Visioning Tools
Communities use visioning tools and scenarios to guide a wide range of development choices, including how they manage hazards. This is a partial listing of tools that planners use to help in scenario planning and visioning:
- View presentation on planning tools of the 21st century: Presentation
- Place Matters offers web-based tools for communities to use. Many are free or low cost. Their website includes a database of smartgrowth tools.
- Place Matters lists tools to support different stages of community decision making (click on planning process map).
Engage Stakeholders – problem identification, determine “big picture” issues and goals. establish measures of success (indicators)
Develop Process – define process for project implementation
Inventory Conditions – create data infrastructure to support project (data needs, available data, collecting additional data), identify existing conditions
Analyze Trends – uncovering and analyzing trends and projections
Explore Design Options – seek design solutions to problems, form options to address identified goals and issues
Assess Impacts – direct and indirect impacts from alternative actions including: fiscal, environmental, socio-economic, traffic
Prioritize Options – through public input and analysis, choose among alternatives
Implement Plan – utilize implementation tools
Monitor and Update – set up a monitoring program for goals & policies, update continually - Some communities have organizations that offer planning or visioning services at no or reduced cost. One such organization is U-PLAN Community Planning Studio in St. Paul, MN: http://www.u-plan.org/. Look for such organizations in your community.