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About 30 people came out to the first Planning Corps meeting last Wednesday. The group was really diverse in age, experience, and skills. Really cool to see.
In the spirit of experimentation, we asked people to choose two Transportation Alternatives topics out of four presented that evening, and to choose at least one that they wouldn't typically try. A T.A. staffer facilitated small groups on each topic for 20 minutes, then everyone switched to work on the second one for 20 minutes. The most popular table involved the most tangible project - intersection redesigns of a dangerous arterial boulevard. Across all topics, there were many ideas generated, enough to do another meeting with just one focus.
We also tried out Hot Potato, the results of which are mixed, though with potential (especially if we can get more people to post and respond to questions hot potatoed). It made someone tell me it looked like less than 10 people showed up (he couldn't be there). [Hot Potato! Can you render photos better? And can I grab them to re-post?]
I love geeking out (no surprise) especially with planners, and the best part is that the T.A. staffers all got something useful out of it, something that will push their campaign forward. If you love geeking out planning-style too and want to put those ideas to good use, you should check this out. The next meeting is already in the works.
Planning Corps
April 21, 6:30 PM
The Open Planning Project Penthouse
148 Lafayette Ave (go straight up to the PH floor)
You can find consistent updates at planningcorps.org. Hopefully these will become standing meetings but we'll forge on with the spirit of experimentation and continue to try new things, whether it is project ideas, technology, or structure. Send over ideas if you got 'em.
3.28.2010
First one down, (hopefully) many more to go
Posted by Shin-pei at 8:12 PM
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2 comments:
I agree about Hot Potato. I wonder generally about the usefulness of social media during the actual Planning Corps event - maybe people want to be focused on the table and the discussion at hand.
Unless we can find a way to bring more people into the discussion through Hot P/twitter - tapping into the much wider Corps who can't be there but might send back a handy response? Now, that could be really cool...
Think that Hot Potato is better left for events where everyone is doing the same thing at the same time as audience, not participants. Like concerts/lectures/exhibits. Maybe we try Hot Potato again with a Planning Corps field trip to some event, like the Car exhibit at MCNY.
Second idea - Assign two people to Hot Potato at the working sessions, like a running sports commentary. What's so exciting about the working sessions though? Could be super boring; who's gonna check out the Hot Potato site?
Finally, maybe it's just one way to index event proceedings, in which case there's little use in promoting it, but it's helpful to the organizers, as a way to check the development of all Planning Corps events.
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