Land Use & Transportation

The Challenge

Land use and transportation decision-making have sparked conflicts and debate over issues including quality of life, access and equity, affordability, and aesthetics. Deeply felt and hardened beliefs can characterize these conflicts, because land use projects get to the heart of community values and a sense of place. 

Such disputes surface a range of interests and perspectives on land uses—from open-space to dense, mixed-use development. Transportation decisions trigger tensions of their own among parties advocating for different modes of transportation, design preferences, and priorities; those priorities may relate to access and accessibility, community engagement, construction and maintenance costs, environmental effects, environmental justice considerations, and state and federal regulations. These projects often span neighborhood, town, and state boundaries, forcing stakeholders to confront regional issues, even when lacking the right tools for doing so.  

Our Approach

Our mediators are skilled at infusing innovation into highly regulated planning processes, helping parties to explore and design creative solutions that have benefits for all. We draw from our deep experience on land use and transportation projects, along with extensive knowledge of the associated laws and regulations. Our approach involves working with parties to:

• Understand citizen perspectives and stakeholder priorities through individual interviews, focus groups, interactive online surveys, project websites, community working groups, and traditional and non-traditional public meetings
• Expand options by examining scenarios and models generated by architects, engineers, and other specialists
• Explore trade-offs around cost, density, amenities, impacts, and other topics, with input from experts in development and transportation
• Use a range of visualization and group tools to envision possibilities
• Build capacity through training, writing, and techniques outlined in our book Land In Conflict

From helping create a vision for the City of Cambridge’s master plan to planning for transportation projects in Colorado, we’ve supported leaders and communities on tough land use and transportation issues.  

Areas of Expertise

Land use

• Master and comprehensive planning
• Infrastructure development
• Facility siting

Transportation

• Community and stakeholder engagement
• Transportation visioning, planning, and permitting
• Organizational development and strategic planning
• Capacity building