Collaborative Planning Builds Trust

A Trust Building Process Yields Effective Collaborative Planning
	Can local residents, developers, environmental groups, and city planners learn to trust one another and work well together? Years of research done by the Smarter Land Use Project have shown that even if the relationships between residents, developers, environmental groups, and city officials are initially distrusting or litigious, they will usually try a planning process that focuses on building trust, particularly if it is hosted by the local residents. Our research shows that as each stakeholder sees that trust building works and that the resulting new ideas benefit them, they set aside their adversarial roles, make friends, and share their expertise. See Successes for several examples of stakeholder confrontation dissolved by friendship and turned into productive collaboration.
	How does trust building work? By, first, focusing on activities that make friends among the stakeholders, and, secondly, evaluating the area surrounding the proposed project (sometimes using hands-on, project-modeling), the collaborative planning process identifies and places community-enhancing features in the proposed project. Improved trust among residents, developers, environmental groups, and city planners usually reveals numerous, cost effective ways that both the project and the surrounding community can be improved. Chapter 2 of the Collaborative Land Use Planning guidebook details the steps for succeeding.
	What kinds of community-enhancing features can be included in project plans? Each community and project has its own specific needs, so community-enhancing features are selected and included on a project-by-project basis. The focus of collaborative planning is, first, to build trust and community spirit among the stakeholders; and, second, to reflect that community spirit in land use decisions that vitalize and sustain existing human and wildlife communities. Public greens, recreational facilities, affordable housing, architecture in the best character of the existing community, wildlife sanctuaries, parks, and walkways to important destinations are just a few. Dozens more are listed on the Checklist of Community-Enhancing Features.