The Commissioner — Summer 2002

Selling Planning

Telling the Planning Story Through Education

By Carolyn Torma

How do you develop more widespread public acceptance of planning? This issue has challenged planners, officials, and advocates for years. Is American planning doomed to be perceived as heavy-handed interference in personal decisions? This article explores examples of how planning captures center stage, attracts public attention, and promotes a positive and vigorous role for planning in our lives.

There are different approaches to challenge. In the following descriptions, you'll look at organizations that help promote an understanding of the city, the development of communities, and the decisions that determine the future. You'll also look at projects and publications aimed at informing a general audience about planning's accomplishments. Not surprisingly, the approaches used to sell planning are varied. As an educator, my interest in these programs focused on how education and how education can be used to tell the planning story.

De Zuiderkerk

Information Centre
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.dro.amsterdam.nl

De Zuiderkerk Information Centre in Amsterdam displays the work of the city's planning department. A metal and glass frame was set into a historic church creating a visually appealing display area as well as a permit counter In Amsterdam, the Department of Physical Planning has created a museum-quality center inside a historic church. Located conveniently adjacent to a Metro stop, this center is an elegant glass and metal cube dropped into the interior of the Zuiderkerk. Anyone may visit the centre to learn about physical planning and housing in the city. Computer displays have English text versions, making it easy for both casual and professional visitors to orient themselves to the city and to planning efforts.

The center boldly presents planning as an interesting aspect of this vibrant city. The center is located on tourist maps and listed in guidebooks. It functions as a museum would, providing the history and contemporary functions of planning as engaging attractions. It also houses the work of planning within an attractive space. While only a small segment of the planning staff is housed here, their presence lends a lively dynamic to the space.

As you enter, you step into a glass cube entry hall that opens into the expanse of the three-story church. Along one aisle is an information desk for residents, similar to a permitting desk in the United States. Along the second aisle are glass-walled offices. How better to symbolize "transparency" in planning? And, how better to present the drama of city building than watching the work unfold before you?

A central feature of the Amsterdam planning information centre is a map of the city showing current development and future growth. The building is filled with computer terminals, displays, and printed materials to help explain projects and the city's overall development In the center of the church is the soaring nave with box-like stations containing videos, maps, and leaflets on planning projects. In the narthex, what was once the entry to the church, is a two-story map of the contemporary city. Opposite the grand map, along the wall of the apse is an information desk for visitors, where you may purchase publications. Surrounding the nave is a balcony built of steel and glass. Well-designed and colorful graphic displays explain the major planning efforts under way in the city. Displays focus on transportation centers, suburban development, business centers, parks, and housing projects. Preservationists will approve of the elegant solution of slipping a robustly contemporary structure within the historic casing of the church. The original fabric of the church is unaltered and is visible through the glass curtain walls. Again, the architecture of the building sends a message of how a contemporary, electronically sophisticated center co-exists with important, historic buildings.

Interspersed among the exhibits are computer terminals and chairs. Visitors may select to view the program in English. The computer program also serves as the website for the Department of Physical Planning. A prominent feature of the site is the historical development of the city and its planning.

In addition to providing information, the centre also can arrange professional visits in the fields of physical planing and housing. The website explains, "This service includes lectures on topical issues and site visits to interesting projects."

It is interesting that the centre treats planning as a subject of general public interest. The informational displays are of extremely high caliber, on a par with the Amsterdam History Museum (visit www.ahm.nl for online tour of the growth of city) or the famous art museum, The Rjiks Museum. Information is provided in many media: displays, videos, maps, publications, leaflets, computer programs, and the Internet. Each medium is well executed. Planning comes across as sophisticated, confident, and interesting. A sidelight to centre's design orientation is the city history museum. The museum, located in a former orphanage, integrates planning into its interpretation. Not only does the museum contain planning elements that you might expect — historic maps and street/canal plans — but it also discusses housing, social institutions that supported the needy, and even provides an exhibit on 20th century plans and planners.

Needless to say, the planning department is well-funded and can invest in such polished displays as the centre. At the same time, the entire undertaking reflects how highly planning is regarded by the Dutch.

Chicago Architectural Foundation

Chicago, Illinois
www.architecture.org

City Space is the newest addition to CAF. This attractive exhibit area contains a model of the downtown, photo exhibits on Chicago's architectural history, and interactive computer terminals that allow visitors to explore topics and take virtual tours The Chicago Architectural Foundation, founded in 1966, is "dedicated to advancing public interest and education in architecture and related design." It provides tours, seminars, lectures, exhibits, and even internships as means of heightening awareness and appreciation of urban design. Attendees of the 2002 APA National Planning Conference experienced many areas of the city with the help of CAF tours conducted as part of the mobile workshop program.

Every year 350,000 people take the tours, attend lectures, or visit the exhibits. CAF relies on its 450 trained docents to lead the tours or assist with programs. Recent exhibits at CAF's ArchiCenter include "The Chicago Bungalow" and "Unexpected Chicagoland." As part of its educational mission, CAF also conducts an architectural competition for high school students and supports internships for those students.

Pictured is one of CAF's 450 docents leading an architectural tour of LaSalle Street. Volunteer docents take a rigorous training course and lead one or more of the 65 tours offered annually. They spread out over the city, making its history, architecture, and urban design accessible and interesting While the emphasis of CAF is on architecture, the organization inevitably extends its focus to the larger urban fabric and the dilemmas city residents face when accommodating the new while attempting to preserve what is worthy from the past. Indeed, the organization was formed to preserve the H. H. Richardson-designed Glessner House on Prairie Avenue.

The CAF Chicago River by boat cruise is among its most popular offerings and tour leaders discuss engineering, architecture, the plan for making the river accessible, zoning, and mixed-use construction. Both out-of-town visitors and residents, who often have visiting family members in tow, take advantage of the wide assortment of tours that look at vernacular architecture, cemeteries, the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, skyscraper technology, and urban spaces. Tours examine the evolving history and architecture of inner-city neighborhoods and the tree-lined retreats of suburban Oak Park.

The goal of the organization is purely educational. Given the extraordinary popularity of the programs, the public appears to be hungry to explore cities and learn about the decisions that went into creating them.

Urban Design Centers

City Design/Seattle Design Commission
www.cityofseattle.net/dclu/citydesign

Chattanooga Planning and Design Studio
www.chattanooga.gov/

Van Allen Institute, New York City
www.vanalen.org/institute/supporters.htm

Urban design centers, located in cities around the country, are another program that enhances an appreciation of planning. These programs were described in a panel called "Urban Design Centers" held at the 2002 APA National Planning Conference. In his introductory remarks, John Rahaim attributed the rise of urban design centers to three things. One was that urban design began to be eliminated from traditional city planning departments in the 1970s. A second force was the development boom of the '80s and '90s that left residents concerned about the quality of what was being built. Finally, he believes, there is "growing sophistication about the understanding that urban design plays in the quality of life issue in our cities."

The centers have one foot in and one foot out of city government and therefore models for the centers range from city agencies to university-based programs, and from private nonprofits to private-public partnerships. Common features of these programs — although not all programs will perform all functions — are a work program, such as design review of development projects, and an education and outreach function. Seattle views its role as "making the public sector a better client."

Panelists acknowledged that public outreach and education is one of the most difficult goals to achieve. Contributions to specific projects, reviewing projects, or serving as a booster are more easily accomplished. Nonetheless, these design centers play a valuable role, including developing useful design review manuals and creating resource centers. They facilitate discussion of complex urban design issues, bring together groups that often include untapped community resources, create displays and publications, or hold design competitions and public forums.

Some publications or programs may be purely conceptual and quite fanciful. An example is the project undertaken by the Design Center for the American Landscape, at the University of Minnesota and the Walker Art Center that resulted in the publication, The Fourth Coast: An Expedition on the Mississippi River. This study tour of the America's fourth coast, the Mississippi River, culminated in the Walker Art Center's Design Quarterly publication (Issue 150, 1990). Catherine Brown and William Morrish reported on the river coast as it exists today and how to conceive of this large river that bisects the country. The authors' use of conceptual drawings and photographs encourage the reader to consider landscape, resources, and design on a massive scale. Other efforts by design centers focus on more immediate issues and practical solutions, such as the redevelopment of the Seattle waterfront.

A critical role that the centers play is to help agencies and the public see the consequences of the decisions that they are contemplating. While this is also a role the planning agency plays, the centers can be more outspoken advocates, and they may expand the range of options to consider. They also may bring more unconventional ideas or untapped resources to bear on the problem. The Chattanooga center calls upon planning students and New York draws on national design expertise, especially in its design competitions. An additional role for the centers is to sell developers on good design and to help expand the discussion of good urban design beyond flower boxes and historic lampposts.

Design centers are helping communities solve specific urban design problems, while elevating planning discussions to the level of civic debate.

Metropolitan Portraits Book Series

University of Pennsylvania Press
Editor, Judith A. Martin

This book series is edited by Judith Martin, a University of Minnesota professor and Minneapolis planning commissioner. The books open up cities and their planning to visitors and residents alike. Creating accessible books about how cities grow and the planning challenges facing them today is an important way of engaging the public in planning. Martin describes her new series in the following manner:

"Evolving urban and metropolitan situations over the past half-century have created much confusion and anxiety among those concerned about urban planning and urban living. As metro areas spread over hundreds of square miles, and cities declined in population and in economic importance, public understanding has diminished, or become very particular. Sprawl, empowerment zones, LRT, diverse immigrants, stadium debates, downtown lofts — each tells a part of the metro story, but little links these concerns into a whole. This challenge is being met by a new book series, Metropolitan Portraits aimed at a general readership, including planning commissioners.

"This series is rooted in several questions and hypotheses, notably that most current presentations of metropolitan North America obscure and universalize the underlying realities of the diverse urban worlds we inhabit and seek to improve. The series' authors believe that metropolitan residents, settlements, and cultures are simultaneously growing more alike and more different every year. We observe, for example, that due to climate and differing building practices, a California ranch house subdivision differs from counterparts in Texas and in Illinois. Similarly, while Hispanic and Asian immigrants have swelled metro populations nationwide, differing moments of entry and occupational opportunities lead to different processes of assimilation or ethnic solidarity. Standard symbols and explanations seldom reflect these realities."

The books will not predict the future nor suggest specific policies. Instead, they explore the social and cultural forces that are creating our new patterns of living. As cultural geographers and urban historians, the authors know and care about the regions they describe. The first two volumes, Greater Boston by Sam Bass Warner and Greater Portland by Carl Abbott, were published in 2001. Volumes currently under way include Larry Ford's Greater San Diego and Jan Nijman's Greater Miami. Plans are being made for books on Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto, and New York. The goals are to create 15 to 20 volumes, which will serve as a foundation for comparing contemporary North American metropolitan areas at the opening of the 21st century.

Citizen Planning Academies

A newly emerging phenomena is the citizen planning academy. From the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Coast, these academies are serving the needs of a public who wishes to become more knowledgeable and influential in the planning process.

King George and Hanover counties in Virginia each have developed an academy. In the case of King George County, the idea to hold an academy grew out of a desire to inform the public and have them participate in the update of the comprehensive plan. The county designed a program delivered free to the public over four evenings. Hanover County limited their enrollments and focused on general planning education. Both programs were aided by Virginia Tech University, a long-term sponsor of planning commissioner and elected official training. Michael Chandler, writing in the Planning Commissioners Journal in Winter 1998, described these programs, saying the concept "is to educate, inform, and involve citizens in the community planning process."

Meanwhile in the West, academies have been springing up in Colorado. Summit County, Colorado, created a citizen's planning academy as a seven-session course offered in collaboration with Colorado Mountain College. County Commissioner Gary Lindstrom is quoted on "Community Initiatives" website, saying, "I see this as an opportunity to make government work the way it should." The academy used the publication Plan on It by B. McAlcer as the text. Lakewood, Colorado, initiated an academy in 1997 and 1998 that Anthony Sabatini helped organize. Colorado Springs launched its academy in 2001 with a six-week course.

These academies focus closely on the process of planning. They are intended to help people become active participants in the process. Topics in these programs range from the basics of the comprehensive plan and zoning to neighborhood planning and how local government works.

Many of these grew out of planning commissioner training programs, and they have enjoyed robust success with the general public.

Websites and Planning Guides

Helsinki, Finland, City Planning Department
www.hel.fi/ksv/English/contact.html

Planning in Barcelona, Spain
www.bcn.es/urbanisme

Department of Physical Planning, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.dro.amsterdam.nl

European cities are using websites and guide books as yet another means of informing the public about planning. The Helsinki City Planning Department published the colorful Urban Guide Helsinki in an English version. Mimicking the format of a travel guide, this attractive book focuses on planning issues including housing, education, traffic, politics, and land area. Readers can use the guide as they explore the city on foot. Or, readers can simply use the book to learn about the city's historical development, physical planning, and post World War II new towns. Maps, photographs, and graphics draw the reader into an understanding of the unique planned features of the city such as the Senate Square, boulevards, and dazzling architecture.

The Department of Physical Planning in Amsterdam has published a history of planning called A City in Progress: Physical Planning Amsterdam. The publication is available in English and provides not only a detailed history of how the city developed, but a discussion of the political and social forces that shape present-day planning. Present-day planning issues are placed within a multi-dimensional historical context. Both attractive publications are excellent introductions for the visitor as well as the general reader.

Websites of European planning departments also create an image for planning. The three listed here, Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, all have English language features, seemingly for no other reason than to provide information to the casual website visitor or perhaps for tourists. All three share striking graphic designs. While these websites contain much of the same kind of information as American planning agency sites, their homepages are first and foremost graphically elegant. The visitor's first impression is almost completely visual. It is also interesting to note that the history of the city's planning and development features prominently in the site.

While the antiquity of the European cities explains this, the approach to website design also suggests a pride in the role that planning has played in shaping the contemporary city. It appears that these planning departments see their websites as a form of image building. The planning agencies integrate purely educational purposes into the website in a manner I think of as a "soft sell."

In Conclusion

Several educational themes emerge from these programs.

All the programs are selective in what they promote to the general public. Many of these programs cultivate a "public face" for their programs. They intend to leave an impression.
The end result is given prominence over the process of planning. The exception to this, of course, are the Citizen Academies. The other examples focus on completed projects and historical developments.
Planning is communicated visually with graphics. All the programs cited here use very high quality and eye catching graphics in their publications, websites, and displays.
Education, in and of itself, is a primary goal. These programs assume that people are interested in planning and the historic development of the community and therefore teaching the public about these things is important.
The historical development of the city is often emphasized with planning playing an important role. Several American planning agency websites now feature history, as well. This is something that will surely increase visitation and strengthen the website.
The information is presented in eye-catching, fun, and engaging ways.

This tour of programs is by no means exhaustive. There are numerous programs that involve young people in planning and also serve to teach them about the benefits of planning.

Learn more about these programs

Yet another example is video. Recently there has been a spate of good videos discussing planning issues. These include Save Our Land, Save Our Towns.

What can planning commissioners and their staff learn from these examples? First, and foremost, there is interest on the part of public in planning. Presently in the U.S., much of that interest is focused on design or "community character." While urban design is only one dimension of planning, the public's interest in urban design can be used to draw them into a deeper understanding of planning issues. Because some of the community character movement focuses on historic preservation, there is a very simple way to cash in on that interest. Planners can work with historic preservationists to develop a history element for the community's website. In short, planners are presented with an opportunity.

In the most of examples presented here, the focus was on the outcomes of planning, such as the tangible urban design. However, that is not the only conclusion to draw from these programs. The success of the planning academies, for example, demonstrates that people are motivated to learn the ins and outs of the planning process in order to participate more effectively in public decision making.

One question remains: "Does good public education promote support for planning?" It is impossible to answer the question, but education does appear to be present in areas where there is good planning. Is there a connection? Planning agencies and advocates already consider public education as a means to informed decision making. So, why not extend the education as a means of gaining acceptance of planning?

Carolyn Torma is the Director of Education for the American Planning Association.

Resources

De Zuiderkerk: Top — De Zuiderkerk Information Centre in Amsterdam displays the work of the city's planning department. A metal and glass frame was set into a historic church creating a visually appealing display area as well as a permit counter. Bottom — A central feature of the Amsterdam planning information centre is a map of the city showing current development and future growth. The building is filled with computer terminals, displays, and printed materials to help explain projects and the city's overall development. Photos by Carol Wargelin.

Chicago Architectural Foundation: Top — City Space is the newest addition to CAF. This attractive exhibit area contains a model of the downtown, photo exhibits on Chicago's architectural history, and interactive computer terminals that allow visitors to explore topics and take virtual tours. Bottom — Pictured is one of CAF's 450 docents leading an architectural tour of LaSalle Street. Volunteer docents take a rigorous training course and lead one or more of the 65 tours offered annually. They spread out over the city, making its history, architecture, and urban design accessible and interesting. Photos courtesy of the Chicago Architectural Foundation.