ENGAGING THE PUBLIC
Engaging the Public
Creating a Collective Vision for the Community
City planning doesn’t have much in common with Hollywood. Hollywood is full of glamour and excitement, and has no problem getting audiences into the seats. Urban planning... well, let's just say that our headliners are neither orators nor charismatic, and we often have a problem filling up even a modest room (unless the public is angry at a proposal).
Traditional public outreach is “Design-Present-Defend.” With such an approach, decisions are fully formed, and the purpose of the meetings is to present these designs to the public and talk about how “good” they are. Opportunities for dialogue are limited, and plans either move ahead or are dropped due to opposition. Not surprisingly, this old system of engagement is about as popular as the epic flop Waterworld, and planners are having to experiment with new methods.
Cities are making big decisions, and what happens now is important. Communities have choices to make about how they will grow and invest. Who will be our future neighbors? Where will we shop or play? What employers will we accommodate? These conversions are too important for Waterworld-sized audiences. We need Marvel-sized audiences!
A few lessons we as planners could take away from the Marvel movies:
Individual movies hone in on one character or set of characters, but build off the bigger story the audience is already invested in
Every part of their universe is connected to every other part, continually bringing in new audiences
They have a trusted formula where the good guys ultimately win but the audience is curious about the stakes and outcome
Translating these lessons into urban planning action isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. The story of a city is just as complex as the Marvel narratives, with passion and history already built in. Our responsibility as professionals is to tie them all together. A strong vision is the best narrative a community can tell about itself. Work with the community to develop a strong vision, get citizens excited in its future, and don’t be afraid to point out when new ideas contradict the collective vision.
Schools, taxes, businesses, and traffic are all connected to each other, but that only matters if that story is told and believed by the community. Does a city have a strong PTA? Invite them to your meeting about a new residential development and maybe they’ll be interested in arterial traffic management. The small business community always shows up to downtown parking strategy meetings, but would also have a great perspective on public art and murals. Build off of the core stakeholders you have to get the engagement you want.
The formula for town planning also has to be trusted. The traditional approach of “Design-Present-Defend” leads to conflict and pits stakeholders against each other. What we need is to bring our stakeholder group together in a way that allows everyone to use their strengths to move toward a shared goal! Did someone say Avengers?
Since every community is different, one size doesn’t fit all. Here are principles ASH+LIME have found to work:
Actively involve a large cross section of the community as as early and often as possible
Use multiple methods to request and receive feedback
Be flexible and creative; if people aren’t engaged, you’re not doing engagement right
Come in with as few preconceived notions as possible; have an open mind and be prepared to listen and accept new information
Begin with a focus on common goals and values, and keep talking about them throughout the process
When citizens express desires that may conflict with each other (e.g. supporting increased property values and avoiding displacement), don’t be afraid to ask where they stand if these tradeoffs conflict
Create scenarios, based on realistic market outcomes, and elicit feedback on these scenarios
When possible, test ideas at low cost to see how people respond to real changes
Repeat as necessary