What Urban Planners and Designers Can Learn From Political Organizers
Urban Planners and designers need to figure out how to approach the politics of the available limited budgets, political complexity, and diverse project stakeholders.
Urban Planners need to stretch past shaping the looks and feel of projects – to seeing their role as a bridge between communities, the community stakeholders and decision-makers.
The communities have a voice and they have influence. To be successful in influencing design – you need to listen without an agenda. This means spending time in communities casually, having conversations, and asking better questions to understand barriers and resentments and the communities’ aspirations.
I learned that it is not as easy as just designing a project and assuming it will get approved. The people that live in the community have a voice and can turn down your project.
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