[Music]
an old saying goes that happiness begins
at home so if the projections are right
and that by 2050 70% of the world's
population will live in cities we need
to think seriously about how we plan the
neighborhoods of tomorrow the good news
is that that's not news urban planners
mayor's local community groups and more
already care about the future of our
cities and if buzzwords are any
indication we also already have a pretty
good idea about where we're headed the
future will be walkable bikeable and
sustainable will live near jobs shops in
schools where we can live work and play
and we all want to reduce congestion
enhance safety promote jobs and increase
quality of life but here's the rub
people don't just walk or bike or feel
fulfilled because they live in a LEED
certified building in fact quality of
life and even more broadly our happiness
is difficult to define and even harder
to plan for perhaps that's why we often
feel like something is missing from our
towns and cities we are made for
community and yet we often can't find it
we yearn to feel valued understood and
connected and yet we often feel the
exact opposite that feeling of
connection is essential study after
study has shown an undeniable link
between human wellbeing and the feeling
that you're a part of something Harvard
Medical School research has also
demonstrated that our relationships and
sense of connection are the greatest
predictors of mental and physical health
in other words our quality of life
improves most when we feel engaged and
empowered social connectivity and an
ability to play a role in the world
around us are essential to feeling happy
so if you're an urban planner concerned
about quality of life that connection
between well-being
and engagement should emphasize the
importance of public participation in
the planning process if we want to make
better communities we need communities
to tell us what's working and what's not
there's just one problem
planning is boring let's be real most of
us aren't going to attend a local Zoning
Commission meeting we probably didn't
even know what the meeting was taking
place and so only a handful of us showed
up voicing our very invested opinions
for better or worse to their credit
planners generally try to seek public
input
almost every professional Planning
Association meeting has a session on
stakeholder engagement and newer public
participation strategies like visioning
happy hours and urban planning charettes
are gaining in popularity but the
language of these efforts even within
the very best planning projects tells us
that something's off for example the
American Planning Association recently
named the Plano tomorrow plan in Plano
Texas as the year's best comprehensive
plan and by a lot of counts Plano did
some cool things like making the plan
video based rather than a giant book
let's take a look at their public
outreach strategy planos success metrics
like all too many plans focus on what
its planners did not actual
participation so they sent announcements
in people's utility bills paid for robo
calls attended the neighborhood
leadership councils quarterly breakfast
and they hosted meetings in a box
that's great but I don't know if that
means that Plano collected a diversity
of ideas and opinions let's be real
not everyone fills out a survey at a
balloon festival I'm not saying this to
pick on Plano but to illustrate two
points first that getting people to
participate in planning is really hard
second to demonstrate that even one of
the best plans in America suffers from
an urban planning skills gap if public
participation is essential to quality of
life you'd think that planners would
receive heaps of community outreach
training likewise they have a real
understanding of how to put plans into
action to make communities better
neither is true
simply put planners don't receive
adequate training in public
participation strategies the political
process or communications 101 in fact a
quick review of the nation's best urban
planning graduate programs reveals an
almost shocking lack of courses devoted
to public participation students spent
plenty of time learning about planning
theory planning history advanced data
methodologies and technical skills like
geographic information systems mapping
but almost no courses are devoted to
communicating with diverse audiences or
putting plans into action I'd hazard to
guess that most people who become urban
planners do so because they want to make
a difference but for that to become a
reality we need to overhaul the planning
process to truly emphasize public
participation listening conversing
observing communicating and relationship
building should be an urban planners
chief skill set so why aren't we
teaching them how to do those things
great models for public participation
like that of envision Utah already exist
envision Utah perhaps more than any
other planning project has used
marketing savvy and values-based
messaging
to inspire participation just look at
this compared to play now I'm sold
aren't you and that's why 50,000
Newton's participated in the your Utah
your future plan for 2050 the lesson of
envision Utah is all about building
buy-in planners who want to make a
difference would do well to think more
like grassroots political organizers
building relationships with local
businesses venerated residents religious
organizations brokers trust and fosters
collective change making effective clear
resonant messaging is the hallmark of
good advertising and it should be for
planning efforts to and say what you
will about polling organizations after
the most recent US election but
companies like Gallup and survey USA
have effectively measured public
sentiment for years there's no silver
bullet for public participation no
singular approach to building better
communities but at bare minimum it's
time to shift our focus from zoning
codes and technical skills to just
figuring out what people want happiness
and health aren't engineering problems
they're people problems when planners
put people first the results speak for
themselves one of the best examples I
have for this actually comes from a
community that had its independence and
self-governance taken away if you're the
Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation in South Dakota you
know a thing or two about the perils of
under-representation today Pine Ridge is
one of the poorest areas in America as
the native tribe struggles to deal with
economic hardship substance abuse
under-resourced schools and lack of
transportation connectivity and in 1890
it was the home of the Wounded Knee
Massacre a brief one-sided encounter
with US troops that left at least 150
dead so
it's safe to say that the Oglala haven't
always been the beneficiary of past
planning efforts which is why the work
of the Thunder Valley Community
Development Corp should inspire us all
the more instead of resorting to
formulaic processes Thunder Valley is
tapping into language and memory to
engage the community this is just one of
the ways that they've been able to do
that we oak Lala's do the best we can to
take care of our own people this little
piece of land we have is our home we
don't want to be anywhere else this is
all we have left we know it is up to us
Abuela's to make it happen this might
only work on Pine Ridge and that's the
point it's authentic and personal its
illallah Thunder Valley's ability to tap
in the history and heritage is what
gives their planners the ability to do
what they do there's a constant thread
of self-sufficiency and that value is
why Thunder Valley supports a youth
development initiative a construction
labor training and food sovereignty
program their crowning achievement is
the development of a new regenerative
community a kind of whole new
neighborhood that caters to the need of
reservation residents as one Pine Ridge
resident put it after attending a
Thunder Valley meeting that was the best
meeting I've ever been to in my whole
life nobody had ever asked me what I
want from my community or my life and
that's the key when planners are able to
pin down what's in our heart planning
regains the power to improve the places
we call home it's just not likely to
happen at a zoning meeting quality of
life depends on how much we engage in it
I invite you to join me in doing just
that
[Applause]