Slides from session given at Ohio APA conference, October 20, 2011, on innovative and effective public participation methods.

1. Public
Participation
That Does Your
Project Good
The Wise Economy
Workshop
Ohio APA Annual
Della G. Rucker, AICP, CEcD Conference
www.wiseeconomy.com October 20, 2011

2.  Why do Public Participation?
 What do we know about the
way people learn?
 How can we use that?
 Group Activities
 Report Out
 Online tools that let you do
this better
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3. “______ says we
haveta do it…..
<sigh>”
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4. “If people see all
the great things
this project will
do, they’ll get on
board for sure!”
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5. “If someone has
problems with
this project, I
would rather we
know at the
beginning so that
we can defuse the
opposition.”
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6. “We need to know
what people want
for this project so
that we can design
something that
people will
support.”
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7. “Our residents and
business operators
have unique
knowledge and
perspective. We
need to tap that to
help us find the best
possible solutions to
our complex issues.”
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10.  Their perspective
 Their good ideas
 Their constructive
criticism
 Their meaningful
support
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12.  Gives people the
information they need
 Helps them make sense
of the issues
 Helps them form sound
opinions
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13.  Help them form and
articulate their ideas
 Help them give us
constructive feedback
 Capture their ideas in a
form that we can
understand and use
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15.  Small Group
Cooperative
Learning Theory
(Edwin Glaeser)
 Multiple
Intelligences
(Howard Gardner)
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16.  People grasp complex concepts better
when they construct their own
knowledge, rather than having it fed
to them.
 Just learning facts is not meaningful
learning. When people create meaning
by working intensively and
collaboratively with information, they
understand on a deeper level and can
use the information in a more
sophisticated and original fashion.
 People often learn from peers better
than they learn from authority figures.
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17.  Different people learn best in different
ways.
 A minority of people learn best from
lectures or written text.
 Other types of intelligence include:
 Visual
 Spatial
 Verbal
 Kinetic
 Audial
 Etc.
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18. Use structured small groups for activities
that will directly feed into
recommendations.
Challenge and empower people to work
together and learn from each other in a safe
setting.
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19. Provide many options for feedback.
Decentralize activities and limit
audiences to maximize participation.
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20. 1. Divide into groups
2. Do one activity:
 Do it Yourself Vision  What’s the Big Idea?
 What Would you Do?  Your Town Tomorrow
3. Report out on experience
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22.  Same old Assumptions
 Same old Expectations
 Same old Attitudes
 Same old…. Well…..
people.
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23. Who’s not here? Why?
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24.  Shop?
 Communicate with friends?
 Get news?
 Find solutions to their problems?
How do you think they want to participate in their local
government planning? The Wise Economy
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25.  Get people to give and prioritize
ideas and get excited?
 MindMixer
 Manage a full course of public
involvement throughout a plan
and keep everyone informed?
 Urban Interactive Studio
 Revitaliz
 Delib
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26.  Figure out what kind of
development residents support?
 Placepulse (MIT)
 Have stakeholder meetings?
 Skype
 Google+
 Ovoo
 Understand your economy?
 SizeUp
 EMSI
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27.  Raise money for a
community project?
 Kickstarter
 DonorDrive
 Hold a virtual trade show?
 Yfactor
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29. Della G. Rucker, AICP, CEcD
Principal
The Wise Economy Workshop
Phone: 513-288-6613
Della.Rucker@wiseeconomy.com
www.wiseeconomy.com
Facebook: Della Rucker Aicp Cecd
Twitter: @dellarucker
LinkedIn: Della Rucker
Google+: Della Rucker
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