Getting your community engaged in your online platform can seem daunting, but with a few simple process guidelines, the participation process begins to flow seamlessly. Amanda Nagl, US Practice Lead at Bang the Table, and Sandrine Thibault, Director at Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative, apply these commandments directly to planning practice for better-designed projects and a more informed community who provides usable feedback.
1. Don’t use jargon.
2. Provide options for visual feedback—images and videos.
3. Capture the past lest it halt your project and the project after that.
4. Use a variety of tools; chosen for solid, defensible reasons.
5. Use mapping tools for spatial sake and spatial sake alone.
6. Phase the project in a meaningful way; honor the phases before it.
7. Work in bite-size, digestible chunks.
8. Collect demographic data along with project feedback.
9. Use social media wisely.
10. Always close the feedback loop.
The Golden Rule of Engagement… Listen to the podcast to find out!
