Kona Community Development Plan

<< Back to Making Complex Information Sensible

The one year long Kona Community Development Plan process included a civic engagement exercise "Where We Grow?" in which over 300 people at 40 tables were asked to locate a unit of anticipated growth, represented by a chip, and place it on gridded, information-rich maps. To express density or intensity of development chips could be placed on top of each other.  Using GIS, the ESC scanned each table’s maps and then overlayed the 40 participant generated maps to determine consensus on the location of Growth Opportunity Areas (“GOAs”), by quantifying the number of chips on each individual grid square and the number of tables which placed a chip on that grid square.

The results of “Where We Grow” were shared at the subsequent public meeting: All of the 1000+ chips distributed among the tables were accounted for including chips thrown into the Pacific Ocean, so that every vote mattered. 

Related Links:

“The Preparation of the Kona Region Community Development Plan: A Case Study in Visioning and Visualization,” The Future of Cities and Regions: Simulations, Scenario and Visioning, Governance and Scale, Editors: Bazzanella, Canepro, Corsico, and Roccasalva, Springer, London, 2012

“Kona Community Development Plan,” (Michael Kwartler, FAIA), APA Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Divsion Newsletter, Spring 2013

"The Use of Digital Visual Simulations in Three Participatory Planning Case Studies," (Michael Kwartler, FAIA), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper, Cambridge 2005

Kona Community Development Plan wins "Outstanding Planning Award" from American Planning Association's Hawaii Chapter