A facilitated group process developed by Yellow Wood Associates in St. Albans, Vermont that integrates systems thinking into strategic planning, identifies key leverage indicators and aligns actions to achieve goals. You Get What You Measure® is an inclusive, values-based process. (continue)

While there is a growing body of literature and experience about how to engage the public, there are few practical tools to gauge the success of these approaches. Recognizing that local officials and staff have limited time and resources, the Institute for Local Government has created online Rapid Review Worksheets to help local governments assess how well their public engagement processes worked. Learn more and download the worksheets at www.ca-ilg.org/rapidreview. (continue)

The Orton Family Foundation’s new Planning Tool Exchange (PlanIt X) is a free, community-driven website designed to help people find and share tools and resources to support community planning and civic engagement. PlanIt X is written by you and for you – contributions, edits, comments and improvements all come directly from our users – and it’s only as good as you make it. Visit PlanItX at www.orton.org/tools/planning_tool_exchange. PlanIt X is a community planning database owned and administered by the Orton Family Foundation. PlanIt X embraces ... (continue)

EngagingPlans is a powerful and comprehensive tool for creating and maintaining a public involvement Web site. From Urban Interactive Studio, EngagingPlans is a powerful, feature-rich website package that allows planning firms and government agencies to facilitate broad-scale public outreach and participation. (continue)

The Coast Shire Council Citizens’ Juries on Roads Management was convened by Surf Coast Shire Council, Victoria in 2007. Dr. Annie Bolitho shared this case study with NCDD... (continue)

The Loddon Riparian Frontages Citizens Panel was convened by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries and the North Central Catchment Management Authority. Dr. Annie Bolitho shared this case study with NCDD... (continue)

EngagingCities helps urban planners understand and use the internet. We write about new online developments and give practical advice. How can new technologies make your planning processes more participatory, collaborative or effective? Which online tools best suit your needs and how do you use them effectively? http://EngagingCities.com (continue)

Large Group Interventions as a Tool for Community Visioning and Planning (April 2010) is an article by Janet Hammer, Director of the Social Equity and Opportunity Forum at Portland State University’s College of Urban and Public Affairs. Published in Community Development, the Community Development Society‘s quarterly journal, the article discusses the processes through which large group interventions work and their application in the field of community visioning and planning. Below is the article’s abstract. The full article can be found here. You may also be ... (continue)

Imagine Chicago is a Chicago-based nonprofit that facilitates and trains people in community visioning practices. Founded by Bliss Browne in 1992, the organization utilizes a three-step process of understanding what is, imagining what could be through collaboration, and creating what will be through action. Its community visioning and planning model incorporates Appreciative Inquiry (with an emphasis on intergenerational collaboration), Open Space Technology, the World Café, and asset based community development. This approach has inspired the creation of Imagine and other community planning projects spanning six ... (continue)

This 2003 book by Archon Fung and Erik Olin Wright presents case studies which demonstrate how people are inventing new political forms that realize the deeper democratic ideal of government of, by and for the people. The four contemporary cases explore the participatory budgeting process in Porto Alegre; decentralized school councils and community policing groups in Chicago; stakeholder planning in environmental protection and habitat management; and new participatory governance structures in Kerala, India. www.archonfung.net (continue)