Friday, October 25, 2024

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

TOOLKITS, TECHNIQUES, HIGH-TECH AND NON-TRADITIONAL/DIVERSE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT HELPS TO MAKE PLANNING ABOUT PEOPLE

“I want to be aware of those underlying stories. It helps me figure out if a community has gatekeepers you need to win over and build trust with,” said Sara Schooley, a project planner at Toole Design Group, noting that trust is built when planners sincerely want to listen and put that input into the plan.

Schooley said technology is great, but it has pitfalls.

She noted that some online survey platforms have auto generated translations.

But those translations are nowhere near as accurate and inclusive as having a native speaker create a survey in Spanish, or whatever language other than English is spoken in an impacted community.

“We also do not enter a project expecting everyone to come to us. In Bloomington, Ind., we went to 15 different sites to gather inclusive input,” she said.

“And it’s not just dividing by geographic areas, it is going where people are: pickleball courts for active seniors, the University of Indiana main parking lot for students, the main bus station for transit riders — including people with disabilities.”

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