Michigan Region Selects INDEX for Visioning Tool

Criterion Planners

The Grand Valley Metropolitan Council (GVMC) of Grand Rapids, Michigan has selected INDEX as its planning support tool for implementing the region's Blueprint framework plan for growth management. According to GVMC Senior Planner Jay Hoekstra, "INDEX will be a tool for simulating the regional Blueprint vision at a metropoloitan scale, while also being available to communities for transferring Blueprint concepts to their neighborhood designs. So it's a regionally unifying device and a unique local tool at the same time." The GVMC encompasses a rapidly growing area of 1,300 sq. miles and 32 jurisdictions in southwestern Michigan.

INDEX is an interactive suite of GIS tools for designing land-use and transportation scenarios, and evaluating their performance with indicators and stakeholder rankings. The Grand Valley customization of the tool will include a locally calibrated new urbanist transect being developed along with Blueprint initiatives on housing and street design.

Grand Rapids joins similar regional planning processes being supported by INDEX tools in Washington D.C., Kansas City, Chicago, and Seattle.