Highland Planning believes that life, work, and play are better when neighborhoods and commercial districts are thriving.
Let us help you with:
- Public Engagement and Outreach
- Planning and Design
- Marketing, Branding and Communications
Public Engagement and Outreach
Public outreach is our passion. We develop an individual engagement process for each project based on the type of input sought by the client, the level of involvement sought by the stakeholders, the geographic reach of the project, and even the time of year. Highland Planning prides itself on creating meaningful opportunities for input – through door-to-door outreach, one-on-one conversations, and reciprocal dialogue between designers and stakeholders.
- MetroRail Expansion Project (Buffalo, NY)
- Five Year Consolidated Plan, Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing and Strategic Housing Plan (State of Rhode Island)
- Reimagine RTS (Rochester, NY)
- Buffalo Skyway Project (Buffalo, NY)
- Cayuga-Seneca Canalway Trail Phase II (Waterloo to Seneca Falls, NY)
- North Union Street Transformation Project (Olean, NY)
- Dewey Avenue/Driving Park Road Realignment (Rochester, NY)
Planning + Design
Highland Planning offers a full range of planning, design, and analysis services to help communities craft long-term visions and implement strategic improvements. Our services include developing comprehensive and small-area community plans to guide future growth and development; conducting transportation studies and crafting multimodal connectivity plans to improve mobility; creating climate action and resiliency plans to prepare for climate impacts; designing vibrant public spaces like parks, trails, and active streetscapes; providing planning-level cost estimates to inform budgeting; leveraging GIS mapping and analysis to inform planning decisions; applying graphic design skills to visualize concepts; and preparing engaging data visualizations, 3D renderings, and infographics to illustrate plans and foster public understanding. With deep expertise in all facets of community planning and design, Highland Planning delivers solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs and aspirations.
- Valley Falls BOA Nomination Study
- Broadway Multimodal Resiliency Study
Instant Input is a proprietary software solution from Highland Planning that allows public agencies to engage community members on projects they care about, quickly and easily. With Instant Input, municipalities can share information, build relationships with citizens, get quick feedback, and move projects forward.
Instant Input allows citizens to select and interact with projects through a smartphone app or a webpage. When new projects or information comes online, Instant Input sends a notification, so stakeholders are always up to date about projects of interest to them. On the back end, agency employees can directly upload photos, renderings, documents, and survey questions to the app, avoiding the delays inherent in relying on IT staff to update a municipal website.
Marketing Communications
Even government and public sector agencies and non-profits have something to sell: an idea, a project, a change for the better. Our marketing communications team can help you meet your goal, whether it’s to create buzz, inspire action, or move the needle on public opinion. We specialize in promoting government and public sector initiatives, so that your programs and opportunities reach the people who need them most.
Our services include:
- Branding
- Marketing communications strategy
- Website development
- Social media
- Media relations
- Communications materials
Socio-Economic and Demographic Analysis
Evaluating aspects of a local economy, weighing the impacts of a potential policy decision, or forecasting future growth can be highly technical and bewildering tasks to many communities. Don’t let your economic development plan or project fall into the dreaded “black box.” We can help the public better understand the data, leverage local knowledge and expertise, and ultimately broaden participation and buy-in. Improving the economic well-being of a community starts with engaging and empowering the people that make up the economy. We offer rigorous technical analysis combined with community engagement techniques to unlock the power of data and create long-lasting success.
- Housing inventory, assessment, and strategy
Assess the characteristics of the housing stock in your community or neighborhood (housing type, condition, value, and ownership) to help identify opportunities for rehabilitation, new construction, or demolition, as well as identify programs to increase homeownership and improve housing quality.
- Socio-economic and demographic analysis
Understand population growth trends, demographic characteristics (such as age, race, ethnicity, educational attainment, income trends, poverty trends, homeownership), and other socio-economic factors that will likely influence future growth and change in your community.
Commercial District Revitalization
Highland Planning helps communities create a vision for progress and helps make it a reality. As both top-level project managers and active producers, we compile demographic and market data, write and administer grants, handle all aspects of fundraising, facilitate strategic planning and evaluate the impact and progress of the initiatives on which we work.
Highlights of accomplishments since 2007:
- Facilitated the City of Rochester's highly successful Street Liaison Program, leading to more than $1 million in local private investment
- Secured over $2 million for property owners in Rochester to improve commercial façades, renovate properties, construct mixed-use buildings and design and install streetscape improvements
- Developed a cost/benefit analysis for a federal transportation funding application that brought $32M to the City of Buffalo to place cars back on Main Street
- Organized the Show on Monroe street festival, attracting hundreds of visitors to one of Rochester's historic commercial districts
- Helped small businesses find suitable commercial spaces in the City of Rochester
- Expanded three merchant associations through outreach to business owners
Our achievements are backed by our track record of successful, statewide projects in partnership with a host of visionary leaders and stakeholders. Highland Planning is a certified Women-Owned Business (WBE) in New York City, New York State, and Massachusetts. We are a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) in New York State.