Title: Shaping our Future: The Community Planning Process Dr' Lori Garkovich University of Kentucky
1Shaping our FutureThe Community Planning
ProcessDr. Lori GarkovichUniversity of
Kentucky
2Development is a community act of will,a
never-ending do-it-yourself job.Successful
communities are built from the inside out. Why?
Because those who live in a place have the
greatest investment in its future.Some
communities realize their future is in their
hands. Others dont. It is a choice.
3Why Plan? - Lets Just Do It!
- Failing to plan is planning for tomorrows
problems - You can choose what change will do to you or you
can wait to see what happens - You can accept what is or you can choose to build
the community you want - You can react to circumstances or you can
influence them
4What Does a Plan Do for Us?
- Indicates what is important to us as a community
- Provides a strategy for making choices for action
- Is the basis for cooperation and collaboration
within the community - Enables us to adapt to changing circumstances in
creative ways - Embodies our vision for our future
5Key Challenges of Planning
- How do we build on our strengths?
- How do we nurture a diversified economy that
provides jobs and captures consumer dollars? - How do we have economic growth and sustain the
quality of our natural environment?
6Key Challenges of Planning
- How do we manage the impacts of growth so as to
at least maintain the current quality of life,
and even better, enhance it? - How do we create a physical place that builds a
sense of community? - How do we encourage working together for a
better tomorrow?
7Outcomes of Effective Planning
- Increased use of peoples skills, knowledge, and
abilities - Increased community initiative, responsibility
and adaptability - Strengthened relationships and communication
within the community - Sustainable community systems
- Diverse and health economies
8Key Steps in the Planning Process
- Community Planning Begins with a Vision for
Tomorrow - Community Planning is Grounded in a Realistic
Assessment of What Has Been and What Is - Community Planning Succeeds with a Realistic and
Effective Action Plan
9Community Planning Begins with a Vision for
Tomorrow
- A vision is the energy behind all your efforts --
it pushes us through the hard times and pulls us
toward a destination
10A Strategic Community Vision
- If you dont know where you are going, you will
probably end up somewhere else. Laurence J.
Peter - Your vision defines your destination -- it is
what you are planning to become
11A Strategic Vision Must
- Be grounded in the history and values of the
people in the community - Engage the creativity of the community and
connect community members with each other - Reflect the interests, dreams and concerns of all
members of the community
12A Strategic Vision Must
- Reflect shared community values and principles as
to what constitutes the common good - Establish the basis for making critical public
choices on the path to the future
13Approaches to Building a Community Vision
- Citizen community forums
- Public services summits
14Approaches to Building a Community Vision
15Citizen Community Forums
- Heritage - What do you cherish about this
community and want to see preserved for future
generations? - Change - If you could change just one thing to
make this a better place to live and work, what
would you change? - Vision - Imagine this community as you would like
it to be in 20 years. How would it be different
from what it is today? - Action - Given how you would like this community
to be in 20 years, what do you need to start
doing now to reach this vision?
16Citizen Community Forums
- Trained community facilitators guide discussions
about the future - Discussions occur in existing community and
neighborhood organizations and in places where
people often gather (e.g., youth sports events,
county fairs)
17Citizen Community Forums
- The number and location of forums is tracked to
insure representation of community interests -
age, race, area of the county - An executive summary highlights key themes for
each question - All comments also compiled and reported
18Approaches to Buildinga Community Vision
19A Public Services Summit
- Purpose is to
- Identify key challenges facing the community
- Develop a shared vision for the future
- Determine factors affecting the communitys
ability to address the challenges or achieve the
vision - Identify short term actions for change and who
will initiate the actions
20A Public Services Summit
- A day-long meeting of all public service
providers - utilities, protective services,
educational, health and social services - A short survey of participants is the basis for a
directory of community services providers
21A Public Services Summit
- 2 minute introductions - name, agency, key
challenges facing the community from the
perspective of your agency - What does this community do well?
- What could this community do better?
- What needs to be done that isnt?
22A Public Services Summit
- What is your vision for this community?
- What is making it difficult to address the
challenges and work toward your vision? - What needs to be done right now to overcome these
barriers to action?
23Community Planning is Grounded in a Realistic
Assessment of What Has Been and What Is
- To understand the past and acknowledge the
present is essential for planning.. - But remember, this does not define the future.
24In a Community Assessment You
- Evaluate and understand your past
- Assess your current situation -- community
strengths and limitation - Recognize and value your communitys social
capital - Identify and catalogue your communitys assets
25What Can a Community Assessment Tell Us?
- What skills and resources do we have as a
community and a people? - What do we do?
- What is produced here?
- What do people know how to do?
- What do we need that we might be able to provide
for ourselves? - Can we match our skills and resources to our
needs?
26What Can a Community Assessment Tell Us?
- What is the nature of social relationships in our
community? - How do people, organizations, and local
governments interact here? - How do we see ourselves? And, how do others see
us as a community? - How do we solve problems? How do we deal with
opportunities?
27Approaches to Community Assessment
- Oral history
- Asset inventory
- Socioeconomic and demographic analysis
- Public services summit
- Market analysis
- Needs assessment
- Video/photographic tour
28Approaches to Community Assessment
29Asset Inventory - Choosing a Path of Development
- Development based on what we dont have --
dependency on institutions and resources from
outside the community, or - Development based on our strengths -- the people,
organizations and institutions of our community
and what we can do for ourselves
30Asset Inventory - Rethinking Our Approach to
Development
- Needs - Based
- Development based on what we dont have --our
dependency on institutions and resources outside
the community - What others can do for us
- Asset - Based
- Development based on our strengths -- the
organizations, institutions and the people of our
community - What we can do for ourselves
31Asset Inventory
- An asset inventory move us from asking Whats
missing? to asking - What do we have?
- How do we use our assets more effectively to
achieve our goals? - How can we use our assets to leverage additional
resources from within and outside the community?
32Asset Inventory What are Our Assets?
- Knowledge from education, life experience, or
traditional lore - Skills from formal training or experience
- Webs of relationships linking people together
within the community - Webs of relationships that link organizations
together within the community and to outside
resources - Actual economic resources
- Physical resources
33Asset InventoryWhere do We Discover our Assets?
- People
- Individual resources and empower people to
contribute them to community building - Organizations/Agencies
- The members, their experiences, and networks with
others in and out of the community - Institutions
- The mission, physical resources, knowledge, and
links to formal structures outside the community
34Other Approaches toCommunity Assessment
- A community assessment encourages participation
by people of all ages and positions in the
community. It taps into the knowledge and
experiences of everyone
35Other Approaches toCommunity Assessment
- Socioeconomic and Demographic Analyses
- Purpose is to document recent and projected
population, social, and economic trends in order
to understand the dynamic of community change - Needs Assessments
- Gaps in services, infrastructure and
opportunities that require resources beyond the
capacity of the community
36Other Approaches toCommunity Assessment
- Oral histories
- Reflections on changes in the community and
social life - Vide/photographic tours
- Pictures and stories of most/least liked areas of
the community, places that most represent the
meaning of this community - Market analyses
37Community Planning Succeeds with a Realistic and
Effective Action Plan
- It is not enough to have a vision.
- We must have a plan to work and successful
communities work the plan.
38Questions to Guide the Drafting of a Plan
- Will the action build on our assets?
- Will it enhance the quality of life?
- Is the action realistic and do-able given who we
are and where we are? - Will it increase choices and opportunities for
citizens? - Does the action help our vision become a reality?
39Elements of a Good Plan
- Community principles
- Long term goals
- Short term action objectives
- Time frames for action
- Assessment of resources required to accomplish
actions - Initiating party
- Process for evaluating progress
- Method for timely reviews of the plan
40The Initiating Party
- The entity that jump starts the action
- Community organizations or individuals can
- Endorse the community plan
- Incorporate parts of the community plan into
their own plan of work - Convene a task force for action
- Obtain or contribute resources for action
- Link to external networks
41Types of Community Plans
- Community infrastructure
- Economic development
- Tourism development
- Comprehensive land use
42Community Infrastructure Plan
- An assessment of community infrastructure as it
is and as it will be at some point in the future - Defines when and where infrastructure will be
developed - Identifies sources of funding and may establish a
sequestered fund for infrastructure development
43Economic Development Plan
- Where will people work and in what kinds of jobs
(e.g., pay, benefits, skill levels)? - What training and skills will be required for
these jobs? - Where will people spend their consumer dollars?
- Where will people find professional, business,
commercial services?
44Economic Development Plan
- How can we nurture an entrepreneurial climate?
- How can we retain and encourage the expansion of
existing businesses? - What types of businesses do we want to attract to
this community and how do we attract them?
45Tourism Development
- What are our natural resources assets?
- What are our historical and cultural assets?
- What are our tourism assets?
- What might be our tourism niche?
- What supporting services (e.g., restaurants,
hotels, retail) would be needed to develop our
tourism potential?
46Comprehensive Land Use Plan
- Goals and objectives for the communitys future
physical, social and economic development which
builds on the distinctive character and natural
and cultural assets of the community - Recent and projected population and economic
trends
47Comprehensive Land Use Plan
- A transportation plan showing current status and
proposed improvements in community transportation
system - A community facilities plan identifying current
and proposed locations of public and
semi-public buildings and services
48Comprehensive Land Use Plan
- An inventory of existing land uses and
identification of environmentally sensitive and
historically significant areas - A future land use map showing the most
appropriate, economic, desirable and feasible
patterns of land use for both public and private
land in the community
49Leadership and AttitudeThe Other Keys to Success
- As a community, you must believe in the
possibility of change and be willing to act for
yourselves. - If you dont why should anyone else?
50The Other Keys to Success
- Planning needs leaders who think differently
about old problems and ask difficult questions,
they are civic agitators - Planning needs leaders who can mobilize residents
and local organizations to invest their assets in
their own community
51The Other Keys to Success
- Planning requires leaders who will seek diverse
perspectives and concerns when dealing with
difficult public choices - To succeed in planning, a community needs
connective leaders who enable collaboration for
the common good
52The Other Keys to Success
- Successful planning requires a willingness to
seek collaborative advantage by - Seeing community boundaries as elastic, and
- Building creative and flexible public/private
partnerships
53The Other Keys to Success
- Successful planning requires critical thinking to
evaluate development proposals, especially those
from outside the community - It is important to look a gift horse in the
mouth and to ask how the development fits within
the plan and whether it contributes to the vision
of the community
5420 Keys to Community Success
- Chris Sieverdes
- North Carolina State University
5520 Keys to Community Success
- 1. A participatory approach to community
decision- making - 2. A cooperative community spirit
- 3. A conviction that, in the long run, you have
to do it yourself. - 4. Balanced with a willingness to seek help from
the outside. - 5. Active economic development program
5620 Keys to Community Success
- 6. A deliberate process for the transition of
power to a younger generation of leaders. - 7. Acceptance of women in leadership roles.
- 8. A strong presence of traditional institutions
that are integral to community life. - 9. A strong belief in and support for education.
- 10. Evidence of community pride
5720 Keys to Community Success
- 11. An emphasis on quality in business and
community life. - 12. A willingness to invest your own resources in
your future. - 13. A realistic appraisal of future
opportunities. - 14. An awareness of community positioning.
- 15. A knowledge of and appreciation for the
physical environment and its role in the quality
of life in your community
5820 Keys to Community Success
- 16. A problem solving approach to providing
health care. - 17. Strong community support for families and a
family orientation permeating all aspects of
community life. - 18. A sound and well maintained infrastructure.
- 19. Careful use of fiscal resources.
- 20. A knowledgeable use of information resources