Registration for Designing Cities 2025: Washington D.C. will open for members only at an early bird rate of $750 on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Registration will open for everyone else on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. 

Registration will close on April 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. PST. We will not be able to accommodate any late registrations.

Access to the entire conference program 

>All plenaries, peer sessions, Meet the Cities, opening reception, and networking opportunities. No need to sign up separately for any of these! 

>Your choice of three Walkshops. 

When you register, you will choose which Walkshops to attend. Click "session selector" and choose one per day. You can change these choices by clicking "Manage Registration Details" on your confirmation email.

*Your ticket does not automatically include access to pre-conference Workshops (more information below).*

Food & refreshments

>2 Breakfasts (Thursday and Friday morning)

>2 Lunches (Thursday and Friday afternoon)

>Coffee and tea Wednesday afternoon, Thursday afternoon, and Friday afternoon

>Snacks and drinks at our Opening Reception

Additional tickets: Workshops

NACTO offers a small selection of specialized workshops that provide skill building and deep dives on topics. Workshops take place the morning of Wednesday, May 28 before the conference begins. Workshops are not included with registration and cost $300 to attend. 

Workshop options will be announced on January 22, 2025. You must register for the conference to purchase a workshop ticket. When registering for the conference, you can add on the workshop of your choice.

Private Sector Registration

There are a limited number of spots available for private sector participants at Designing Cities 2025: Washington, D.C. To maintain our focus on our members, we limit private sector registration to 3 people per company, unless that company is sponsoring the conference. 

Private sector companies that aren't sponsoring the conference should apply to attend. The application will be available here on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. One person from each company should submit the form and include up to two other staff members.

NACTO will review private sector applications and notified applicants when they are approved to register. We will review applications on a rolling basis until April. 

If you would like to bypass the application process or send more than three staff to the conference, please click here for more information on how to become a sponsor.

Travel and Hotel

Designing Cities 2025 will take place at the Marriott Marquis at 901 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC.

We will provide a room block link on this page when registration opens on January 22, 2025 with rooms at a pre-negotiated rate of $259/night before taxes. If you have questions or issues with your reservation, please contact the hotel directly.  

Once our room block is full, we recommend booking at a nearby hotel such as Westin DC Downtown or Courtyard/Residence Inn Downtown/Convention Center.

Professional Credits 

AICP credits: After the conference, visit the American Planning Association website to register for AICP CM credits for the plenaries, breakout sessions, workshops, and Walkshops that you attended! 

PE credits: Email events@nacto.org after the conference if you would like to request PE credits. 

Registration Deadline, Payment, & Cancellation

Registration will close on April 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. PST. We will not be able to accommodate any late registrations.

Cancellation Policy

Registration fees will be refunded if a request is received in writing no later than April 15, 2025. Email refund requests to events@nacto.org.

NACTO will offer the ability to transfer tickets to a colleague up until April 22. You must email events@nacto.org with the request. Please include the name and email address of the colleague that you are transferring the ticket to. NACTO will not handle the exchange of funds between ticket holders. That is the responsibility of the initial ticket holder. 

Payment Method & Invoicing

We accept credit card payment only. We are unable to accept checks or provide invoices for individuals or groups. There is no onsite registration.

More Information

Read our Information Page for more information on attending the conference, including recommendations on what to bring and what to expect on-site. If you have any questions, contact events@nacto.org.