Planning tools for civic engagement: is there an app for that?

Developers of planning software are increasingly turning to a collaborative “ecosystem” to enhance the capabilities, and foster the use, of tools that can help communities plan for an uncertain future. An emerging network of tool developers and city and regional planners has developed an action agenda to advance scenario planning concepts as they apply to contemporary challenges like climate change — and to shift these tools, as much as possible, to an open-source format. Armando Carbonell, senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, which has nurtured the field of planning support systems in general and visualization and scenario planning tools in particular, will address evolving approaches to engage the broadest possible community in the planning process, including groups that often have been left out or have chosen not to participate in the past. The presentation is based on the report and initiative “Opening Access to Scenario Planning Tools” launched in April 2012 and available here: Opening Access to Scenario Planning Tools

• Armando Carbonell, Chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge, Mass) (presentation)

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