If you want a good rundown of why a Q&A doesn't work for planning, this is a good example. Speeches packaged as questions. Playing to the crowd. Gotcha-style stuff. Workshops my dude! Always do workshops. And speak as little as possible before starting. The more it's Us and Them the worse it'll be. - ThreadSky

thegreatermarin.bsky.social • 45 days ago

If you want a good rundown of why a Q&A doesn't work for planning, this is a good example. Speeches packaged as questions. Playing to the crowd. Gotcha-style stuff.

Workshops my dude! Always do workshops. And speak as little as possible before starting. The more it's Us and Them the worse it'll be.

Reposted from Qagggy!

HISTORIC SHOWDOWN. I’m here but I probably won’t be liveposting.

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seanny123.bsky.social•45 days ago

Can you elaborate on your experiences with workshops? Who runs them? Are they open to everyone?

thegreatermarin.bsky.social•45 days ago

I'm a municipal transportation planner. Usually the workshops are run by the city, but not always. They're open to everyone but advertised to impacted neighborhoods for, say, traffic calming.

Format:
1. Why are we here? What's the project?
2. Break-out sessions and lots of drawing on maps & stuff

thegreatermarin.bsky.social•45 days ago

Often there needs to be an education piece to it so attendees can be partner planners. I'm trying to figure out how to do this better. But basically, what are the trade-offs for signals vs. roundabouts? Why can't we put speed bumps on this road? How much does stuff cost? What's the broader context?

thegreatermarin.bsky.social•45 days ago

Attendees get most out of this if they're treated as student-stakeholders: intelligent, interested, capable. They can also learn about the limits of public feedback - that we hear from others who may be afraid to speak publicly. A decision attendees don't like doesn't mean we ignored the workshop.

thegreatermarin.bsky.social•45 days ago

I was helping staff a workshop recently. Someone's concerns abt switching from a light to a roundabout kept getting dismissed by the engineering team (who are great btw!). I finally stepped in and asked, "So what do you like about stop lights?"

We got good input after that, but we needed to engage.

thegreatermarin.bsky.social•45 days ago

Our next meeting will have a cost/benefit rundown of different intersection types so folks won't have to just trust the experts, and so they can see stuff we might not have thought of. They know the road's patterns better than we do, after all.

Trust. Teach. Engage. Respect.

Do a damn workshop.

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