Community engagement

Honest, meaningful and ongoing community engagement is a foundation for our work.

We believe that more ideas and opinions lead to solutions that address more issues, that belong to more people, and that more fairly and sustainably resolve the problems at hand.

We create opportunities for meaningful exchange of information, insights and ideas between proposers and participants, engaging citizens and public officials in mutually beneficial, creative dialogue that leads to action and plan implementation.

We recognize that people who attend a project workshop or otherwise participate in a planning process are making a gift of their time. We view it as our obligation to honor and respect that gift.

We do that by designing workshops that present information in a clear and understandable way; by asking questions that promote understanding; and by designing participatory planning exercises that are engaging and that elicit information that makes a project better. We clearly identify the purposes behind our engagement, and build participation frameworks that provide continuing opportunity for engagement by members of the public throughout the duration of a project.

An innovative community engagement approach

Innovation is a core component of what we deliver to our clients. And our approach to community engagement includes several innovative components designed to increase meaningful participation while avoiding the "meeting fatigue" that many planning projects encounter.

Some of the tools and components we use to engage community members include:

Listening sessions

Focused "listening sessions" gather the comments and ideas of civic groups, institutions and businesses at their customary meeting places, and begin two-way conversations with citizens and institutions that allow us to learn about their visions for the future.

"Streets and Places" workshop materials

One of the biggest challenges when inviting citizens to participate in urban design or transportation planning projects is that it is often difficult to talk about design issues without resorting to abstract terms or generalizations that hinder effective communication and become barriers to understanding.

Our "Streets and Places" toolbox is a set of hands-on, experiential workshop materials and activities that open doors to understanding and foster learning, invite conversation and engage community members in discussion of design concepts relevant to walking, bicycling and community design. These materials allow us to substantively engage average citizens who are not currently engaged in transportation and/or community design and planning processes, and to do so in a way that is fun and builds continued participation.

Web-based interactive tools

Interactive, collaborative and open web-based tools allow easy distribution of project information and allow citizens to submit comments and questions as a project progresses. Interactive mapping capabilities allow citizens to upload photos and relevant descriptions of the project area to highlight issues for the project team.

These tools become a forum open to the larger community, including employees and visitors who might not reside in a project area and who might not be able to participate in a more traditional workshop setting.

Experiential "Bike&Walkabouts" and "Place Impressions"

Fun and engaging public events obtain participant impressions of a place (e.g. a neighborhood, a commercial node, or transportation corridor) by providing a context for experiencing it with others and an opportunity to explore assets, opportunities for improvement, and observed issues. These events gather valuable information and begin building a relationship with participants for their continued engagement in and guidance for the project at hand.

Friendly, jargon-free communications

Accessible, jargon-free project materials, numerous graphics (including photorealistic visualizations and three-dimensional renderings), and effective multimedia communications help invite participation, present and summarize a Plan's goals and recommendations, and make it easier to communicate with the larger public to dispel misconceptions and build project support. Materials and videos can be downloadable from the Plan's site and be made available for distribution through community television, public access channels, and as DVDs for mailing to project participants.