community design group

a people-centered, asset-based approach to urban planning, policy and design

Community engagement

Neighborhood residents at a bilingual planning workshop in South Minneapolis.

Gathering participant input from a Lake Street Initiative workshop.

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. We recognize that people that 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 useful for the improvement of a project. 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.

design: community design group | hosting: pajunas interactive