The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) is a non-profit organization based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 that coordinates urban and rural planning efforts in South Louisiana, working in close cooperation with local governments and councils of governments. CPEX introduces best-practice models, innovative planning

Planning

Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...

 policies and technical assistance to individual communities who want to create and enact plans that deal with infrastructure needs, environmental issues and quality design for the built environment.