There has been widespread recognition that Fort Lauderdale needs to develop an updated vision for its future. The visioning process done in the 1980s was City Commission and staff- driven, yet resulted in a groundswell of community support, overwhelming approval of the largest General Obligation Bond issue in the City’s history (at that time) to help implement the plan. As a result, most of what was envisioned in 1984 is a reality today. The community and our new City Commission are in agreement that it is time to renew our vision for the future, by building upon what has already been accomplished and expanding our horizon.
There has been much innovation in the ways communities go about a visioning process in the intervening years since 1984. We suggest, and are willing to spearhead and coordinate, an approach that uses a variety of methods to gather community input, so that the vision will have strong underpinnings and broad support. Our suggested approach also calls for a cohesive implementation plan with clearly-defined responsibilities and desired outcomes that are measureable, so that what the community values is protected and their vision for the future comes to pass.
PHASE I COMMUNITY INPUT
The goal of this phase is to gather input from the broadest possible spectrum of our community (defined as permanent residents, businesses & non-profit organizations located in Fort Lauderdale, snowbirds, tourists, and key institutions that have a huge impact on our community – i.e. County government and the School Board). It is important to get input from the people who are not normally civically involved, including children, teens, and the economically disadvantaged. By making this process as inclusive as we can, we can help give them a greater sense of belonging, a voice in the future of their hometown, and a commitment to its future. In addition, the end result will be a better product for their involvement.
There are a variety of means to gather that input and we have outlined them below.
1. A Community Conversation on Values
It is suggested that a World Café process be utilized to assist in defining clearly what we value most highly, i.e. which aspects, features and facets of Fort Lauderdale are most important to us and must be retained, protected and enhanced. It is an important step in a visioning process to define what about our community we hold most dear.
The World Café process is an effective yet simple methodology for hosting conversations about questions that matter. The process is designed to draw out the collective intelligence from a large and diverse group of people on the issues under discussion.
In the World Café process, people with many different viewpoints meet in a congenial and structured setting to answer a question (or questions) on a topic or topics that matter to them deeply and, through a structured conversation process, come up with answers that reflect their common aim. It fosters listening to each other, cross pollination of ideas, getting new insights, and searching for common ground.
The Café can explore a single question or a few. It can make progressively deeper inquiries into the chosen topic through several conversational rounds. Experience has shown that the key to the success of the World Café process is focus. For the process to be powerful the discussions needs to be limited to one or two questions that:
- Are simple and clear
- Are thought-provoking and invite deep reflection
- Are important to the group and thus generate energy and enthusiasm
- Focus the discussion
- Help surface assumptions that can be tested or explored in the discussion
- Open new possibilities for consideration
- Produce useful responses
We would suggest that any resident, business, snowbird, or visitor in the City be able to attend and participate in this Community Conversation. A host committee would make all the arrangements for planning the process (within guidelines set out by the City that are consistent with the World Café process and intent), advertise it, facilitate it, and summarize the results. The City Commissioners and staff would be invited to attend and participate, but in no way dominate, the process.
The advantage of the World Café process is that can engage a very broad cross-section of the community in a serious discussion of their desires for the City. It has the added benefits of developing within the participants a greater understanding of the needs and desires of people from other sectors of the community, generating an interest in seeing the visioning process continue, and building commitment to the ultimate implementation plan, assuming the ultimate vision and plan are respectful of the input that comes out of the World Café process.
2. Surveys
A survey can be used to determine the extent to which the values and resources deemed most dear by the participants in the World Café Process have resonance with a broader spectrum of the community. The survey can also be designed to allow those surveyed to identify additional features of Fort Lauderdale that are extremely important to them. If a large number of survey respondents mention those same items, they can be added to the list of values. Follow up mechanisms can be used to test the relative importance of those additional items to the broad community.
The results of these efforts will be presented to the City Commission and City executive staff for review, discussion, and input.
PHASE II DEVELOPMENT OF THE VISION
In this phase of the process, various methods will be utilized to get the community involved in defining the key features they would like to see in the city of the future. This may be best accomplished by building on the themes (values) that emerged during the Community Input phase.
1. Visioning Forums Held Throughout the City
A charette-style planning process would be utilized in a series of open forums held at several venues throughout the city, on several different dates in order to encourage broad participation in the visioning process. There would be an initial presentation of the broad themes identified in the Community Input stage and a description of the strategic visioning process to be used in the charette.
The participants would be broken down into groups and given different topics to work on, fleshing out a description of what features of the City would be present in the future that would be evidence of attainment of the desired state of affairs under the topic assigned. For example, if the topic assigned was to describe the features that supported the value of “Enjoying Our Subtropical Climate”, the participants might identify the following desirable outcomes: heavy use of native vegetation in public projects, codes that support canopied or tree-lined walkways, protection of breeze pathways, effective shadowing restrictions, sustainable design codes for a sub-tropical climate, outdoor amphitheater.
Ideally, each person would get to participate in a brainstorming group for at least two topics.
As these events are held throughout the City, common visions will begin to emerge that are fairly consistent across most groups.
2. Creating the Visual Images
Many individuals are more comfortable participating in a visioning process via visual means, rather than words. And the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words indicates that the visual depiction can be far more effective in gaining understanding than a written description. So it is important to give those members of the community the opportunity to participate in that manner. And we can utilize what they create to build further excitement about the ultimate vision.
Other cities have used children’s art contests, postcard mail outs that invite people to draw what they’d like to see, and/or a major art & graphics event to get the creative juices going in the community on the subject of the City’s future. We envision using all of these techniques.
The results of the visioning forums and the best of the visual images will be presented to the City Commission and City executive staff, as their understanding of the vision of the community is critical to their ability to perform the next phase. Perhaps the results could also be presented to the community at large in one of the events celebrating the City’s centennial.
PHASE III DEVELOPING THE PLAN
In this phase, the City Commission, City staff and perhaps City Advisory Boards become heavily involved. The people have spoken about what they value and treasure, and what they would like to see. It is now City government’s role to suggest how to make the vision become a reality.
A coherent and cohesive implementation plan, with projects, a rough timeline, very rough cost estimates, possible funding sources, etc.
Before this plan becomes locked in stone, it should be taken on the road and presented to the community via a variety of forums, to obtain input and gain further insight into the community’s priorities.
On the basis of that input, the plan should be reworked and taken to a higher level of detail, including identification of critical implementation steps, measurable outcomes, and better definition of costs and funding, a schedule and assigned responsibility for implementation.
PHASE IV IMPLEMENTATION
The City Commission assigns its staff and advisory committees to work on the implementation, and requires periodic updates on progress. Critical to implementation will be the development and adoption of a multi-year funding plan and a likely campaign for a bond issue.
The plan should be featured prominently on the City’s website and should drive the budget process and planning and zoning actions.
Annually, a progress forum should be held to update the public and celebrate what has been accomplished. Everyone who participated in the visioning process should be invited to attend these forums.
