Geodesign is an Angel Investor in Post-COVID Planning Projects

Geodesign and its application in the public sector or the public/private interface is more critical than realized by the clients and companies to whom it is providing a service. Think of Geodesign as an angel investor, anyone can see the benefit, but not everyone knows, or understands where the benefit comes from. Geodesign methods and theories, as well as supporting GIS technologies, are helping to broaden views, increase cross discipline collaboration, and enhance business development efforts. Geodesign frames out the components of decision making for both the client and the consultant supporting them. How is this accomplished? It is done buy utilizing the three-part Geodesign framework process and the associated components.

In my professional capacity, I frequently hear public sector clients speak about how they are offered “pie in the sky” solutions by consultants that have no real-world applicability. This is often due to the lack of engagement, management of stakeholder expectations, identification of conflict points, and holistic integration of planning factors including public funding requirements/limitations, as well as others. Additionally, clients seem reluctant to engage “stakeholders” because they fear that broad public input may prolong or complicate the “planning” process.

Geodesign uniquely differs from other planning and design approaches in its transparency and holistic integration of disciplines. Firstly, by doing the very thing so often feared: engaging stakeholders early, often, and allowing them to participate more freely in evaluating options and then negotiating together. This early and frequent engagement of stakeholders is key to arriving at realistic, implementable solutions.

Figure 1. Credit: Flaxman/ Ervin https://goo.gl/images/ndkdA2

The Geodesign process allows the consultant to better identify, address, and manage expectations of all stakeholders. Engagement in Geodesign is done prior to the development of planning alternatives so that the consultant can then use the collected information in the creation of alternatives, identify areas of science that conflict with or confirm stakeholder input, and further develop a narrative around how that will impact the alternatives and why.

As an example of the typical non-geodesign transportation planning process, 3 to 4 base alternatives are presented to the public after minimal engagement. Often these are widely rebuked from various perspectives. This contentious atmosphere is a product of process. It is not surprising as the public has little understanding of why and how decisions are being made, whether they are geophysical, social, or financial in nature. Without an understanding why those factors are important, it is hard for a consultant and their client to manage expectations or reactions. Furthermore, the consultant is often left confused because they don’t understand the various rebuking perspectives. All parties lack context and it is recipe for planning disaster.

By using Geodesign and its enabling GIS based tools this can become a very different outcome. We can collect the scientific data, communicate with the public, and manage expectations prior to developing alternative scenarios. This creates better understanding for the stakeholder, the client and the public and actually saves time and money. The Geodesign process provides much needed context, relevancy and transparency.

Figure 2. Geoplanner provides a dynamic, graphical understanding of metrics that greatly aids decisionmakers in the determination of how a place should change.

Credit: Jesse Suders, MPS in Geodesign capstone.

As mentioned above, the Geodesign process provides a more fluid way to incorporate enabling technologies into the planning process. This is especially true of Geospatial Information Systems, or GIS. Geospatial information is now used beyond just context to assess both qualitative and quantitative data in a dynamic fashion – it can be in real time, and in close collaboration with stakeholders, so everyone can meaningfully engage in decision making.

Figure 3. The six models and three stages (iterations) of the Geodesign Process. Credit: Penn State Geodesign.

The first iteration or stage of the Geodesign framework is essentially a deep analysis. It’s a structured look at all the relevant data and factors and, critically, engages stakeholders and decision-makers. The second stage designs the study by outlining a well-organized process via answering several key questions. The final, third, stage of the Geodesign framework is when you conduct the study. This stage brings together all the information, or context, compiled and organized through the first two stages.

The changes and needs within many regions are “planning” oriented, often relating to community or economic development and drawing fairly direct ties to land use, land development, preservation, and open space, community/social development, as well as the planning processes that enable governmental function. The Geodesign framework process applied in this environment may not directly lead to a physical design, however its implementation in a project management setting can have resounding effects on project trajectory and its eventual intersection with physical development.

To demonstrate this, I will highlight how I apply the Geodesign process on a daily basis in my professional work as the Planning and Economic Development Manager for Dawood Engineering in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I am working to address the anticipated trends in rural areas, mostly in Pennsylvania, which are arising due to COVID – 19 and how this impacts upon municipal functions.

In the post COVID-19 environment, we are seeing an increased need for community and economic development due to financial impacts, social strain, and the realization of need for increase food and essentials security, as well as the need for expanded outdoor recreational opportunities. This is due to the expectation that this pandemic is going to change the face of regional economics and development within the region. The main drivers of change are a loss of taxable revenues limiting the ability of municipalities to engage in projects and creating a need to review and prioritize projects, as well as the expectation that the reduction of transportation demand, reduced demand for large office space, and declining demand for onsite consumer services will continue into the foreseeable future.

To address these projections or perceptions of future status the Geodesign framework is not directly applied to a specific land development project, rather the stages of the Geodesign process are applied to the development of a strategy for future development. Specifically, within local municipal planning: the development of keystone projects and implementable plans to address the above shortfalls. Development within a community is not sudden or random, it is the product of the plans and polices or lack thereof, in place. Akin to physics, there is an equal reaction to the action of past actions (or inaction) and the data that was used to develop them.

While it is impossible to predict the specific impacts, Geodesign’s models offer a holistic approach to the development of these plans and policies, thereby offering a more comprehensive consideration of what a range of those reactions might be. This is accomplished by Geodesign’s approach of drawing together disparate disciplines and experts and combining their expertise into a negotiated, insightful output.

The Geodesign framework stage that asks “Why?” helps to define for decision makers, why they need to consider engaging in a plan, or in the identification of implementable projects that will aid in the response to impacts from COVID – 19. They are asked to consider the various potential impacts that COVID – 19 may have on:

• Community Development
• Land Use patterns and development demand
• Economics and revenues
• Transportation patterns and demand

What are the various implications of inaction? What are the consequences?

These are precisely the questions I am posing to guide clients by using the models that frame the Geodesign process. Importantly, the Geodesign approach is not data driven per se, rather it is place-based, people driven, and data informed. Meaning that while relevant data helps to provide context, it does so in a manner that considers the geographic space and the people that inhabit it as contributors to the regional context. With Geodesign as this “angel investor” it enables me to better to assess a region’s qualitative and quantitative strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities (SWOT).

Figure 4. Credit: Jesse Suders

There are six models in the Geodesign framework. Of those, the process models help guide understanding of how the SWOT components operate in relation to one and other. Then the evaluation models weigh human and physical components against supporting data and research to better inform a determination of why decision makers need to act.

Having defined and clarified the need for change, the second “how” stage is then used to determine how action, or a lack of action, may impact the place or people. This works to create a defensible position by identifying both the risk and benefit of a given way forward; one that is wholistic and supported by data. This is critical because as a consultant you need to be able to refer back to a transparent process in order to bolster support for the final decision. This ensures for all parties involved that the decision is not arbitrary but grounded in both public desire and need, as well as rooted in data-informed reality. This also helps to manage expectations through an understanding of perceptions and how decisions, and their resulting products, are judged.

Lastly, I work collaboratively to better determine why/how a decision maker may choose to act and to understand what metrics are most influential in guiding those decisions. This enables our team to better understand:

• How decisions will be made
• How impacts are valued or not
• How change should best occur
• How to evaluate those changes to support decision making
• How the regional processes may need to change to support those changes.

All of this can also include socio-political, socio-environmental, economic, physical geographic, or other various qualitative and quantitative measures. Any metrics deemed influential are tied to GIS through visualizations and graphical dashboards to increase relatability for the client, and to aid in their ability to understand or tell a compelling story.

The last part of the Geodesign framework is the creation of a relatable representation of the outcome. This enables us to present to the client, or internal team, a solution, its outcomes and potential measures for successful implementation, and a way to achieve it. Depending on the scenario, plan or policy, this representation may be crafted as a GIS spatial visualization (such as a 3D model), GIS-derived graphical metrics dashboards, tabular data, or some other innovative web-based application.

Once these Geodesign framework stages are completed, the process works through a final consideration. Here is where the opportunities that fit the metrics and community values identified in the first two stages are debated, measured, prioritized, implemented (or rejected), and lastly evaluated or monitored for success.

The beauty of the Geodesign framework is its adaptability. Any time a new problem arises, the three stages through Geodesign’s six models help to assess the client and community’s perspectives, their needs, and how to evaluate their decision making method. Ultimately this leads to the identification of solutions and implementation steps that are relevant and meaningful to the community.

The Geodesign framework process is scalable and flexible. It can be applied widely from grant writing, community development, economic development, disaster recovery, to various other process-oriented planning challenges. For any of these to be successful, they need to first develop an understanding of the current context, determine need and how one will know if that need is satisfied, establish a series of potential futures and weigh those against guiding metrics, and determine an implementable timeline. As stated at the outset, I think of Geodesign as an angel investor in that its benefits are many, but not everyone knows, or understands how the benefits were derived. Those that know the Geodesign process have a ready resource to aid in success for multiple types of projects and opportunities.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2020 at 7:37 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.