Structured Public Involvement

quotesThe polling process used in the Louisville Bridge project gave us more specific feedback than ever before…This way, more vocal contingents at public meetings can’t dominate the debate. People get excited about it, because they see that their participation is
real.quotes

J.B. Williams, Michael Baker Jr. Inc., Lead Engineer, Bridge project, 2007

Why Are People So Satisfied With S.P.I. Meetings?



7. Relevance: Results are Built Into the Planning and Design Process

public meetingS.P.I. protocols are designed in advance, and in detail, to gather exactly what is needed from the public, using the best process to accomplish that. We work closely with the planning and design professionals in the project to zero in on what they need to know from the public, and then develop the combination of group processes, visualization methods, and data processing and modeling tools that can best and most efficiently accomplish that.

Example: Adaptive Re-Use of Historic Structures

This historic home between Paris and Lexington, Kentucky was restored and now serves as the main offices for the Center for Women in Racing, a non-profit dedicated to supporting women in the Thoroughbred racing industry.house fixed

In the public realm, making a choice among many competing proposals can be contentious, and foster individual strategic behavior that is not beneficial to the community as a whole. In order to address this for the adaptive re-use of an historic home, we asked the public to supply and rate the importance of various criteria that an advisory panel should use to compare several proposals. Public input, then, substantially guided the process without inviting the kind of in-fighting that can result over competing proposals. And, it conserved the amount of time the public had to spend on the question.

On these projects, we have worked with civil engineers, transportation engineers, bridge engineers, bridge architects, landscape architects, architects, planners, historic preservation professionals, mayors, council members, advocacy groups, and attorneys. We have published and/or presented our research and work in engineering, geography, landscape architecture, GIS, planning, transportation, and transit planning forums across the country and around the world. We are always ready to take on new questions and challenges.