We need community engagement.
We need community engagement—especially now. At this moment in time, I’m making it my personal and professional mission to be an advocate for social connection.
Although non-essential businesses have largely been forced to close their doors, civic life continues. Albeit, in non-traditional ways. We are learning new ways to learn support local businesses, develop our skills, work, and interact with family and friends. At the same time, businesses still need to communicate with their employees, clients, and customers, while design and planning projects in the built environment continue to develop. Which means that stakeholder engagement in many forms must persist, despite social distancing.
Why ‘Social-Distancing’ Sends the Wrong Message
Staying isolated during the Coronavirus pandemic is in the public’s best interest and, dare I say, our civic duty. By staying home, each of us plays a crucial role in helping to #flattenthecurve in the spread of COVID-19. Yet, calling this responsibility “social distancing” is sending the wrong message.
Although we should be physically distancing ourselves, more than ever we need to be socially connecting.
Social connection and personal relationships are ridiculously important indicators of one’s overall resilience and well-being. While loneliness and isolation … Furthermore, we need to feel a sense of group solidarity in this moment, while civic involvement offers cathartic benefits by serving as a healing process.
3 Reasons We Need to Engage Our Communities Now
Never before have planners and designers had to rely almost entirely on digital or remote engagement opportunities to shape their projects. In fact, recognizing the digital divide—the barriers some face when trying to access technology which restrict their public participation—design professionals typically avoided entirely digital means of engagement in favor of a more varied approach. We no longer have that luxury.
People need to be engaged in public conversations, and here’s why:
- Projects impacting public life require public participation. Simply put, people need to be a part of the decision-making process when the outcome of that decision will have impacts on their lives.
- People need to feel connected to their neighbors, what’s happening in their community, and what’s going on in the world. In our current crisis, people are craving connection and consistency. People want to know what’s going on and feel like they are a part of life as it goes on around them. Public participation, furthermore, offers a healing process that lets people feel united with their community in the face of an issue that’s much (much much much) greater than any one individual can resolve alone.
- Social resilience is fostered through strengthening the social fabric of a community. Our individual and collective resilience—that is, our ability to withstand and bounce-back in a crisis—is strengthened by our social connections. Public participation processes have the ability to foster the social fabric of our communities.
Not Your Mom’s Digital Engagement
Digital engagement, as we’ve largely seen it to-date, is not without its flaws. As mentioned, not everyone has access to the technology required. Additionally, digital interactions lack the trust-building qualities of personal, face-to-face engagement opportunities. Digital tools come with a bit of a learning curve, and some individuals are faster to adopt new technology than others.
Yet, for better or worse, digital engagement tools will play a principle role in engagement for the foreseeable future.
So, what can businesses, designers, planners, and public officials do? Adapt to the changing times.
Strategies and Tools for Digital Engagement
Though it’s unfamiliar territory for some, in uncertain times—and at a slapdash pace—we cannot delay our evolution of engagement. Fortunately, there are a few strategies that might ease the transition.
We Must Adapt
The way it’s always been done is no longer an option. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We’re presented now with a chance to change (read: improve) our communication and outreach methods. I encourage designers to try new approaches and remain flexible. There will be a bit of trial and error, but we will develop effective techniques in the process. In tough times, we must think creatively and innovate. Those who fail to adapt will be left behind.
Start Now
We cannot delay. Hopefully I’ve made it clear that the public needs to be engaged, but it should also go without saying that our work needs to engage the public. Project timelines continue, and as a great man once said, “the show must go on.”
Have a Plan
Now we have to adapt and act fast, but we can still be prepared and coordinated. Spend a little time coming up with an outreach and engagement plan.
- Clarify your objectives. Perhaps nothing has changed here. And if that’s the case, then it will serve you just to be reminded of the objectives. Alternatively, perhaps your objectives have to be modified. Understand what you need to achieve through engagement before you come up with a plan so that you can be clear about your messaging.
- Identify your audience. Who is most vulnerable? Who is most at risk of being left out of the conversation? What are their priorities? How can you meet your target audiences where they are?
- Know your timeline. In which phase of your project are you today? Where are you headed? Where do you need to be and by when? Think backwards from there and identify touchpoints and milestones along the way.
- Anticipate the hurdles. Given your objectives, target audience, and timeline, what hurdles might you encounter? For each hurdle, brainstorm how you can overcome the challenge.
Leverage Partners
You are not alone. You are amidst this crisis along with everyone you know, and many others are facing the same challenge as you. Identify partners in the community. Learn from what others are doing and share channels to help get the word out.
Be Inclusive
An effective engagement strategy brings all voices to the table. An even better engagement strategy specifically identifies the disenfranchised voices and ensures they are heard. We can’t forget those communities in our digital engagement plan. Think about how you will engage people without internet, computers, or smart phones (or any cell-phones). How will you reach people who speak different languages, or have hearing or visual impairments? How will you engage over-burdened and distracted parents who are now managing a full household? Look back at your identified audience and be sure to think about ways to engage everyone in your community.
Use a Variety of Tools
One way to ensure that all voices are heard is to use a variety of diverse tools. And not every tool you use needs to be digital.
Virtual reality, augmented reality, and digital tech offer exciting, fresh methods for engagement, but sometimes the traditional methods might be more effective at reaching your intended audience. Don’t forget about these low-tech, high-reach tactics:
- Direct mailers (flyers, surveys with pre-paid postage, etc.)
- Local TV news and radio broadcast
- Community boards
- Tele-Town Halls
- Small-scale conversations
Be Clear, Consistent, and Reliable
People are being bombarded with information at the moment. To ensure that your messaging is absorbed, it should be clear and easy to digest. Additionally, the message should be consistent across touch points and phases of your project and distributed with a reasonable rate of reliability. A clear and consistent message will maintain expectations and ensure that you or your project stay top-of-mind.
Grow and Embrace a New Normal
I hope that I can say with some amount of certainty that things will not always be this way. That said, perhaps we can still embrace the new reliance on digital engagement as the “new normal.” As you’re adapting engagement strategies, imagine how new tools might become a more permanent addition to your engagement toolkit.
Just as I’m sure society will be forever changed once we come out of this pandemic crisis, our public processes will likewise be forever changed.