http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog THE REWARDS AND CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC PROCESS Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:24:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In her latest post on the Planetizen blog, Barbara compares two public process meetings, one in an EU country and one in the American South. She describes one meeting:  Just as the lead developer was about to introduce the design team, we heard screaming people storming the entrance. There was visible concern among the ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=43 In a recent interview published on ArchNewsNow.com, Barbara talks about her original reason for writing about public process, and the lessons she learned while working on the book: When I started the book, I was more interested in testing whether the public process actually homogenizes a design. Does it lower the quality of design? ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=41 I’ve written long and hard on why it is the designer’s/planner’s role to make public process informative, factual, acceptable, and transparent to the public. But what is the responsibility of the public to get the facts? For a good example of how things should NOT work, here’s the story of ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=42 ArchNewsNow.com features an interview with Barbara about the challenges of public process and her book, Designing Public Consensus. The author of the article, Kenneth Caldwell, offers his assessment of Barbara's book:  Although it looks like a textbook, it doesn’t read like one. Each case study comes alive with her accessible and ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=40 In her latest post on the Planetizen blog, Barbara discusses how public process has changed since the "good old days." Two famous quotes from Robert Moses---“Once you sink that first stake, they'll never make you pull it up” and “Those who can, build, those who can't, criticize”--- sum up the attitude toward public process in ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=39 In her first post on the Planetizen blog, Barbara addresses the basic question underlying all public discussions of planning and design projects:  As one of my favorite colleagues says, all anyone ever cares about at any public meeting is “where do I live and where do I park?” Public process, in short, asks people ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=38 We're asking professionals who deal in public participation what they see as the issues, trends, and helpful techniques. This response comes from Joan Isaacson, an EDAW senior associate and coordinator of the EDAW Public Participation Collaborative. What are some issues you're encountering in your current projects? Joan Isaacson: Reaching people who typically are not ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=16 Barbara discussed her book and her experiences involving the public in planning and design decisions, in an interview last week on WILL-AM in Urbana, Illinois (University of Illinois). Listen. http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=35 Planetizen links to an LA Times article, re: the heated discussion in Seattle over how to replace an aging elevated expressway through the heart of downtown. Among the choices are replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a new elevated expressway, fixing the old one, or digging a tunnel. Then there's the "no ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=32 Of the many case studies in Designing Public Consensus, one of my favorites is the story of Disney's public participation Waterloo on the "Hallowed Ground" of the Virginia Piedmont (Chapter 6, "Opposition"). Disney proposed to build a historical theme park, called Disney's America, on the rolling hills west of the Northern Virginia suburbs. ... http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=31