Highlights From NPC18
by Tanya Zwahlen Last week, Sue and I joined 5,700 of our fellow planners in New Orleans for the 2018 National Planning Conference (NPC18). It was great to be in…
Public Engagement 101 With Roccity Coalition
by Susan Hopkins Christopher (right) and Andre (center) with members of the RocCity Coalition. The team at Highland Planning hosted an early morning training session called "Essentials of Public Engagement"…
Making The Technical Engaging
By Christopher Dunne and M. André Primus We have a lot of specialized technical knowledge about planning, transportation, and commercial redevelopment between the five of us here at Highland Planning.…
Training as Therapy: Turning My Public Engagement Failures Into Career Gold
by Susan Hopkins IAP2 Training in Toronto. 2017 I remember the first time I facilitated a public meeting at which people showed up angry. As a representative of a big box…
Want to Help Preserve a Healthy Democracy? Attend a Public Meeting
By Susan Hopkins, AICP Shared experiences and serendipity are key elements of a healthy community—and a healthy democracy. This morning, as I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, I…
The Power of Trust in Social Media Outreach
By M. André Primus Anyone reading this blog probably knows that Highland Planning specializes in public engagement. As the resident “tech nerd,” I end up managing a lot of…
Three Keys to Public Meeting Success
by Tanya Zwahlen Last night was the first public meeting for the City of Rochester Bull's Head Brownfield Opportunity Area Step 2 Revitalization Plan project. The purpose of the meeting…
How To Kick Off a Project
by M. Andre Primus One of our latest projects at Highland Planning is the comprehensive plan update for the City of Rochester, also known as “Roc 4.0.” The city is…