‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Box 38 Engaging the Public in Sustainability Planning 
David Biggs
While both computer-based planning tools (eg Geographic Information Systems and 
Transportation Analysis Models) and public engagement in the planning process have been 
mainstays in municipal and regional planning agencies, the practice of combining them has 
been slower to emerge. Increasingly, decision-makers mobilize community support for more 
sustainable policies and practices by using software as a central part of their long-range plan-
ning process. The mantra of ‘sustainable cities’ has come to represent the need to improve 
the planning process in three dimensions:
1
Longer-term planning scenarios
: Cities are increasingly creating 20–50 year 
plans. While this adds complexity to the traditional 5-year planning horizon, it also has 
increased awareness of the life-cycle impacts of choices, many of which are masked by 
shorter-term analysis. For example, municipalities which approve ‘sprawling’ see their 
tax base improve in the short term; in the longer term, however, the maintenance costs 
of roads and pipes rise well above what the residents are willing to pay in taxes.
2
Triple bottom line and systems thinking
: Sustainability reminds us that we 
need to juggle ecological, economic and social priorities simultaneously to understand 
how our cities work as systems. For example, we now realize that investing in a new 
transit line will have little impact on travel behaviour, and therefore air pollution and 
congestion, if a small percentage of the population lives and works within 500 metres of 
a stop. Zoning for compact development near transit requires integrated land-use and 
transportation plans.
3
Community support and engagement
:
 
A plan is only useful if it is implemented, 
and in democracies implementation hinges on public and political support. Public 
resistance and NIMBYisms are regularly cited as reasons for the failure of forward 
thinking policies and plans. Cities are seeking innovative ways to engage a large enough 
portion of the population to mobilize the support that is needed to carry out course-
changing plans.
Engaging non-experts in the planning process has been difficult because many lack the expertise 
and the time required to engage in detailed analysis. Yet community support is necessary for 
progressive change. Early attempts to use computer models to stimulate public engagement 
enjoyed limited success. Most were extensions of desktop GIS systems and were designed 
for more analytical purposes. The University of British Columbia’s Sustainable Development 
Research Institute therefore developed MetroQuest, a ‘real life SIM-City’.
1
This allows non-
experts to see the consequences of alternative visions for their city played out in 40-year 
future scenarios on-the-fly. The process brings the community, stakeholder groups and deci
-
sion-makers together in interactive workshops to collaborate in the creation of a desired future 
city. A web-based version allows the process to extend even further. So far, the process has 
been used successfully in cities on four continents, including cities in Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, Malaysia, China, India and Mexico.
MetroQuest allows users to experiment with land-use, housing, transportation, economy and 
resource management scenarios played out in 40-year future periods. They receive feedback on 
projected impacts on a wide range of priority areas, including air quality, traffic congestion, tax 
rates, green space, housing, waste management, water conservation, greenhouse gas emissions 
and ecological footprint. Projects typically engage tens of thousands of participants, some
-
times over 100,000, amounting to a politically significant portion of the population. Adopting 
a growth management plan that, for example, clusters new housing and jobs close to existing 
transit hubs can save billions of dollars. Savings also extend to many other areas, such as 
avoiding the costs of traffic congestion, energy and water supply, and waste management. By 
seeing the results instantly, diverse participants are able to: visualize the impacts of various 
decisions decades into the future; learn about tradeoffs and synergies between environmental, 
social and economic priorities; experiment with ‘what if’ futures; co-create a shared vision for 
the city; and gain a real sense of ownership over the plan going forward.

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Positive Development