Integrated Transportation-Land Use Planning Mini-workshop

1. Integrated Transportation-Land Use PlanningMini-workshop 2005 NC MPO Conference Greenville, NC October 27, 2005 Presented by Peter Plumeau, WSA

2. Workshop Purpose To help MPO practitioners better understand strategies for more effectively integrating transportation planning and land use planning.

3. Learning Objectives • What does it take to achieve success and/or progress? • How are obstacles overcome (political, technical, resource, etc.)? • What does my MPO have in common with the “success stories?”

4. Background Successful Practices – The Key Ingredients Discussion - Your MPO’s Situation Tools of the Trade Discussion – Your MPO’s Roadmap Wrap-up/Adjourn Agenda

5. Background

6. Background • In 2030, about half of the buildings in which Americans live, work, and shop will have been built after 2000. • Nearly half of what will be the built environment in 2030 doesn’t even exist yet. • Most of the space built between 2000 and 2030 will be residential space. Arthur Nelson, Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity to Rebuild America (Brookings Institution, December 2004).

7. Background • Growing awareness that transportation planning is land use planning • Public drumbeat for protecting quality of life • Interest in how to do “more with less” (infrastructure funding realities) • MPOs can facilitate advancement of integrated transportation-land use planning

8. Background • AMPO/USDOT Report on MPO Noteworthy Practices completed April 2004 • Report focused on both results and processes for achieving them • Intent was to distill and describe transferable aspects of successful strategies • Available from www.ampo.org

9. Successful Practices The Key Ingredients

10. MPO Success Stories Thurston Regional Planning Council (Olympia WA) Tri-County Regional Planning Commission (Peoria IL) Southern California Association of Governments (Los Angeles) Atlanta Regional Commission San Antonio-Bexar County MPO

11. Other Successful Practices • NYSMPOs – Study of Integrated Transportation Planning & Community Design Processes • Burlington, VT – Transit-oriented Design (TOD) Guidelines for Small Metropolitan Areas • Ontario, Canada – Freight-supportive Land Use Guidelines

12. Mapping Successful Practices

13. Three Legs of Successful Processes Successful Processes Leverage MPO Process & Tools MPO/Local Collaboration/Cooperation Policymaker Engagement

14. Use MPO Process & Tools • The well-established MPO planning process provides a framework for addressing T-LU integration • LRTP for articulating shared regional vision & goals (not only transportation) • UPWP for determining best ways to achieve them • TIP for making them real (implementation of goal-supportive projects/programs)

15. Use MPO Process & Tools • Use the rich tools & techniques embodied in the traditional MPO planning process • Keys are: • Being “strategic” – ensuring on-going linkages between LRTP, UPWP & TIP and • Being innovative and resourceful

16. Policymaker Engagement • Policymakers need to believe and agree that: • There is a serious problem to be addressed • They are the right ones to address it and would be irresponsible if they didn’t • Their approach is reasonable, sensible and responsible • They care deeply but face difficult decisions (Adapted from Institute for Participatory Management and Planning, http://www.ipmp-bleiker.com)

17. Policymaker Engagement • Make the process transparent - seek community buy-in & continuous involvement/feedback • Documented community consensus gives policymakers “legs” for making tough decisions • Give them plenty of evidence to back up the positions they articulate publicly (data, etc.) • Identify a champion (or champions) willing to spend political capital on a sometimes “risky” issue

18. MPO-Local Collaboration/Cooperation • Recognize that local organizations are ultimately responsible for land use planning • Emphasize role of local organizations or officials, with the MPO facilitating rather than dictating initiatives • More effective to employ local authorities than to try prescribing actions they must take

19. MPO-Local Collaboration/Cooperation • Be willing to lead during project conception but ultimately play facilitator for local solutions and innovations • Be flexible enough to take advantage of local leadership, knowledge and innovation where it exists • Build relevant partnerships with local organizations and provide flexible and transferable planning resources • Help empower local agencies & actors to make effective choices

20. Three Legs of Successful Processes Successful Processes Leverage MPO Process & Tools MPO/Local Collaboration/Cooperation Policymaker Engagement

21. Discussion Questions Your MPO’s Current Situation

22. Discussion Questions – Current Situation [1] • What recent effort(s) has your MPO undertaken to further integrate or coordinate transportation planning with land use planning? • Was it successful/effective? • What level of public and/or policy-maker knowledge of this effort(s) exists? Does this knowledge level affect success?

23. Discussion Questions – Current Situation [2] • What are your MPO’s strengths for pursuing integrated planning? What are its gaps? • What changes are (or may be) occurring in your MPO’s planning environment that might affect your ability to advanced integrated planning?

24. Tools of the Trade An Overview

25. The Importance of “Story” • Data and bits of discrete information, on their own, are losing value as they become ubiquitous and universally accessible via the Internet and advanced telecommunications • “Story” is an increasingly important tool for conveying issues and their relevance • The capacity to explain, understand and persuade not only with logic, but also with narrative and compelling imagery (Adapted from Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind (2005).)

26. Turning this: Into this: The Importance of “Story”

27. What are the challenges MPOs face? • Conveying complex information in compelling & understandable way • Limited organizational capacity • Staff • Funding • Time

28. Tools of the Trade • Data Presentation • Maps/GIS • Visualization • Animation/Video • Scenario Planning • Participatory Games

29. Data Presentation

30. Data Presentation

31. Maps/GIS

32. Maps/GIS

33. Visualization (Renderings)

34. Visualization (Photosimulation) Before After

35. Visualization (Enhanced Map)

36. Animation/Video

37. Scenario Planning

38. Scenario Planning

39. Participatory “Games”

40. Addressing MPO Challenges • Recognize “busy reader” principal • Succinct/concise – “what do I need to know?” • Customize to audience • Focus on engaging people through compelling presentation style • Use “modern marketing” styles & techniques • Be creative with existing tools and resources

41. What’s Your Next Step? Developing a Roadmap for Your MPO

42. Discussion Questions – Your MPO’s Roadmap • How might you sketch out a “roadmap” for advancing transportation-land use planning integration in your MPO? • What is your MPO’s goal for integrated planning? • Derived from LRTP? Regional vision?

43. Discussion Questions – Your MPO’s Roadmap • What are key milestones on the path to your goal? • What are tangible action steps toward the milestones? • Who (agencies/people) need to be involved? • What resources are needed ($s, technical)? • What is the timeframe for accomplishing the actions steps and goal? • What are reasonable measure(s) of effectiveness?

44. Closing Thoughts

45. Closing Thoughts • Be brutally honest about the difficulties • There is no silver bullet, just silver buckshot • Baby steps are faster than big strides • Never forget the politics of implementation

46. Closing Thoughts The Importance of “Story” • "The Information Age we all prepared for is ending. Rising in its place is what I call the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of abilities that we've often overlooked and undervalued marks the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls behind." • “[For knowledge workers and organizations to] flourish in this age, we'll need to supplement our well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are "high concept" and "high touch." (Adapted from Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind (2005).)

47. Workshop Available • AMPO Integrated Transportation-Land Use Workshop for MPOs • 2 days • Includes interactive exercises, peer exchange and facilitated discussions • Focused on successful processes and use of tools and techniques for achieving success • Contact AMPO (www.ampo.org) if interested in attending or sponsoring a session

48. Workshop Available • Report on Pilot T-LU Workshop Session (May 2005) available at www.ampo.org

49. Contact Information Peter Plumeau Wilbur Smith Associates 802/985-2530 or 703/645-2995 pplumeau@wilbursmith.com