Carolina Planning Journal

Bridging Theory and Practice Since 1974

Category: Education

UNC’s Community Workshop Series (CWS)

August 9, 2022 /

By Rachael Brittain

Managing our day to day lives is becoming increasingly difficult without the use of modern technology. However, approximately 32 million people in the United States do not have the skills to confidently navigate and utilize computers [1]. Computer skills are increasingly fundamental in K-12 schools, with much of a child’s educational experience built around technology and internet use. Adults who did not have the benefit of learning these skills while they were young are experiencing an increasing digital divide between themselves and the younger generation. That said, this issue is not limited to one demographic. As technology continues to evolve everyone requires continual education and assistance to remain digitally literate. The Community Workshop Series (CWS) works to close the digital divide and provide assistance to those in our community who are learning computer fundamentals for the first time and those looking to expand their current knowledge.

Learning to use technology and building essential skills can be difficult without the proper resources. Investing in digital literacy benefits not only the individual but the community. Being able to access computers and the internet increases a community’s civic engagement and people use technology to search for information about their local government; public transportation options; information about voting and upcoming elections; new economic opportunities; and most companies require an online application from prospective employees. The internet reduces the amount of time spent searching for a job and makes it easier to see what positions are available. A basic level of computer literacy is a common job expectation, and an online presence increases visibility for small businesses. Healthcare providers are increasing their use of online forms for patients and online portals are used to create appointments and connect doctors with their patients [2]. Local and global news resources are widely available online, making finding and evaluating this information more critical than ever. These resources and opportunities are cut off for those lacking computer skills.

The Community Workshop Series works with local libraries to host classes to increase digital literacy in the community. University students volunteer to teach classes that provide basic tech skills and computer fundamentals; internet searching, how to use programs, online job searching, evaluating online sources, email basics, smartphones, Google applications, and more based on community needs. Through direct interaction with the community, CWS continuously adjust classes to ensure they are valuable to participants and responsive to their needs. Recently, CWS has been able to begin offering computer basics courses in Spanish to better serve the surrounding community in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Durham. CWS serves the community through digital literacy and improving information access and provides local university students with an opportunity for service learning. Students teach classes, help develop and update curriculum, and work directly with communities to help close the digital divide.

To learn more about the Community Workshop Series or volunteer opportunities, please visit our website https://cws.web.unc.edu/ or contact us directly at silscommunityworkshopseries@gmail.com or rbritta@ad.unc.edu.

Citations

[1] Kendall Latham, “Empower Communities to Strengthen Their Digital Literacy Skills,” Dell Technologies Social Impact Blog, June 27, 2022. https://www.dell.com/en-us/blog/empower-communities-to-strengthen-their-digital-literacy-skills/

[2] Colorado State Library, “Benefits of a Digitally Literate Community,” (infographic), 2013. https://www.maine.gov/msl/libs/tech/diglit/benefits.pdf

Rachael Brittain is the Coordinator of CWS and a second year Library Science student with a concentration in Archives and Records Management at UNC’s School of Library and Information Science. She has an interest in material preservation and community engagement. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Any spare moments are spent reading, listening to music, and hiking.

Edited by Jo Kwon

Featured Image: CWS Logo. Photo Credit: Jess Epsten

District Energy and Sustainability at UNC

April 9, 2020 /
By Amy Sechrist

Have you ever wondered how your physics class is heated? How the student union stays cool in the summer? Or even just what powers the lights in the library? These questions might not seem that interesting, but when you consider that a campus like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has more than 175 buildings to heat, cool and power, these questions become vital for sustainability. 

It may not be as trendy as reusable bags, metal straws or other recent trends, but creating more sustainable energy systems has a huge impact on the environmental footprint at an institution like UNC. Thankfully UNC has acknowledged both ends of the sustainability spectrum with its development of the Three Zeros Initiative.

Amy Armbruster, Research and Outreach Manager for the Three Zero Initiative, describes the programs goals of net zero water, zero waster to landfills and net zero greenhouse gases as “huge, bold, ambitious goals,” but the program has already made progress towards all three since its launch in the fall of 2016.  

But back to the question of how UNC heats, cools, and powers all of the buildings on campus. For the answer we turn to Adam Long, a Greenhouse Gas Specialist at UNC. During the Jan. 16 Natural Hazards Resilience Speaker Series event and tour of campus facilities, Long provided details about the systems that make UNC run smoothly. 

The following discussion of UNC’s district energy system is based on Long’s talk as well as supplemental materials for further clarification.

UNC utilizes a district energy system to provide steam, chilled water and electricity to heat, cool and power its campus and UNC’s hospital complex. District energy systems are commonly used on college campuses as they provide an efficient method for heating and cooling many buildings from one central plant. Put another way, if UNC did not utilize a district energy system then each building on campus would need its own air conditioning unit and water heater, which would be much less efficient.  

Beneath our feet every day, steam, chilled water and electricity run through 45 miles of steam pipe and 22 miles of chilled water pipe on campus. This system not only saves the University money, it is highly efficient and therefore more sustainable than alternative methods. Indeed, UNC’s district energy system has already reduced emissions with a 35% decrease in UNC’s greenhouse gas emission intensity (MTCO2e/gsf) since 2007. 

According to Environmental and Energy Study Institute, district energy systems utilize a combined heat and power (CHP) plant as their central plant. The CHP puts the “waste heat” created in the electricity generation process to good use by repurposing it for heating and cooling.  This cogeneration process, where electricity is a byproduct of making steam, creates about 15% of the electricity used on campus. 

UNC began using a district energy system in 1939. After the main system of pipes was placed, whenever a new building was built, it could simply be connected to the original loop. Thankfully, the University recently invested heavily in this system, providing needed updates as well as additional features to increase efficiency. 

Considering the growing need for more sustainable energy options to combat the climate crisis, why don’t all towns and cities utilize a district energy system? Many in the U.S. do; 837 systems are currently in place, usually in downtown areas, college campuses and hospitals. 

High efficiency, but a question of resiliency

The likely reason district energy systems are not more common is probably the cost. For example, for an existing town to convert to a district energy plan, they’d need huge upfront investments in the laying of pipe, building of the central plant and other necessary infrastructure. Despite the eventual cost savings, many towns are unable to pay such high initial costs.

But district energy systems also present a problem for resiliency. As extreme weather events become more frequent, our heating, cooling and electric systems must be built to limit outages, withstand extreme weather and keep us safe. Since district energy systems distribute from a central plant, if something were to happen to that plant, all buildings on the system would suffer lose access to electricity or hot water.

The way UNC deals with the need for both sustainability and resiliency in its energy systems is to build redundancy into their systems. UNC has two steam plants, four chilled water plants and three electric substations, in addition to the cogeneration facility and backup generators at key buildings. By creating multiple options for cooling, heating and electricity distribution UNC decreases the likelihood of a break in service during an emergency.

Armbruster, of the Three Zeros Initiative, laid out the connection between sustainability and resiliency, describing how increasing sustainability, also increases resiliency. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, UNC is investing in a more sustainable future where we are more resilient because the we rely less heavily on fossil fuels for its heating, cooling and electrical needs. 

Feature Image: UNC-Chapel Hill’s cogeneration plant. Photo from the North Carolina Legislature.

Amy Sechrist is a first-year master’s candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning with a concentration in Housing and Community Development. Her research interests include affordable housing, planning for equity, and the intersection of gender and planning. Prior to UNC she worked as a Housing Advocate and Shelter Manager at a gender-based violence crisis center and as a federal project management consultant. Amy holds a certificate in Creative Placemaking from the New Hampshire Institute of Art and a bachelor’s degree in Political Communication from George Washington University.

DCRP Master’s Project Preview

February 7, 2020 /

UNC’s top-ranked master’s program is designed to successfully prepare students for professional planning practice. A central component of the curriculum is a final capstone project, an ‘MP,’ which provides an opportunity for students to apply the skills and knowledge they’ve developed in the classroom and demonstrate their readiness for practice. But the MP is also a space for students to engage with pressing social and institutional challenges that affect real-world communities.

Current second-years Tory Gibler and Catherine McManus are both working on projects with real-world applications to address 21st challenges. A preview of their MPs illustrates the breadth of research being done at UNC and the ways in which the DCRP program aims to develop planners that are both successful and socially-engaged.

Curbside Management in North Carolina (Tory Gibler)

Curbside management seeks to optimize curbside usage, typically in urban downtowns, where a variety of users, businesses, and city functions are all competing for limited space. Large cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, and New York are proactively addressing curbside management, but curb competition is not unique to large metropolitan areas. Small to mid-size southeastern cities face the same challenges at the curb, particularly with the growth in Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, the emergence of micromobility start-ups (e.g. e-scooter and dockless bicycle companies), urban freight delivery, and new complete street policies. My research looks at six North Carolina cities to better understand how these urban areas are managing the curb in light of new 21st century challenges.

Water Committees in sub-Saharan Africa (Catherine McManus)

The United Nations estimates that 1.8 billion people worldwide do not have access to safely managed drinking water sources. A major contributing factor to this problem in sub-Saharan Africa is that 25% of hand-pumps no longer work within four years of their construction. What explains why some water points reliably serve a community for decades while others fail within a year? Often, the answer lies in how local water committees manage their water systems. My MP looks at data from more than 3,000 water points across twelve countries in sub-Saharan Africa to understand whether different characteristics of these committees – including their composition, operations, and fee collection system – influence local water system functionality. I also intend to examine the potential of new definitions of ‘functionality’ to test the validity of existing, commonly used measures. These are questions we need to answer to help guarantee safe, reliable sources of drinking water for all.

DCRP Master’s Project Preview

January 17, 2020 /

UNC’s top-ranked master’s program is designed to successfully prepare students for professional planning practice. A central component of the curriculum is a final capstone project, an ‘MP,’ which provides an opportunity for students to apply the skills and knowledge they’ve developed in the classroom and demonstrate their readiness for practice. But the MP is also a space for students to engage with pressing social and institutional challenges that affect real-world communities.

Current second-years Kaitlin Heatwole and Paul Liu are both working on projects with real-world applications in underserved communities. A preview of their MPs illustrates the breadth of research being done at UNC and the ways in which the DCRP program aims to develop planners that are both successful and socially-engaged.

Transportation Disadvantage of Refugees in the Research Triangle of North Carolina (Kaitlin Heatwole)

Building on transportation equity research that was conducted with refugees in Vermont (Bose 2014) and Ontario (Farber et al 2018), I’m surveying refugees who have settled in the Research Triangle to learn more about how they get around. Specifically, I’m interested in modes of travel, travel times, and barriers they face to access work, school, groceries, child care, healthcare, social connections, and other destinations. Results of this multi-lingual survey will identify patterns of refugees’ travel behaviors and recommend steps that public transit, housing, and other service agencies can take to meet the transportation, housing, and employment needs of this group.

Retiree In-Migration and Low-Wage Job Growth (Paul Liu)

In many areas of the U.S., the number of seniors and retirees is growing relative to other age cohorts. This demographic shift can have wide-ranging implications on regional labor markets and economic development more broadly. Because retirees do not participate in the labor force but still demand goods and services, some have argued that retirees’ consumption patterns drive demand for low-wage and part-time labor. However, up-to-date research on the effect of retiree spending habits on regional labor markets is surprisingly limited. To fill this gap, I am developing an econometric analysis using publicly available data to determine whether there is, in fact, a causal relationship between retiree in-migration and the number of low-wage jobs. These results will provide a valuable and much-needed understanding of the relationship between retiree in-migration and regional job quality.

Essential Urbanist Documentaries from the National Film Board of Canada

April 2, 2019 /

The National Film Board of Canada–NFB (Office National du Film du Canada–ONF) was established as the National Film Commission in 1939 during the third government of Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King. As Canada’s public film producer and distributor, the NFB’s mission as set forth in the National Film Act of 1950 has been “to produce and distribute and to promote the production and distribution of films designed to interpret Canada to Canadians and to other nations.” As part of this mandate, the NFB has produced over 13,000 works that speak to issues of national and international importance. As I have also come to find out, its collection is also a treasure trove of historically-relevant urbanist films. From feature-length interviews with Jane Jacobs to vignettes about Montreal neighborhoods in transition, here are some must-see titles for your next urbanist movie night:

Regina Telebus (1973)

“This short film from 1973 offers a report on Regina’s successful experiment with dial-a-bus, a flexible service midway between a bus and a taxi. The idea is to provide passengers with door-to-destination transportation at an affordable cost.”

Regina Telebus, Rex Tasker, provided by the National Film Board of Canada,

September Five at Saint-Henri (1962)

“This short film is a series of vignettes of life in Saint-Henri, a Montreal working-class district, on the first day of school. From dawn to midnight, we take in the neighbourhood’s pulse: a mother fussing over children, a father’s enforced idleness, teenage boys clowning, young lovers dallying – the unposed quality of daily life.”

September Five at Saint-Henri, Hubert Aquin, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

A Capital Plan (1949)

“This short documentary features a portrait of Ottawa in the mid-20th century, as the nascent Canadian capital grew with force but without direction. Street congestion, air pollution, and rail traffic were all the negative results of a city that had grown without being properly planned. French architect and urban designer Jacques Gréber stepped in to create a far-sighted plan for the future development of Ottawa. With tracks moved, factories relocated, and neighbourhoods redesigned as separate communities, Ottawa became the capital city of true beauty and dignity we know today.”

A Capital Plan, Bernard Devlin, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Chairs for Lovers (1973)

“In this documentary short, Vancouver architect Stanley King demonstrates his method for involving the public in urban design. Called the “draw-in/design-in”, the method is applied to a downtown Vancouver area slated for redevelopment. How can it be made to best serve the needs of the people who will use it? Here, sketches prepared by students and refined by adults are used to guide city planners.”

Chairs for Lovers, Barrie Howells, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

City Limits (1971)

“This short documentary features acclaimed author and activist Jane Jacobs’ forthright, critical analysis of the problems and virtues of North American cities. Jacobs orients her fascinating observations around Toronto, to which she moved after leaving New York City because Toronto “is a city that still has options … it hasn’t made so many mistakes that it’s bound to go downhill.” Her remarks, made in 1971, are prescient yet earnest and will interest all urban stakeholders. This colourful city film, accompanied by an upbeat, jazzy soundtrack, is a must-see for all civic and community groups—indeed, for all urban dwellers worldwide.”

City Limits, Laurence Hyde, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community (1983)

“This feature documentary takes us to the heart of the Jane-Finch “Corridor” in the early 1980s. Covering six square blocks in Toronto’s North York, the area readily evokes images of vandalism, high-density subsidized housing, racial tension, despair and crime. By focusing on the lives of several of the residents, many of them black or members of other visible minorities, the film provides a powerful view of a community that, contrary to its popular image, is working towards a more positive future.”

Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, Jennifer Hodge & Roger McTair, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993)

“In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. Released in 1993, this landmark documentary has been seen around the world, winning over a dozen international awards and making history at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it became the first documentary ever to win the Best Canadian Feature award. Jesse Wente, Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office, has called it a “watershed film in the history of First Peoples cinema.”

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Alanis Obomsawin, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

*Descriptions retrieved from NFB website

Featured image credit: Adam Hasan

Adam is a Senior undergraduate student studying Geography and City & Regional Planning. His research interests include understanding the actors involved in defining and redefining Global South urbanisms through social movements, governance systems, and media, as well as the history of spatial planning in post-colonial regions.

UNC City and Regional Planning Kicks off New Student Research Seminar Series

February 5, 2019 /

This semester, the Department of City and Regional Planning is kicking off a new event series. The Student Research Seminar Series gives a few students each month an opportunity to present on a research project they’re working on. Recognizing that good research requires a team effort, these seminars give students a chance to solicit feedback and advice on their work, while also practicing their presentation skills.

To get a taste of what our students have been up to, here is the schedule for this semester. If you happen to find yourself in New East 101, be sure to join and support the exciting research efforts of our students!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28th

Emma Blondon (MCRP), Ellen Emeric (MCRP), Anna Jane Jones (MCRP), Margaret Keener (MCRP), Nick Smith (MCRP), Matt Stern (MCRP) (3:30-4:15pm)

Planners Hack the 2019 ULI Hines Competition: Cincinnati Riverfront Redevelopment

Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi (PhD) (4:15-5:00pm)

Responding to Droughts: The Geography of Water-Related Technological Innovation

 

THURSDAY, MARCH 21st

Karla Jimenez-Magdaleno (MCRP/MPH) (3:30-4:15pm)

Disrupted: A Visual Exploration of No Fault Evictions in Durham, NC

Atticus Jaramillo (PhD) (4:15-5:00pm)

Neighborhood Opportunity and Housing Choice Voucher Recipient Residential Satisfaction

 

THURSDAY, APRIL 11th

Hunter Holbrook (MPH), Karla Jimenez-Magdaleno (MCRP/MPH), Michele Plaugic (MCRP/MPH), Hilary Pollan (MCRP/MPH), Alison Salomon (MCRP/MPH) (3:00-3:45pm)

Conceptualizing the Farm-to-Hospital System in North Carolina

Caroline Lauer (PhD) (3:45-4:15pm)

Low-Income Households Responses to Energy Price Shocks

* * *

Featured Image: The home of the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning in New East Hall, Photo Credit: UNC DCRP Website

About the author: Leah Campbell is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, where she focuses on equitable climate adaptation and disaster mitigation. Prior to UNC, she worked in the environmental nonprofit sector in California after receiving her B.S. in Geophysics and Environmental Science from Yale in 2015.

UNC City and Regional Planning Students Head to Buffalo for ACSP 2018

October 23, 2018 /

This week in Buffalo, NY is the annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, the preeminent meeting in the country for academic planners. UNC City and Regional Planning will be well represented this year, with a number of Ph.D. students attending to present on everything from coastal resilience in North Carolina to economic development in Brazil.

To get a taste of the research our students have been up to, here is a preview of some of the talks they’ll be giving this week!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25

Andrew Guinn (1:00-2:30pm)

Embedding Mobility – Training Institutions & Inclusive Development in Pernambuco & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In the US and throughout the world, planners and policy makers have grown interested in demand-driven skills training as a means of boosting the incomes of disadvantaged workers while promoting economic growth. Yet the literature, as well as American practice, suggests that a trade-off exists between the equity and efficiency goals of these training programs. Andy’s talk looks at a large-scale automotive training program in Brazil to understand how implementing agencies navigate this tension. Drawing on this case-study, and a number of secondary examples, this research shows how mechanisms of access and placement enhanced the inclusivity and effectiveness of regional training institutions for unskilled workers.

Jordan Branham (4:15-5:30pm)

Investigating the Impact of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act on Coastal Infrastructure

The Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982 (CBRA) removed federal funding and disaster assistance for designated units in coastal areas along the Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes. This study examines how CBRA designation impacted investments for coastal hardening specifically, inside and outside of CBRA units. Using both hand-digitized geolocated maps from the 1980s and present-day shoreline classification data available from NOAA, Jordan compared the length and location of armored shorelines before and after the implementation of CBRA. This research suggests that, as a whole, CBRA-designated units experienced substantially less armoring than non-CBRA areas, though little relationship was found to exist between county-level growth metrics and increases in armored shoreline.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27

Atticus Jaramillo (9:45-11:15am)

The Impact of HCV Concentration on Perceptions of Neighborhood Conditions

In this talk, Atticus explores how levels of poverty in a neighborhood affect “Section 8” Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) recipients’ satisfaction with their residential environment. His research digs into this question to consider how subjective quality of life indicators, such as residential satisfaction, are relevant to ongoing efforts to help HCV recipients access homes in low-poverty neighborhoods.

Amanda Martin (2:00-3:15pm)

Race, Place & Resilience in North Carolina’s Post-Disaster Buyouts Program

Planners typically recommend buyouts to reduce the vulnerability of neighborhoods located in risky areas following natural disasters. Some advocates and critical scholars, though, decry buyouts and other post-disaster, land-use mitigation strategies as veiled means of dismantling low-income communities of color. However, there is scant research to-date on whether buyouts disproportionately occur in marginalized populations, intentionally or unintentionally.

Amanda uses data from property buyouts in North Carolina following Hurricane Floyd to build a better understanding of the kinds of neighborhoods where buyouts occur and how the incidence and impact of buyouts relates to social inequality. In determining the typical sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods with the greatest buyout participation, she finds that the rate of buyouts is positively associated with the extent of racial segregation and the share of residents of color. This research will contribute to a growing scholarly conversation about buyouts and the racially disparate outcomes of hazard mitigation.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28

Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi (8:00-9:30am)

Responding to Droughts – A Spatial Regression Analysis on Innovation in the Water Sector

It is a commonly held perception that innovative activity in the water sector is lagging relative to that of other environmental sectors. In fact, this concern motivated the EPA’s 2011 Water Technology Clusters initiative to jump-start innovation. However, little work has been done to-date to understand the determinants of the inventive phase of the innovation process. To fill this gap, Rachid’s talk explores geographic and temporal variation in innovation patterns to explain potential climate-related drivers of innovation in the water sector. His research suggests that innovation does not respond to the incidence of droughts and that there may, in fact, be a deficit of innovation. However, he also finds that the work of Water Technology Clusters not only increases the rate of water-related technological innovation, in general, but also in response to the incidence of severe drought.

Mary Wolfe (9:45-11:15am)

The Changing Landscape of Access to Health Care – Policy Shifts & Influence of Shared Mobility

Mary’s talk discusses some of the work she has been doing with coauthor, and City and Regional Planning Department Chair Noreen McDonald, on innovative health care mobility services. Mary’s research explores how ride-hailing technology is rapidly changing the way that people travel to and from doctor’s appointments, therapist offices, and hospitals. She shows how shared mobility companies, including Uber and Lyft, are capitalizing on a market opportunity by addressing a costly problem for health care providers and helping overcome transportation barriers to patient care.

And if you happen to find yourself in Buffalo, be sure to stop by some of these talks by our other Ph.D. students as well to learn more about the research underway at UNC!

Gwen Kash (Oct. 25, 1:00-2:30pm)

The Quest for Gender-Responsive Planning

Nora Schwaller (Oct. 26, 8:30-9:45am)

Impacts of Hazard Mitigation Grants on Individual & Community Level Post-Disaster Resilience

Kyle Onda (Oct. 27, 9:45-11:15am)

Urban Sprawl & Equity in Water & Sewer Expansion Patterns in Brazil, 1980-2010

Sophie Kelmenson (Oct. 27, 2:00-3:15pm)

Private Businesses in Public Commons – Contested Coastal Developments in California

Allison Forbes

Industrial Policy, Targeting & Economic Development Practice (Oct. 26, 10:00-11:15am)

Planning for Labor Market Resilience – Can Big Companies Create a Big Tent? (Oct. 28, 8:00-9:30am)

Yan Chen (Oct. 28, 9:45-11:15am)

How Does Land Use Mix Change in the U.S.? Analysis of Land Use Mix Dynamics Using LODES Census Block Level Data from 2002 to 2015

* * *

Featured Image: The Buffalo Skyline, Photo Credit: The Cleveland Scene

About the author: Leah Campbell is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, where she focuses on equitable climate adaptation and disaster mitigation. Prior to UNC, she worked in the environmental nonprofit sector in California after receiving her B.S. in Geophysics and Environmental Science from Yale in 2015.

Injecting Social Marketing into Urban Planning

December 9, 2016 /

Take a look at these two opening statements from Seattle and Cincinnati’s comprehensive plans:

“Further growth will present challenges and opportunities similar to the ones we have faced in the recent past. The City has created this Plan as a guide to help it make decisions about managing growth equitably over the next twenty years.” —Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan

“This is our vision to continue our thriving re-urbanization. This plan contains a range of goals, strategies and action steps, that all work together to build on our assets to create diverse, healthy, and livable neighborhoods, with great transportation options and strong public infrastructure. The ultimate goal is to strengthen all parts of the city, so that everyone can enjoy living in Cincinnati.—Planning Cincinnati

Which one do you think would gain more public support for adoption? Probably Planning Cincinnati, winner of the 2014 Daniel Burnham Award for Comprehensive Plan. It sounds visionary and inspiring, and yet still feels wordy and vague despite it being heralded as an award-winning plan. At no point do these plans provide what the consumer—or in planning, the resident—explicitly gains by adopting the plan. This approach might change a statement like “transit-oriented development will make the community more walkable and livable” to “transit-oriented development will get you to work 15 minutes faster” in order to gain more public support.

Before attending UNC’s Department of City and Regional Planning, I was working at RTI International’s Center for Communication Science. One of our primary approaches was to apply social marketing principles to public health campaigns for the prevention of diseases and promotion of health. The International Social Marketing Association defines this principle as such:

Social Marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviours that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good.

The key to social marketing is that it frames interventions in terms of benefits and gains and nudges the target audience to make an informed decision. This is best seen in the development and implementation of American Legacy Foundation’s the truth campaign, which has been credited for cutting the number of smokers by 300,000 in its first two years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPS9Op5dhCw

The truth campaign’s Left Swipe Dat ad including major social media and YouTube celebrities.

In my current studies, I’ve become frustrated by how vague city and regional plans are with communicating their goals. And I find it odd that the average resident doesn’t know what a planner does or why our job is important. The fact that plans, which impact millions of people, don’t often aim their communications to the public at-large makes me lose faith in a good, solid idea being implemented by the government. This is why social marketing could help planners get people behind their work.

picture1

Photo Credit: CIVITAS Initiative

Only a few planning interventions incorporate social marketing. A study on influencing transportation choices found that the most successful transportation programs showed people how a simple change in their life could provide substantial benefits. Sweden actively uses social marketing techniques in their transportation planning process to promote sustainability. The towns of Lund and Malmo applied social marketing through LundaMaTs and CIVITAS SMILE1, respectively. The towns did so by identifying their target audience for every transportation initiative. For example, for bus ridership increases, CIVITAS SMILE targeted car drivers and regular commuters, recognizing the barriers and benefits that might come from riding the bus and the best behavior change tools suited for their needs.

sample-transit-hubs-from-lundamats-photo-credit-lund

Sample transit hub for Lunda MaTs. Source: LundaMaT.

The efforts from Lund and Malmo have been found to “clos[e] [the] attitudinal-behavior gap that exists in traditional transportation planning.”2 Both of the town’s transportation planning policies shared the four following elements:

  • Consumer oriented
  • Mutually beneficial exchange
  • Relationship thinking
  • Behavior change tools application  

The towns developed innovative transportation policies by figuring out how to make alternative transportation modes more attractive to customers. For example, they directly addressed perceived inconveniences associated with transfers during single trips by integrating bike facilities next to bus stops. In the case of the LundaMaTs, fifteen percent of residents modified their behavior by using their cars less.3 Even more impressive was the fact that car ownership per capita declined by two percent within a ten-year period.

lund-train-station

Lund Train Station. Photo Credit: Flicker Creative Commons

Within planning in the United States, we rarely see these principles applied in our work. The concepts that are developed for places have intricate technical details but do not inherently understand the target audience. It feels like planners as a whole are not challenging themselves to “sell” planning interventions to different stakeholders. We can throw all the evidence and theories to justify why a planning intervention will work and the public may still not adopt it. Instead, we should push for presenting the value-add in our ideas—the so-what?—that we believe will enhance the social good.

1 CIVITAS SMILE is active in five European cities: http://www.civitas.eu/sites/default/files/final_poster_11_smile_09011520reduced.pdf 
2 Olga, C. 2009. The application of social marketing in promoting sustainable transportation. Lund University. Pg. 62, http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1511095&fileOId=1511096 
3 U.S. Department of Transportation. Application of TDM to Policy Issues. http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12035/chap3.htm

Karla Jimenez-Magdaleno is a dual master’s student at UNC’s Department of City and Regional Planning and School of Public Health. Her academic interests are in land use and health behavior. When she’s not exploring new food joints, she is obsessing over the NBA. Prior to UNC, Karla was a public health research analyst at RTI International and a radio producer at WNCU 90.7 FM Jazz.

Carolina Planning, the oldest student-run planning publication in the country, is produced once a year in UNC's Department of City and Regional Planning. Articles selected for the journal are written by academics and practitioners, covering a wide range of topics relevant to today’s planning challenges.

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