media to promote planning.



Last week students at Ohio State University sent a survey out asking students and professionals from across the country for their ideas for how they would like to engage with APA and other professional organizations through social media platforms. We received hundreds of really great ideas. Many of the responses focused on creating fun ways to engage around planning topics. One creative student from Florida State University responded that we need more cats. Cats you may ask, what? Many of you may be familiar with the LOLCATS, a series of pictures of cats in silly locations asking for a cheeseburger. As soon as I saw this survey response, I knew that this was a serious call to action!

I had seen these cats, but asked friends on Facebook what they knew about LOLCATS. Cody Price, a planning student at Texas A&M University, sent me a link to the architectural LOLCATS, created by architecture students at UC Berkeley. Well, if architects have their own cats, why shouldn't the planners! Myself and John Gardocki, an undergrad city and regional planning student at Ohio State University, set out to create a series of LOLCATS for planners. You can see more of our creations at the following wordpress page. You are welcome to join us and submit your own City Planning LOLCATs and suggest your own captions! I'll add them to the collection.