The National Capital Authority (NCA) will host a public forum in late November that will provide opportunity to begin a continuing dialogue about planning in Canberra, and ensuring Canberra's "place" as the national capital.

The event will be held on 26 November at Parliament House, and chief executive Gary Rake acknowledges this is a first such event for the NCA.

"We've never really taken the step of providing an open forum and interaction about the work of the NCA and the way it makes decisions about our city," said Mr Rake.

"The Authority has multiple tasks. For many Canberra people, I suspect they see us first from a local planning perspective. However our major function is more symbolic, and it's about ensuring the uniqueness of Australia is reflected in its national capital, our national capital" he said.

Mr Rake said the forum planned for Parliament House was aimed at open interaction on issues of local and national concern for the NCA. He expects it to draw a diverse range of interests from business, academia and the community, with every attendee able to put questions to a panel of Authority members and senior managers through a professional moderator.

"We know not everybody will agree with the decisions the NCA makes, but we do want to use this forum as the first step in making sure people interested in our work have the chance to better understand how and what we do - and for us to better understand their expectations and understandings of us," said Mr Rake.

He said the November forum will be the start of a new commitment to this style of communication, with an ongoing annual cycle starting in April 2010.

Registrations to participate can be lodged through here, with a mechanism for advance questions to be submitted online from early November.