Letting Go: A New Planning Paradigm?

Einstein is credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So maybe instead of planners trying to achieve ever greater precision through quantitative analysis and exerting more regulatory control, long-range planning should chart a new path. What this could look like should be open to lots of people’s different interpretations. Over the past nine months MZ Strategies has been involved in projects that illustrate new ways public agencies can engage. In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region new partnerships between regional planners and non-profits created the first Regional Economic Framework, which centers on racial equity. In Chicago, the Mayors Office and city departments together with community advocates, transit providers, and regional stakeholders established the first Equitable Transit Oriented Development Policy Plan of its kind in the nation.

May 15, 2017 By: Mariia Zimmerman

Tags: #TimeToBuild, #InfrastructureWeek, #TLC, #Metropolitan Council, #transit, #Brookings, #RooseveltInstitute, #InThePublicInterest, #CenterforAmericanProgress

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Infrastructure Week: #TimeToThink

Infrastructure is key to the national economy and to the economic opportunity that every Amercian faces. Safe water. Affordable energy. Mobility and accessibility. We have artificially made infrastructure investment a zero-sum game by letting the “no tax” voices win. Infrastructure is the ultimate public good. Public investment in all forms of infrastructure costs the individual user less than paying for it through user feeds, or perhaps not even getting the service if it’s too cost prohibitive for the private sector. Yes, it’s time to build, but even more importantly, it’s time to think.

May 13, 2016 By: Mariia Zimmerman

Tags: #regional planning, #regional collaboratives, #usdotconnects, #Metropolitan Council, #TCRPC, #Metro, #APA

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Celebrating Regional Planning’s Golden Anniversary

Regional planning - at the federal level and in many areas of the country - is celebrating 50 years of practice. Yet the role of implementation is something that few regional agencies have the authority to do. By its very nature, regionalism is the art of collaboration. Somewhat surprisingly, federal transportation provisions are often the catalyst for integrated and collaborative planning efforts.

January 06, 2016 By: Mariia Zimmerman

Tags: #mixedincome, #affordable housinig, #McKnight Foundation, #Twin Cities, #Metropolitan Council, #Fair Housing, #ULI MN

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Mixed-Income Neighborhoods Require More than Rhetoric: Lessons from the Twin Cities

Given the unmet housing demand in many communities and the strengthened federal guidance to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing, mixed-income housing should be seen as one of many tools in the affordable housing toolkit. Policy makers need to recognize that wishing or mandating mixed-income housing does not make it happen though. A recent MZ Strategies, LLC Policy Brief looks at the experience of three mixed-income project in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area. We find that when cities, developers and investors are willing to partner, take acceptable risks, and put their money where their mouth is, successful mixed-income projects can happen in cities and suburbs.