State Plan maps spanning 70 years.

Encourage development in and around our cities. Preserve areas of environmental importance, such as the Highlands and Pinelands. Plan accordingly for agriculture.

I’m always surprised when environmentalists and developers claim that a proposed plan or regulation will have severe ramifications one way or another. The current course on which we are traveling has been set a long time ago. We still march towards statewide build out, while simultaneously preserving thousands of acres of farmland and open space.

That being said, we still need to plan to ensure that on a micro level to ensure that development is encouraged where appropriate and that the environs protected or reserved for later growth. The 2009 New Jersey State Plan is currently available from the Office of Smart Growth‘s web page for informational purposes only. The public comment period will likely begin in June. However, you don’t have to wait until June to take a look at the draft final plan and map. I’ve also made the draft final map available on NJ State Atlas.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: new jersey, New Jersey State Atlas, Planning, State Plan

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Planners must make a push in this direction. Planning has to be approachable. We’re far less appreciated than architects and our work much less tangible. (Architects point to a building. What do we point to?) We know our work is important (and thankfully our clients know this, too) but that’s not enough. Planning is the key to uniting the individual buildings into a greater urban fabric.

The recent trend towards incorporating charrettes or visioning sessions is a step in the right direction. However, we must make our work (in draft and final form) as open and available as possible. Workshops and public hearings should be a part of every project. Planners need to excel at outreach and get the people and stakeholders involved to the greatest extent possible. GIS can aid in outreach efforts through coordination, presentation and as a feedback channel. We need to be at the forefront of all development projects, from major redevelopment down to streetscaping. If we don’t get the public involved, not only will we produce less effective planning documents, in their eyes we’ll be just another professional group billing a town.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Architecture, Community Visioning, Outreach, Planning

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Planning should be a stakeholder-driven process. Charrettes and workshops should be conducted for every local “big issue” and Vision Statements and Plans should be formulated for every town. Be it an incorporated municipality or a locality within a township – every “place” should have a vision. In New Jersey, we’re not at that point yet and we need to make a considerable, coordinated effort to see visioning performed in towns with some regularity.

I think the need for “Open-Source Planning” is real. It is attainable with the technology we now have. The Internet helps democratize the planning process by allowing for greater access to information. The Internet is another avenue for gathering public opinion and performing outreach. Unprecedented public involvement is now possible through the Internet. Despite the gains we’ve made through technology, we cannot rely on software alone to make the planning process more open. We need people (and governing bodies and bureacracies) to embrace openness. Only then will we have “open-source planning.”

I realize Wired is going to focus primarily on the technology, however there are considerable efforts being made now in the planning & GIS circles to make these planning efforts more open. These efforts are people-driven, not software-driven. You can put up as many interactive maps as you like, if there aren’t concerned citizens in a town, no one’s going to see them.

© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Community Visioning, Geoserver, GIS, open source, Planning

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© John Reiser for new jersey geographer, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: article, magazine, Planning

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