Planning Corps! aka the work that goes into changing planning

Image by Youngna Park, available via the always wonderful 20x200

Exciting news! T.A. is starting up a Planning Corps, to gather together planners/designers and apply their amazing skills for change on our streets.

This idea was hatched out of numerous conversations with two different groups that only sometimes interact. One set was with T.A. staff who wanted to beef up on technical expertise and stay relevant. The face of advocacy has changed considerably in the past few years, tools are very different, technology development outpaces a small non-profit organization's ability to keep up, and the political climate is very different. Generally, we're pretty nimble, but this is partly because we know when to change accordingly.

The second set of conversations was with planners who had a itch to change the conventions of urban planning. How do we use planning in a way that benefits communities and organizations that really need it, instead of contributing to master plans that sit on the shelf or to EIS's that become a mockery of true environmental sustainability impacts? Not to say that long-term planning isn't necessary, but what can be done now to enable change?

A call was put out for planners (e-mail me if you're in the NYC area and are interested in participating) and a project list from T.A. staff was compiled. But...

As I was trying to come up with projects that people could work on, I realized that I was really grappling with conventions of planning and experiencing how deeply ingrained they really are.

The staff came up with a long list of projects necessary for their campaigns. Most of them are those that are one-on-one with a staffer or small group (aka the "client"), longer-term due to research, data collection, where the planner goes off to do work, whatever that is, and hopefully comes back with a final product. But the ones that the planning group expressed interest in are those that can be done in a group, at once and still end up with something useful. (Charrettes qualify, but few other things do - can you think of any?)

I was really challenged with coming up with "on the spot" project ideas where a group planners could come in and get their hands dirty right away. At minimum, planning projects must have a strong connection to T.A. advocacy - so that there is a high potential for change. That part wasn't hard. What was hard was thinking about re-structuring work so that it had at-the-moment application and was highly productive.

I stopped worrying about how it would happen and embraced the idea that what we needed could be done in many different ways. But, that means that the hard work is really on us, the organizers of Planning Corps, to structure creatively any piece of work on the existing project list so that it can be done in a group, at once and productively. If we get through this though then maybe we'll start to see a shift in how planning can change.

Planning Corps is new with lots of space for experimentation, so if you have ideas and suggestions, please do share. Our first meeting will be March 24, location TBD. People's schedules change quite a bit as job/personal responsibilities shift, so the hope is that the way Planning Corps works - matching planners to non-profits/campaigns for change - will endure.