Abstract:
This paper discusses the Georgia Conservancy's "Blueprints for Successful Communities” program. Basically, Blueprints could be described as a series of “visioning” sessions that are tailored specifically to the issues of local concern. Ten Blueprints workshops have been undertaken over the past four years, three of which have been in the city of Atlanta, and seven “outside the Perimeter” or I-285. These sessions have considered a variety of planning scopes: in-fill redevelopment of a brownfield site; corridor-level planning in anticipation of commuter rail service; and growth strategies for smaller, ex-urban communities. The author highlights two lessons from his Blueprints experience. First, both land use and transportation planning benefit immensely from the kind of broad alternatives discussion and grassroots participation that Blueprints sessions provide. At The Georgia Conservancy, it has been observed that local citizens may not understand zoning law or the nuances of comprehensive planning, but they still have a vision for their community. Frankly, public hearings and zoning board meetings are not the place where a common vision (or even alternatives) can be discussed effectively. Second, as the Atlanta region and ever-greater numbers of exurbs struggle with extraordinary development pressure, it has also been learned that addressing the disconnect between land use planning and transportation planning requires a grassroots, planning-savvy constituency that Blueprints can help to deliver. Put another way, Blueprints’ answer to bad growth is not “smart growth”—a phrase so hackneyed that it has become meaningless—but rather “smart residents.”
