Jim Segedy, FAICP, worked for many years in Ball State University's Community Based Planning program, providing assistance to more than one hundred communities and many plan commissions (as planning commissions are called in Indiana). He is currently an adjunct Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Pittsburgh; and a member of the Edgewood, Pennsylvania, Planning Commission.
Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, AICP, is the Associate Director for River Restoration for American Rivers' Pittsburgh field office. Before moving to Pennsylvania, she spent over a decade as a circuit-riding planner for a regional planning organization serving the western fringe of Metropolitan Atlanta.
The Segedys wrote “The Planning Commission at Work” column for the Planning Commissioners Journal between 2008 and 2012. They are currently columnists for our PlannersWeb site. Their PCJ and PlannersWeb columns are listed below.
Lisa Hollingworth-Segedy supplements her article, “Inviting Them In: Using Story as a Planning Tool,” by describing in a short audio clip, three important lessons she’s learned about the use of storytelling.
Storytelling is the universal human language. We think in story. We form our attitudes about the world around us in story. A primer on how story can be used in community planning.
PCJ contributing writers Jim Segedy & Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy on how debriefing meetings can help planning commissions work more effectively.
Planning for the impacts of new development can make a difference to your municipality’s fiscal well-being.
Take note planning commissioners! The Segedys (with apologies to David Letterman) offer their own “top 10” list.
Planning commissions often struggle with group dynamics when making decisions on difficult issues. A look at some ways to work better together.
Your job as a planning commissioner is to address your community’s future, but the decisions you make can have wider impacts.
Ten tips from the Segedys to help you better prepare and implement your community’s long-range plan.
Taking on the tasks identified in your community’s plan may be a little like riding in the back seat of a car for a road trip where you don’t know the landmarks. That’s where benchmarks and indicators show their value.
What’s the recipe for successful implementation of your community’s plan? That’s the focus of this installment of the Segedys’ series on preparing the comprehensive plan.
How can you ensure that your comprehensive plan makes sense, and guides decision-making to choices that create a healthy, balanced community? One way is by doing a community self-assessment, a process that helps identify issues and build consensus.
Communities benefit when their plans establish clear-cut goals and target areas for future growth. City and town plans are also increasingly stressing the value of local entrepreneurship in maintaining community character and strengthening the economy.
In developing a comprehensive plan, one of the most important questions to ask is: who are we? This calls not just for demographic analysis, but an understanding of how your community defines its identity.
