THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

“When you put something on the ground, then you really get input.

Everybody has an opinion good and bad — which is great,” said Camille Manning-Broome, president & CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) in Louisiana.

“It’s a better way to ignite voices and understand perceptions for a diverse audience.”

Manning-Broome said the best renderings in the world, pinned up on a wall at a typical community workshop, cannot begin to help design a community to meet its vision and goals — like a demonstration project can.

“Our mission is to unlock the power of planning in our communities that don’t have the resources.

We help co design plans in communities that have implementation in mind,” she said, noting that CPEX drives physical change, not reports for the files.

 “We work with partners to help understand funding to get plans implemented.”

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

Camille Manning-Broome, president & CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) in Louisiana, endorses a seeing-is-believing approach.

“We don’t see how you can get meaningful input by just holding workshops and having discussions and that’s your only way to understand community needs,” she said.

“You need various tools. We are big on funding demonstrations.

We work in a number of communities with stakeholders, community groups, elected officials — to create temporary installations addressing issues such as traffic design and floodwater management design.”

“MARK - A CALL TO ACTION” RELEASES GLOBALLY ON OCTOBER 8

I AM HONORED TO APPEAR IN THE DOCUMENTARY AS A GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVOCATE AND UNIVERSAL DESIGN EXPERT CONSULTANT

The documentary, by an award-wining team, premiered in Japan in February.

I was gratified to attend in Tokyo.

On October 8, it releases via Digital, Streaming, Satellite – even DVD.

“Mark – A Call to Action” is the story of Dr. Mark Bookman, a severely disabled Pennsylvania-born American who later resided in Tokyo full-time, becoming one of Japan’s leading experts on accessibility, and a policy consultant to governments and major corporations around the world.

His tireless efforts helped raise awareness and positively impacted the lives of not only disabled persons, but also children, seniors and vulnerable populations in the United States, Japan and many other nations.

For more information, visit:

https://www.soundviewmediapartners.com/mark-a-call-to-action/

For a review, see this image:

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

People, not the project, must come first.

“High tech is great, but we also need high touch. That means going to where the people are and finding people who speak the neighborhood language,” said Jason Jordan, director of Policy & Government Affairs at the American Planning Association (APA), meaning local nuances, not just languages other than English.

“We need to understand all the layers that factor into the neighborhood’s identity — the housing market, job accessibility, impacts.”

“Great public engagement means people are working with officials to solve a problem, as opposed to organizing to oppose a project,” he said.

“People have every right to oppose something — but they might not if the process weren’t front loaded.”

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

Jason Jordan, director of Policy & Government Affairs at the American Planning Association (APA) said the move from the traditional town-hall meeting toward virtual meetings and online surveys has pluses and minuses.

For people who cannot make a weeknight meeting, or those afraid of speaking in person, virtual can be helpful.

“Digital tools are great, but we must be aware that some technology can exacerbate underlying inequity,” he said, noting that not all people are online and not all trust online surveys.

 

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

While good old-fashioned human buy-in is key, technology can help, said Jason Jordan, director of Policy & Government Affairs at the American Planning Association (APA).

“In California, the state sets standards and says ‘your town needs to build X number of new units.’

VR headsets can help people ‘walk’ through a simulation,” he said, explaining that a visualization may show that increased density doesn’t disrupt the fabric of the neighborhood.

“People can see the big picture, then learn how it translates into code and regulations.”

 

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY INPUT

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

“Whether the tools are VR, AI or going to places where real people hang out to get real input — the more we front load [planning] with people’s participation, the better off we will be,” said Jason Jordan, director of Policy & Government Affairs at the American Planning Association (APA).

“We need to go to the people, find out what is the problem to be solved, then create the project to address it.”

Planning, even by very well-intentioned professionals, tends to design the solution then sell it to those impacted by it.

“We have to be much more intentional. For instance, we need to do a better job of engaging the renter community vs. homeowners,” Jordan said.

“I saw a case study from Arlington County, Va. They helped create missing middle housing by context setting and storytelling that led to land-use and zoning reforms.

They shared data showing the need, but they engaged people from the ground up — instead of designing a project and asking, ‘do you like this [rendering] or not?’”