APA Local Planning Agency Managementmedia2.planning.org/media/npc2017/presentation/S603.pdf · Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills Planning Agency Assessments • Internal

Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills

Local Planning Agency Management and Planning Skills

APA 2017 National Conference #9104378

Wayne Feiden, FAICP Joel Mills Eva Friedman Hull


Management and Planning Skill Sets Wayne Feiden, FAICP, Director of Planning & Sustainability, Northampton, MA, Lecturer of Practice, U of Massachusetts

Democracy Skill Set Joel Mills, Director of Communities by Design, American Institute of Architects

Sustainability Skills Set: Trends from Education Eva Friedman Hull, Civic Engagement and Service Learning and Regional Planning Graduate Student, U. of Massachusetts



Leadership “Nations Talk but Cities Act”

NOT: charismatic NOT: expert


Communication & Core Value Proposition Vision & Mission Statements

Community Vision

Public Realm

Private Realm

Core Value Proposition

Planning IS political


System Thinking & Design Thinking Be Upstream!


Right Time for Community Change


Planning Team recruit, retain, develop, diversity

Private Sector Government

Technical Expertise

Quit & Stay

No rules Creative problem solver

Make the system work


Planning Office Organization Context is Everything!

Current Planning Comprehensive Planning

Sustainability & Resiliency

Community Development

Economic Development

“To be honest, I am not sure why… It has been that way since I have been here”


Entitlements & the Permit Counter

• Single Point of Contact & staff expertise • 24/7 (ALL public records & process) • Apply for project, not permit • Transparency • Check lists • Staff reports


Sustainability and Resiliency

Equity People Environment

Planet

Economy Profit

Sustain


Sustainability lives

• In an integrated planning agency • In a chief legislative or executive office • As a free-standing department • Some combination of above


Sustainability and Resiliency Competencies & Skill Sets

• Environmental planning • Community economic develop. • Social equity • Core sustainability • Core planning


Planning: Competencies & Skill Sets

• Personal skills • Interpersonal skills • Intellectual skills: synthesis and analyze • Profession specific: technical & political • Generic: communication

Source: Dory Reeves


Priority Mismatches: Coach me!

Planning Managers • Admit weakness • Multiple viewpoints • Embrace diversity • Listening over acting • Careful analysis

Emerging Planners • Set priorities • Advance projects

Source: Dory Reeves


Planning Agency Assessments

• Internal (planning or city manager) • Benchmarking • Peer-review • Consultant review and audits • Programmatic- STAR Communities • Accreditation (future):

• standards, aspirational principles, self-study, peer review, final report.


Metrics and Performance Accountability

• Measure risk (litigation and political risks) • Benchmarking • Indicators • Third party: e.g., STAR Communities


Mental Models

• Keep it local • Keep it personal • Use health framework • Appeal to loss aversion • Community conversation

Leiserowitz et al 2014

Source: Michele Wick


The Democracy Skill Set


What Success Looks Like


Our Reality: Every week, 1.4 million people move into cities across the

globe.


The Urban Challenge

As the World Economic Forum has noted, “Cities are evolving faster than at any point in our history, putting them on the cusp of major transformation which, if managed well, could lead to unprecedented economic growth and prosperity for all, but if managed in an uncoordinated manner could drive social, economic and environmental decline.”

Urbanization Rising Inequality Housing Affordability Climate Change Mobility Urban Systems


Global Democratic Crisis


We need to change our orientation to the public

Most of your biggest challenges as planners relate to democracy & scale, not technical planning problems. Politics vs. Math


Today, we need new skillsets

+


The field has a 50-yr tradition to build upon…


It’s not a linear path: Consider New York


There is no top-down solution here

“Zoning, along with other NIMBY-inspired housing and land-use regulations, might be the great invisible problem of modern America.”


Federal Inadequacy

“local leaders who need help no longer have any business traveling to Washington. The nation’s capital has become the site of photo ops, pep talks, news conferences and little else. As Washington fades into the background, the rest of the nation is engaging in a great experiment — can a country successfully invest in its future without the national government being a relevant player?” – Bruce Katz, 2014


Planners vs. the Public

Our “War on Christmas”


De-mystifying the NIMBYs “NIMBYism – not-in-my-backyard –is rampant in

California, sometimes erupting extemporaneously in response to development

proposals, sometimes driven by misguided environmentalism.” – Sacramento Bee


NIMBYs make the case for new democratic skill sets

NIMBYs are NOT naturally occurring

monsters – they are manmade creations The problem concerns democratic practice

and a lack of community dialogue about the future


“This seems obvious enough—new development faces less neighborhood resistance when the neighborhood is included in the process from the git-go. But this means more than just holding public hearings, which are dominated by organized neighborhood groups as opposed to average residents.”


Jim Fishkin & the Science of P2


Dialogue educates and informs


The real issue: The Expectations Gap

What Government Wants

What the Public Wants


Example – NYC World Trade Center

Listening to the City brought more than 4,300 people together on July 2, 2002

Key problem: Sponsoring agencies (Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority)wanted feedback on designs, and public wanted input on design. (Consult vs. Collaborate) Outcome: Public rejected all of existing designs and sent the entire initiative back to the drawing board.


Good P2 can build understanding and acceptance…

“They had ideas that we will incorporate on the waterfront and the park. We give them credit for working hard and diligently on the site. We’re going to look at it strongly and we think the job will be a tremendous success.” –Donald Trump, 1990s, following a NYC project


“nothing for us without us. We want to know more about the governance of the cities, because we want to be part of

how cities are governed.” - Rose Molokoane, Slum/Shack Dwellers International/South Africa

Demand is rising everywhere


American Planning Association (2012) – “More than 50 percent want to personally be involved in community planning efforts, including more than half of Democrats, Republicans, and independents as well as majorities of urban, suburban, and rural respondents.”

No city is “smart” if it’s not democratic No plan or strategy is sustainable unless it involves the

community!

What the Data Tells Us


Traditional tool box is insufficient Polls/surveys Public hearings Public meetings We must move beyond treating people as

simple consumers or taxpayers, and allow them to be citizens


The problem with generic/sterile processes

Applying one-size-fits-all to unique local traditions/culture

Inappropriate match for public expectations Pre-determined outcomes Not ‘local’, does not instill civic pride The democratic vernacular: every place is a

unique combination of tradition, culture and experience.


Feb 2014 Survey on IAP2 Spectrum


A failure of democracy

2014 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Survey


Stakeholder Identification Successful p2 includes identifying ALL of the stakeholders on the bell and involving them.


How Planning Conflicts Get Framed


The Fight for Urban Democracy

autocrats: Public Relations -Sponsors decide on a course of

action and then attempt to sell it to the public.

-people can feel manipulated and suspicious

-often hinders them from thinking effectively about problems and challenges because it avoids exposing them to the full dialogue.

-PR seeks “buy-in”

democrats: Public Participation -Sponsors engage public on the

front end in dialogue to help understand the pros and cons of different actions and seek input, consultation, involvement, collaboration

-Builds common understanding of the issue and decision by hearing and understanding all viewpoints and information

-P2 seeks meaningful involvement


Planners celebrate Jane Jacobs until…

“planners frequently seem to be less equipped intellectually for respecting and understanding particulars than ordinary people, untrained in expertise, who are attached to a neighborhood, accustomed to using it, and so are not accustomed to thinking in generalized or abstract fashion.” – Jane Jacobs


“Paradoxically, what is most needed to achieve Jane Jacobs’s vision is to deploy a Robert Moses strategy—redesigning our streets quickly and decisively for an increasingly urban age, this time committed to accommodating population growth and offering residents more options for getting around without a car.”


A Citizen Idea


Fremont Troll, Seattle

When urban democracy expands, cities flourish. The placemaking outcomes – and the impact on

people – are nothing short of remarkable.


Today: NIMBY Mythmaking


Building Capacity: Burlington, Ontario, Canada


“One of the coolest neighborhoods in the nation” - Thrillist

East Nashville


Portland: The Pearl

“And yet, slowly, a largely forgotten part of Portland’s past became an urban icon of living unlike anything the country had ever seen: A unique blend of verve and vibrancy, with more than a passing nod to Portland’s uncommon brand of originality…. Today, the Pearl District has earned a worldwide reputation for urban renaissance. Diverse, architecturally significant, residential communities thrive here. Galleries rub shoulders with restaurants, shops open to parks, and no one has to squint anymore to see the magic that’s taken hold.”


Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment

“It was an experiment in deep democracy. That is the beauty of it –a true community effort, we were all in it

together. It was not created through a hierarchy of controlling leadership.” – Steve Robinson, Santa Fe Railyard

Community Corporation


“You gave us hope. Back in 1992, your ideas seemed like dreams. Now we are living those dreams.”

– Rick Smith, San Angelo Times-Standard, 2012

San Angelo, TX


Let’s go back to our roots….our grassroots

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth. --

Abraham Lincoln


The Sustainability Skill Set: Trends from Higher Education


A new profession?


It’s good to be green

stars.aashe.org

Course lists, certificates, degree programs – undergraduate & graduate Centers and institutes Professional training programs Institutional activities e.g. facilities, procurement


Equity People Environment

Planet

Economy Profit

Sustain

Environmental Studies Environmental Science

Sustainability Management MBA

Sustainable Agriculture; Sustainable Food Systems

Natural Resources Management

Master of Urban Studies

Master of Sustainability Science

Public Health


Diversity of Disciplines

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education aashe.org



Sustainability and Resiliency Competencies & Skill Sets

• Environmental planning • Community economic develop. • Social equity

• Core sustainability • Core planning


Different disciplines = Different framing

Vincent, S (2016) The Center for Environmental Education Research, National Council for Science and the Environment “interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability” programs


Assessing curriculum

vs


A Tale of Two Programs

Master of Regional Planning M.S. Sustainability Science CORE COURSES

Planning History & Theory (3) Perspectives on Sustainability (3) GIS (3) Ecological Systems - choice (3) Public Participation (3) Urban & Social Systems - choice (3) Quantitative Methods (3) Policy & Economics - choice (3) Research Issues (3) 2 seminars - choice (2) Judicial Planning Law (3) Project/Thesis (6/9) Studio (client-based project) (6) Practicum (4)

SPECIALIZATION / CONCENTRATION CORE COURSES 2 courses (6) 3 courses (9)

ELECTIVES 1-3 courses (3-9) 2 courses (6) TOTAL CREDITS: 48 (30 core) TOTAL CREDITS: 33 (14 core)


Tapas…


…or prix fixe?


Moving forward

• Transition & rapid growth • Assessment and standards • Transdisciplinary

collaboration • Practice & theory • Ask questions!


Management and Planning Skill Sets Wayne Feiden, FAICP, Director of Planning & Sustainability, Northampton, MA, Lecturer of Practice, U of Massachusetts

Democracy Skill Set Joel Mills, Director of Communities by Design, American Institute of Architects

Sustainability Skills Set: Trends from Education Eva Friedman Hull, Civic Engagement and Service Learning and Regional Planning Graduate Student, U. of Massachusetts


APA Local Planning Agency Managementmedia2.planning.org/media/npc2017/presentation/S603.pdf · Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills Planning Agency Assessments • Internal

Documents

APA Local Planning Agency Managementmedia2.planning.org/media/npc2017/presentation/S603.pdf · Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills Planning Agency Assessments • Internal