Community Engagement

The best planning processes include community leaders, landowners, citizens, and stakeholders. What often differentiates successful communities from their neighbors is their willingness to come face-to-face with competing interests and make informed, strategic choices to guide their future. The challenge is finding an appropriate balance between technical information, community values, and public sentiment.

Today’s planning participants expect and deserve a forum where information can be easily exchanged but, most importantly, a forum where information is gathered—from them. Kimley-Horn’s team is known for our engagement strategies, listening skills, and techniques that place an emphasis on increasing the volume and variety of participation. In each engagement, we carefully create equitable access to the community planning process and develop effective methods of gathering information. The thoughtful execution of our community engagement strategies provides an ease of understanding and confidence in engagement results by local decision-makers.

Active, Passive, and Digital

Community empowerment and informed decision-making doesn’t happen by accident. The competition for time requires a diverse approach when considering how best to connect with stakeholders. In addition to representative forms of engagement such as project committees, Kimley-Horn employs a variety of effective in-person techniques including small group meetings, workshops, charrettes, and project symposia as methods where the tangible exchange of ideas occur. However, the ever-increasing demands for participant time also require us to be experts in social media, online surveys, and virtual online engagement techniques. Our award-winning approach to community engagement has led to industry recognition, local adoption, and endorsement of a plan or design.