Participation Tools for Better Community and Land Use Planning
- Public
Participation in Community Planning
- Computer
Simulation as a Public Participation Tool
- Public Participation
and Visual Surveys
- Participatory Land Use Mapping
a. Organizing
a Mapping Exercise in Your Community
Participatory Land Use Mapping
As many communities continue to grow in patterns of low-density
sprawl, forward thinking planners are looking for ways to develop
long range plans that emphasize infill and compact development.
This can be a formidable task when these planning principles are
met with public resistance.
 Participatory
Land-Use Mapping is a technique used to involve members of the
public in exploring local and regional land-use planning issues.
Residents are, in effect, put in the driver’s seat and challenged
to devise solutions to the problem of meeting the community’s
projected growth needs while protecting the community’s economic,
environmental, and social well-being.
One format used to work through these challenges is similar
to a board game. Participants are given color-coded pieces,
which
represent the new development anticipated to take place in a
city
or region, based on accepted growth projections. These color-coded
pieces or chips may represent additional growth at current or
anticipated development densities. In other cases, chips may
represent different types of development such as single-family
homes, townhouses,
apartments, retail centers, office buildings, etc. Community
members play out different development strategies by constructing
them
with chips on the maps.
During a workshop, small groups of 6 to 10 people are provided
with a local or regional map, which serves as the board. Each
map shows areas that are built-out, parks, vacant land, open space,
and natural features which constrain new development such as floodplains,
steep slopes, farmland, sensitive vegetation and endangered habitats.
Another format for Participatory Land Use Mapping utilizes GIS
(Geographic Information System) software tools. GIS software
can help policy makers and stakeholders to make more informed
and more effective decisions by relating data with place. GIS
can take an overwhelming amount of information - tabular, spatial,
or graphic - and display it in a way that makes it meaningful
to local government staff, policy makers and the public. By displaying
information in layers - each layer with a particular issue -
it is easier to understand how issues interrelate. To learn more
about GIS and its uses, read our factsheet "Geographic
Information Systems: A Tool For Improving Community Livability."
Through Participatory Land-Use Mapping, community members learn
about the hazards of inefficient land-use and the challenge of
accommodating a growing population in a compact urban area without
densifying development and adopting alternative modes of transportation.
The end result is often the fostering of public support for smart
growth principles.
 Who
Benefits from Participatory Land Use Mapping?
Through Participatory Land-Use Mapping, community members
are given an opportunity to juggle the competing demands played
out in the growth and development arena. The exercise often helps
them better understand the complex dynamics of sustaining a high
quality of life in the face of development pressure.
In addition to providing valuable input to the current planning
process, Participatory Land-Use Mapping also serves as an important
form of public education. Participants of Land-Use Mapping sessions
benefit from an increased understanding of the land-use and development
issues facing their community. Armed with this knowledge, a community
is more likely to make wiser community planning choices in the
future.
Size and Scope of Mapping Sessions
Depending on the depth of information sought by planners,
a mapping session may take the form of a three hour meeting, an
all day workshop, or multi-day event. The number of people
who participate in a session may range from 25 to 500, depending
on the scope of the project.
|
