Long range & strategic planning
Program Titles
- What is Visioning?
- Community visioning: Building a strategic vision for the future
- Transforming Urban Sprawl
Steven C. Ames, visioning is a process through which a community envisions the future it wants, and then plans how to achieve it. It brings people together to develop a shared image of “where” they want their community to be in the future. Once a community has envisioned where it wants to be, it can begin to consciously work toward that goal.
A vision is the guiding image of what a community would like to be, and a vision statement is the formal expression of such a vision. It depicts in words and images what the community seeks to become – how it would look, how it would function, how it might be different or better. A vision statement is also the starting point for the development and implementation of a strategic action plan that can help the community mobilize to achieve its vision over time.
In undertaking a visioning process, a community can:
better understand local strengths, weaknesses, and core community values;
identify outside forces, trends and issues that are shaping its future;
articulate a preferred vision to guide its future directions; and
develop the strategic tools to achieve its vision.
Books by Steven C. Ames
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