Things to Avoid

Intentionally or unintentionally, planners make mistakes when reaching out to communities. Most of the time, the consequence is not immediately known. Some common mistakes made by planners include: 

• Coming to a process with predetermined agendas, even if they are considered “best practices somewhere else” or prescribed terms and solutions. Planners assume that they know better than local residents.

• Relying solely on secondary data to understand a community and failing to see a community from its diverse residents’ perspective. Community perceptions of what is needed are not taken into account. Secondary data includes census data on income, housing, poverty level, education, etc.

• Not recognizing the discriminatory policies and practices that have been harmful to the community. Oftentimes these decisions and practices continue to perpetuate the harm happening in communities.

• Giving up on innovation in public engagement - simply checking the box in the planning process without improving upon past experience, repeating the same while expecting better results.

• Not following through or not going back to the community. Reach out only when something is needed from the neighborhood (extracting knowledge practices, performative activities)  and not report back on plan implementation.

• Doing excessive activities during public meetings and not allowing people space to express themselves without instructions.

• Not being clear about roles and responsibilities. Several times, planning processes include several agencies and planners. This can be confusing and communities may not know what actor is responsible for which plan or action and may not know who to contact regarding the project.