Planning Under Fire: Balancing Project Needs

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How to navigate difficult planning situations and trade-offs to promote realism in the planning process, including how to manage expectations, build consensus, and draft implementable recommendations
• How to work towards stated and underlying project needs presented in the original RFP and contract to meet budget constraints and maintain shifting and escalated project schedules
• How to address address the needs, policies, available funding, and objectives of external partners, including city agencies, community organizations, and the ever-changing local political environment

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Daniel Burnham implored planners to make no small plans — but even the boldest, best-conceived plans encounter their share of challenges along the way. Using projects in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Detroit, Michigan, as case studies, this interactive session will explore the realities of planning under difficult circumstances while ensuring a high-quality process and product. It will examine topics related to making trade-offs, managing expectations, balancing practical considerations, advancing equity, and fostering mutual learning throughout the planning process. Both public-sector and private-sector representatives involved in each project will share their perspectives. The session will challenge attendees to think about their own responses by framing each part of the presentation around three–four real-life scenarios that occurred as part of these projects. The moderators will ask attendees to share how they would have responded to each scenario, mining attendees’ expertise and encouraging different or new ways to approach each challenge. Representatives from each project will then share how they navigated these challenges, highlighting their key considerations and outcomes of their decisions.