Planning With Legos

University of Maryland researchers will conduct a series of visioning exercises to pick locations for future jobs and housing by placing Legos building blocks on a map. It's the latest trend in growth visioning exercises.

1 minute read

February 28, 2006, 1:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

Based on the popular "Reality Check" concept created by the Urban Land Institute, Los Angeles' 'Reality Check on Growth' exercise, University of Maryland researchers challenge Marylanders to plan for the state's growth.

"With a recent poll showing many residents upset about the pace of growth in their communities, sprawl critics are joining with their frequent foes, developers, and with University of Maryland researchers for a bit of game-playing aimed at turning public discontent into a broad consensus on how -- and where -- the state should grow over the next 25 years.

...The latest in a series of growth-imagining exercises held in such burgeoning metropolises as Los Angeles and Washington, Reality Check Plus aims to get people who are often at odds over individual development projects to agree on blueprints for growth for their regions - and for the state as a whole."

Thanks to John W. Frece

FULL STORY: Building a vision for growth in Md.

Friday, February 24, 2006 in The Baltimore Sun

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