Congratulations to all of the planners and public participation professionals who achieved outstanding public engagement this year! With MetroQuest surveys, you collected millions of data points to inform better transportation and urban plans to create better places for us to live, work, and play. As we approach the holidays, we love to celebrate great engagement! Let's take a few minutes unwrap some of this year's outstanding success...
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There are very few rock stars in the field of public engagement ...
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On November 1st the City of Calgary opened the new, much anticipated Central Library. According to the Calgary Herald, the new library is nothing short of spectacular! “Decades in the making, Calgary’s long-awaited $245-million downtown library opened its doors to the public Thursday, boasting 240,000 square feet of spectacular architecture, four floors of learning spaces and 450,000 new books and collections” (Source: Calgary Herald). Six years ago,...
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With attendance at public meeting on the decline, State Departments of Transportation are increasingly looking online to boost public participation in their planning projects. While social media seems to be the first place most agencies go for online engagement, they quickly conclude that social media isn’t enough. While Facebook is great for sharing planning projects with the public, it isn’t designed to collect meaningful input for...
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If you feel like you’re facing increasing tensions in your public engagement processes, you’re not alone. Across the country the climate of public discourse has been shifting dramatically. It’s getting spooky out there. Planners and public engagement practitioners working for government agencies increasingly find themselves on the front lines of highly polarized debates. Are you feeling scared? The good news is there are proven ways to detoxify...
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