Small Town and Rural Planning Division Small Town and Rural Planning Division
The Small Town and Rural Planning (STaR) Division of APA is a forum for the exchange of ideas and information of interest to professional and citizen planners in our smaller communities and rural areas.
Award winners for 2026 will be announced at the National Planning Conference in Michigan. Thank you to all of our wonderful members who submitted some great projects.
2026 is a STaR Election Year
Call for Nominations Open Now
Serving as an elected leader in APA offers a tremendous opportunity to sharpen your skills, expand your networks, and work directly to strengthen the impact of the organization. The portal for candidate self-nominations will be open through Friday, 5.08 at https://apa.directnominations.net/, and includes all the groups and positions up for election this year.
- Learn more at https://www.planning.org/elections/.
STaR's Officer positions include:
- Chair
- Vice Chair-Programs
- Vice Chair-Communications
- Secretary/Treasurer
All officers must be current APA and dues-paying Division members, for a minimum of one year prior to the date of the election (August 5th). The STaR Nominations Committee will review nominations and forward recommendations for the election.
Questions? Contact Immediate Past Chair Keith Marvin, AICP kmarvin@marvinplanning.com.
APA Members get your first Division for Free!
APA’s Division Member Benefit lets you pick one APA division—like the Small Town & Rural Planning Division—at no extra cost when you join or renew, so you can connect with planners who share your interests and build your professional community through focused programs and networking. You can add more divisions for about $25 a year each, and student members can still choose up to five divisions with their APA membership.
Join the APA Small Town & Rural Planning Division APA Small Town & Rural Planning Division
The APA Small Town and Rural Planning Division (STaR) is the place for planners, citizen planners, and allied professionals who care about small towns, rural counties, and non-metro places.
If your work includes downtowns, housing, economic development, main streets, broadband, parks, zoning, community facilities, or simply “whatever needs doing,” STaR is your people.
Why join STaR?
- Get practical ideas you can use. STaR shares case studies, success stories, and small-town planning tips through its newsletter and member communications.
- Find people who understand the work. STaR is a forum for exchanging ideas among professionals and citizen planners working in smaller communities and rural areas.
- Learn at conferences. STaR sponsors and highlights sessions at APA events, including sessions of special interest at #NPC26.
- Show your work. STaR’s annual awards recognize strong plans, projects, programs, and people helping shape the future of small communities and rural areas.
- Pitch in and grow. Members can help with awards, communications, programming, and other division activities.
Who should join?
- Local government planners
- Planning commissioners and citizen planners
- Consultants serving rural and small-town clients
- Students and early-career planners
- Anyone who believes small places matter
What you’ll find in STaR
- A welcoming professional home inside APA
- Useful ideas from communities like yours
- A stronger voice for small town and rural planning
What is Small Town and Rural Planning?
We are a collaborative group of rural and small town planners, citizen planners, and allied professionals dedicated to the physical, social, and economic diversity of North America's non-metropolitan areas. As a division, we do our best to keep an eye on issues that challenge the ever changing face or "Small Town America" and share ideas and success stories from the rural heartland of the United States and abroad.
Members participate in the quarterly Small Town & Rural Planning newsletter. STaR is also active on social media, sharing our members stories and interesting ideas, trends, and hacks on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TwitterX, BlueSky, etc. We conduct regular interviews with newspapers, radio, magazines, and other media resources, as well as traveling the world telling the planning story.
STaR's competitive annual awards program recognizes outstanding projects, programs, plans, and people who are working to make the future of small communities brighter. The division also sponsors sessions and workshops at national, regional, and state conferences in partnership with our members.
Let us know how you would like to pitch in for small town & rural planning, wherever you may be.
(Featured Image: Main Street's westview of Galena Illinois, (CC) Julien Scavini 2018)