2021 Manners Awardee
Glass

"Enhancing Participatory Planning with Spatial Prioritization Indices"

Michael R. Glass, PhD

Senior Lecturer and Interim Director of the Urban Studies Program
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
University of Pittsburgh

ABSTRACT:   Critical infrastructure is a pressing concern for economic competitiveness and the quality of life of US citizens. Infrastructure development, maintenance and delivery tend to be understood and governed in highly localized terms. Yet because critical infrastructure systems frequently transcend local and state administrative boundaries, it is crucial to recognize that they almost always function more as a regional concern, both in terms of the regulatory spaces and constellations of actors involved. The problems facing different regions vary, meaning that infrastructure planning needs to remain sensitive to geographic contingencies and stakeholder perceptions at multiple scales. The diversity of regional populations and priorities creates problems for visioning exercises that intend to build consensus for large-scale infrastructural projects. This creates pervasive challenges for federally mandated organizations including Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) that allocate funds to meet transportation infrastructure needs. We propose developing a toolkit for infrastructure planning that draws on a novel regional application of geoinformatics. The technical, policy, and methodological insights of an interdisciplinary project team will redesign a sketch mapping methodology that has proven successful with neighborhood-scale projects for use in regional infrastructure planning. Sketch mapping integrates user perspectives of place with geospatial data analysis. We will partner with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) to test the tool as part of the current Transportation Improvement Program process. If we succeed, this new methodology has the potential to enhance participatory planning and prioritization of multiple critical infrastructure systems at the regional scales at which they are implemented, governed, and utilized.