"Planned happenstance. . ."

[Jennifer Hurley]

On 11/29/04 11:03 AM, "Uwe Weissflog" <Uwe.Weissflog at t-online.de> wrote:

> Harrison wrote: "Many take open space, and the experience of
> open Space, as a strange new reality. I guess my experience is diametrically
> the opposite. Everything is Open Space, but that fact is obscured by a whole
> mess of exogenous lay-ons. All the plans."
>
> My experience is that often we use the word "plans" but actually we mean
> "structure". I agree with Harrison, Open Space (even in the technology
> environments where I most often have the pleasure to facilitate it) is
> spontaneous and unfiltered present moment. But this does, in my experience,
> only happen because the structure of Open Space allows (enables) present
> moment to emerge. I always see it as the bed of a river; the way the water
> flows is not based on any intentional plans but depends on the structure of
> its "environment". And in Open Space that what we have - clear, simple and
> strict structure. What a blessing!
>
> Uwe Weissflog


As a city planner, I¹ve thought a lot about making plans, what they mean,
how people use them, why we do it, etc.  Historically, the core skill of
urban planners is the ³General Comprehensive Plan², which includes studying
and making plans for all elements of the City, including transportation,
land use, parks & recreation, civic buildings, social services, housing,
commercial development, industrial development, etc., etc., often for a
20-year timeframe.  I¹ve decided that the entire enterprise is goofy,
because how can we know all of those things for that far out?  So here¹s
what I think constitutes good ³planning²:

Good planning includes 3 key components:

Visioning:
A community, group, organization, etc. needs a shared vision of
the future they hope to reach. A vision is
what people see when they can imagine that
all of the constraints of today have fallen
away. The community¹s vision is not
merely an amalgamation of many
individuals¹ visions but is something larger
that individuals uncover and build together
through group efforts.

Community Building:
Community and the relationships that make up community
comprise the living, breathing organism
through which we carry out action. We
need to leverage our targeted, short-term
planning processes and interventions to
build stronger relationships, healthier
communities, and organizational capacity.

Strategic Action Planning:
Strategic Action Planning creates a roadmap for immediate
next steps. Putting one foot in front of the
other, over and over again, is the only way
things get done.

One of the things I love about OST is that it seems to do all three of those
things very organically.

Jennifer Hurley
-------------------------------
Hurley~Franks and Associates
Planning & Urban Design

1429 Walnut St., Ste. 601
Philadelphia, PA 19102

P: 215-988-9440
JLHurley at HFAdesign.com
http://www.hfadesign.com

Association for the New Urbanism in PennsylvaniA (ANUPA)
http://www.anupa.org

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