The U.S. EPA is soliciting applications, due next week, for their free Smart Growth Implementation Assistance program. Read former SGIA Director Ilana Preuss’s article on the use of NCI Dynamic Planning in the program on our website, here.
Request for Applications: Smart Growth Implementation Assistance
Are you trying to encourage specific smart growth techniques like transit-oriented […]

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A common fear of public participation in community development can be summed up in the phrase “designed by the mob.” In his article “The Wisdom of Communities,” James Suroweicki, author of the national bestseller The Wisdom of Crowds, reverses this misconception. He writes, “Collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects […]

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Charrettes are often confused with visioning sessions. The purpose of vision development is to establish a description of a future state based on shared community values that acts as a guide for the project decision-making process. The visioning process can include one or a number of efforts including educational lectures, workshops, neighborhood walks, and preference […]

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Perhaps the most useful part of the stakeholder analysis is the identification of the “win” for each stakeholder viewpoint listed. Determining the win provides the information necessary to convince stakeholders that they should participate. Presenting the project as an opportunity for an individual to achieve his or her win is a way to create relevance […]

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A common approach to NIMBYs in public processes is avoidance, but before we dismiss them as a group that needs to be either controlled or disempowered, we have to remember that it was NIMBYs who saved Grand Central Station. While there certainly are people who care only about disrupting development projects, most people that we […]

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The most important element necessary to ensure broad participation throughout the charrette process is the well-executed public meeting. Potential project supporters often do not attend meetings because, in addition to being busy people, they have had the all-too-common experience of attending a poorly-run public meeting in the past. It is important for the charrette organizer […]

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A bus tour can be one of the most effective tools during the vision development phase of charrette preparation. Ideally, the bus tour includes stakeholders representing all viewpoints including city staff, elected officials, community members, and the charrette design team. The best person to lead the bus tour is a local urban designer or planner […]

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In the NCI curriculum, walking tours are a part of the stakeholder involvement sub-phase of the Charrette Preparation phase of Dynamic Planning. Because they act as a visioning exercise, walking tours are normally organized four to twelve weeks before the start of the charrette. They are an excellent way to engage the community in visioning […]

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As you know, the charrette studio is open to the public virtually any time the design team is working. The great overall advantage is that this affords the maximum number of opportunities for people to participate according to their personal schedules and time constraints. It also allows the design team to create and foster relationships […]

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One of NCI’s core values of community involvement is that anyone affected by a project has an important and unique contribution to make and therefore should be involved from the beginning. Why? Because NIMBYs are often great assets to a project when they are engaged in an open process in which their input has an […]

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