The Vision is Yours 2026: Placemaking Placekeeping Conference

Discover the transformation of Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park from a place of segregation to a 500-acre memorial park for mental wellness and renewal. Learn how community engagement and honest storytelling are shaping this space into a place of healing, reflection, and connection.

Click here to access the slide presentation in Google Drive. 

Play, Participation, and Place is an interactive session that walks through a gamified co-design process used to engage communities in shaping more connected public spaces. Participants will explore real pilot examples, learn how play-based tools surface local priorities and tradeoffs, and collaboratively design a collective space in real time. The session emphasizes hands-on participation and shared learning across planning and placemaking contexts.

This panel brings together community organizers, storytellers, wellness leaders, and data practitioners to explore how narrative functions as essential infrastructure in placemaking and placekeeping. Through examples like Wellness Walks, community engagement, and data storytelling, panelists will show how movement, memory, and lived experience shape belonging, influence policy, and sustain long-term community care.

Follow this link to access the session slides on Canva. 

Drop in to learn about the exciting ways Prince George's County Planning Department has been supporting Placemaking and Neighborhood Revitalization efforts across the county. Participants can learn more about our programs and resources, like the Equipment Library, Planning Assistance for Municipalities & Communities program, and Sustainable Communities program.

This session will discuss youth led initiatives promoting active transportation as well as community engagement. This session will highlight the work of youth taking part in the Washington Area Bicyclist's Association's Vision Zero Youth Leadership Institute, a collaboration with the Maryland Highway Safety Office and University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth. This paid internship opportunity provides high school students living in Prince George's County the chance to make an impact through capstone projects and educate other youth on vulnerable road users in their communities. 

Please note that following the presentation, participants will take part in a short half mile walk to assess nearby public spaces and their importance to youth via an asset map activity. 

This interactive Learning Lab introduces Micro-Momentum, a practical framework for launching community projects by starting small, centering local assets, and building clear next steps. Participants will work hands-on with a launch canvas and prompts to design a realistic first move for a project they care about—leaving with tools they can immediately put into action, even with limited funding or capacity.

Click here to access the session slides on Canva. 

The Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail traverses a remnant of the former streetcar “Number 82” line that ran from the Treasury Building in Washington, DC to Laurel, Maryland. It was a central part of the small-town experience for the region of commuters, shoppers, and residents of Prince George's County just outside of the Capitol. Today, the trail connects College Park, Riverdale Park, and Hyattsville directly to the Anacostia River Trail network, a premier regional system of bicycle and pedestrian trails. Join trail planners, Gateway Arts District members, community leaders and more for a lively panel focused on the work of extending the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail into Gateway Arts District: how the trail came to be, the latest extension in Hyattsville, the value in linking Route 1 Corridor downtowns and commercial areas and where, physically and conceptually, the community wants this to go.

The University of Maryland Landscape Architecture students have been working with community organizations, local residents, government agencies and other important stakeholders to create public spaces that are sustainable, comfortable, inclusive and reflect diverse local needs. In this session, students will present how a community park and a school play and learning space can be transformed into regenerative and inclusive hubs.

INDELIBLE is an ongoing documentary series highlighting performing artists in the DMV and Baltimore areas. Through footage of powerful performances and intimate interviews, the audience gets a glimpse of how independent artists create and share their work from the studio to the stage, while uplifting and nurturing their various communities. The project is directed, filmed, produced and edited by Antonio Hernandez.

Following the screening, attendees will be invited to participate in a Q&A session moderated by NDC Executive Director Jennifer Goold. 

This session invites planners, artists, community developers, nonprofit leaders, and public-sector practitioners who want to explore how arts-based practices can strengthen civic participation in the design of neighborhoods and public spaces. Through case studies—including civic storytelling, participatory public art, and place-based creative research—participants will examine how artistic practices can help communities investigate local history, surface shared values, and co-create visions for the public realm. An interactive and hands-on approach to the session will give participants a chance to experience creative engagement methods that can be adapted within their own planning, placemaking, or community development work