Imagine 2050: Scenario Planning for the MSP Region
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Certification Maintenance
Course Details
This course will present a real-world application of scenario planning theory. Using an ideal process as an organizing framework, Council staff will recount what happened when we embedded it in our long-range planning process. What worked, what needed adjustment, and what had to be left behind?
Attendees will hear organizational lessons: how we enticed recalcitrant partners; established shared priorities; incorporated uncertainties from various fields; embedded equity in each activity, and transposed information between technical staff and policymakers. We will also share technical lessons: How we had to modify standard modeling practices, invent new analysis tools, and approach measurement with a more open attitude. The opportunities and limits of modeling practices to examine equity-related issues will be discussed.
The 2050 Regional Development Guide that results from this process will shape 168 comprehensive plans in our region, addressing complex issues like equity, climate change, and public health through the various roles and responsibilities of the Metropolitan Council. The lessons about working together, shaping a complex discussion, exploring futures, and developing shared priorities and actions should also be of use to city planners and allied professionals who are similarly engaged in addressing complex problems in their work.
Learning Outcomes
- Describe how exploratory scenario planning can manage tomorrow's uncertainties through today's investments.
- Understand how scenarios are being applied in Twin Cities regional planning.
- Reduce their risks of uncertain futures by incorporating scenarios in their work.