|
The Concordia Planning Process engages and empowers citizens to
make decisions about the future of their neighborhoods. The Planning
Process consists of (7) face-to-face Steering Committee meetings
and a number of activities that allow participants to reach informed
consensus on decisions about challenging public issues. These decisions
can range anywhere from identifying locations for a new community
centers, proposing a use program for a specific building, or even
designing a plan for an entire community. In the Kensington neighborhood,
the Steering Committee will examine the whole community in an effort
to forge new connections between existing resources, groups and
organizations; thus, strengthening the fabric of the entire community.
The Steering
Committee includes 100 community members,
including students, school staff, parents, residents and community
stakeholders
that seek to represent a mirror image of the community at large.
These individuals are recruited from referrals from the Kensington
Design Team and various community leaders who have access to the
widest constituency. While some individuals are recruited to ensure
a diversity and balance of views, all citizens may attend the meetings
and elect to join the Steering Committee. Steering Committee members
are responsible for attending all meetings and for representing
the work of the Steering Committee to those who are not able to
participate.
Participants in the Concordia Planning Process are led through
a series of work sessions, learning, discussing and exploring ideas
about building community. Working in (6) subcommittees: Social,
Cultural, Educational, Physical, Organizational, and Economic,
community members identify, catalogue, and map community needs,
assets and opportunities. They then develop potential scenarios
for their community and achieve consensus on a final set of recommendations.
Meeting
1 serves as an introduction to the process. In Meetings 2 and 3,
the majority of the meeting time is spent in subcommittees
discussing identified needs and community resources. The resources
also mapped using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) computer
program, so that Steering Committee members can see where the
resources are in relation to one another, the community’s
residents, businesses, and school sites. In Meeting 4, subcommittees
share
their findings, develop and analyze potential design options
for addressing their challenge(s). In Meetings 5, design options
are
refined and input from the larger community is incorporated.
During Meeting 6, a draft decision is accepted and ratified by
the Steering
Committee. The final meeting, Meeting 7, the recommendations
are presented as part of the Community Celebration.
|
|
