Currently Reading Smarter Growth: Market-Based Strategies for Land-Use Planning in the 21st Century (Contributions in Economics and Economic History) see related

This is the first of a series of pilot entries for the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission's exciting new Regional land use planning framework. MVRPC was recently approved to do a four year study in order to produce a land use vision for the elected officials, planners, and citizens of the Dayton metro region. To see more details about the project and the role it will hopefully play in the future of the Region, check out http://www.mvrpc.org/news/regional-land-use-proposal.

Naming Our Land Use Baby!

The Research/GIS team at MVRPC has worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to give an identity to the Regional land use planning process on which we are about to embark. Martin, Tom, Bethany and I have spent hours brainstorming and discussing different options. While deciding on an identity for the project we had several concerns and priorities that we wanted to be expressed through the project's name. In the planning field these days there are certain cliche words and phrases that our staff wanted to avoid, such as "connecting", "destination", and "future". We wanted to come up with something that would be as original as possible, as well as something that would be catchy enough for people throughout the Region to remember and use to discuss their thoughts and opinions on what they want their communities to be like in the future.

Another priority in the naming process was describing the Region in a progressive way, without alienating any of its citizens or stakeholders. Phrases like "The Dayton Metropolitan Area", and "The Dayton Metro Region" were among some of the early ideas because we thought they gave off a more progressive and sophisticated feel, encouraging local citizens to feel proud of their community. We also considered adding '21st Century' to the tagline to evoke looking forward, instead of constantly looking back at Dayton's past. However, these were eliminated from our final decision because we thought that people in the Region outside the City of Dayton would feel unidentified in the planning process, which was obviously something we wanted to avoid.

Since the project will be an integration of land use and transportation, we wanted to find a name that would adequetely portray the relationship between these two features. However, as Martin continued to point out throughout our brainstorming sessions, the plan is meant to focus more on land use than on transportation, and therefore we didn't want to make the project sound too transportation-oriented.

Finally, after narrowing down our ideas to a select few, we pitched them to the rest of the staff and solicited their ideas for what the name should be. Several new words and ideas came back that we hadn't yet thought of, some of which were incorporated into the finalist. So the name and identity that we arrived in the end was "Going Places: An Integrated Land Use Vision for the Miami Valley Region". We're hopeful that the title of 'Going Places' will be catchy, and will encourage locals to get excited about where their communities are going, and the progress that will be made through cooperation and thinking regionally.

Now it's time to let us know what you think of the project. We would love to hear your ideas and opinions about the Region and what the Region should be focusing on in the coming decades. We also want to kick off the promotional campaign of the planning process by asking "Where are your favorite PLACES to GO in the Miami Valley Region?" Send in your photos and tell us about your favorite places, as well as what you think could be done to make these places more enjoyable and easier to get to. Public involvement will be a key component to this land use planning initative, because more than anything else we want the finished product to be one that helps the Miami Valley Region make progress as an area in which people want to live, work, and play.