This conference theme considers the role played by academic urban planning programs in practice and in place. Urban planning is unique and important because as a field it grapples with the study of real problems in real places; professional degree programs train those who will not only study but act. At the 2016 conference, participants will be especially encouraged to reflect on the relationships of planning programs with practice and/or place and how our pedagogy engages these relationships. We encourage participants to engage with challenging questions for our field and our departments, to dialogue with one another and to bring additional voices into the room –practitioners, community members, and students. We see the conference—the key gathering of planning academics in conversation—as an opportunity to build the conversations about what urban planning in the academy is and means, how it is important to universities, and what it means to the places we inhabit and serve.