Presentation to the American Planning Association's National Planning Conference, New York City, May 2017. Presenters Wayne Feiden, Joel Mills, Eva Hull.

1. 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

2. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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 Community
Learning and Regional Planning Graduate Student, U. of
Massachusetts
APA 2017 National Conference #9104378

3. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Leadership
“Nations Talk but Cities Act”

4. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Communication & Core Value Proposition
Vision & Mission Statements
Community
Vision
Public Realm
Private Realm
Core Value
Proposition
Planning IS political

5. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
System Thinking & Design Thinking
Be Upstream!

6. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Right Time for Community Change

7. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Planning Team
recruit, retain, develop, diversity
No rules
Make the system
work

8. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Planning Office Organization
Context is Everything!
“To be honest, I am not sure why…
It has been that way since I have been here”

9. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

10. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Sustainability and Resiliency
Equity
People Environment
Planet
Economy
Profit
Sustain

11. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Sustainability lives
• In an integrated planning agency
• In a chief legislative or executive office
• As a free-standing department
• Some combination of above

12. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Sustainability and Resiliency
Competencies & Skill Sets
• Environmental planning
• Community economic develop.
• Social equity
• Core sustainability
• Core planning

13. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Planning: Competencies & Skill Sets
• Personal skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Intellectual skills: synthesis and analyze
• Profession specific: technical & political
• Generic: communication
Source: Dory Reeves

14. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

15. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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.

16. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Metrics and Performance
Accountability
• Measure risk (litigation and political risks)
• Benchmarking
• Indicators
• Third party: e.g., STAR Communities

17. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Mental Models
• Keep it local
• Keep it personal
• Use health framework
• Appeal to loss aversion
• Community conversation
Leiserowitz et al 2014
Source: Michele Wick

18. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
The Democracy Skill Set

19. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
What Success Looks Like

20. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Our Reality: Every week, 1.4 million
people move into cities across the
globe.

21. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

22. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Global Democratic Crisis

23. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

24. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Today, we need new skillsets
+

25. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
The field has a 50-yr tradition to build
upon…

26. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
It’s not a linear path: Consider New
York

27. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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.”

28. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

29. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Planners vs. the Public
Our “War on Christmas”

30. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

31. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

32. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
“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.”

33. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Jim Fishkin & the Science of P2

34. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Dialogue educates and informs

35. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
The real issue: The Expectations Gap
What
Government
Wants
What the Public Wants

36. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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.

37. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

38. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
“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

39. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

40. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

41. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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.

42. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Feb 2014 Survey on IAP2 Spectrum

43. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
A failure of democracy
2014 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Survey

44. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Stakeholder Identification
Successful p2 includes identifying ALL of the
stakeholders on the bell and involving them.

45. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
How Planning Conflicts Get Framed

46. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

47. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

48. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
“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.”

49. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
A Citizen Idea

50. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Fremont Troll, Seattle
When urban democracy expands, cities flourish.
The placemaking outcomes – and the impact on
people – are nothing short of remarkable.

51. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Today: NIMBY Mythmaking

52. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Building Capacity: Burlington, Ontario,
Canada

53. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
“One of the coolest neighborhoods in the nation” -
Thrillist
East Nashville

54. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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.”

55. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

56. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
“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

57. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

58. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
The Sustainability Skill Set:
Trends from Higher Education

59. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
A new profession?

60. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

61. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

62. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Diversity of Disciplines
Association for the
Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher
Education
aashe.org

63. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills

64. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Sustainability and Resiliency
Competencies & Skill Sets
• Environmental planning
• Community economic develop.
• Social equity
•Core sustainability
• Core planning

65. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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

66. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Assessing curriculum
vs

67. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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)

68. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Tapas…

69. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
…or prix fixe?

70. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
Moving forward
• Transition & rapid growth
• Assessment and standards
• Transdisciplinary
collaboration
• Practice & theory
• Ask questions!

71. Local Planning Agency Management & Planning Skills
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 Community
Learning and Regional Planning Graduate Student, U. of
Massachusetts
APA 2017 National Conference #9104378