The Mississippi Gulf Regional Planning Commission (GRPC) has selected the INDEX planning support system for scenario building with local officials and citizens engaged in post-Katrina land-use and transportation planning. The GRPC is the metropolitan planning organzation for the three counties and 11 cities along
Mississippi's coast, all hard hit by Katrina.

"We needed a versatile tool that could address both land-use and transportation, and be friendly enough for public use," according to GRPC principal planner Ken Holland. In addition to the INDEX software and training, the agency has acquired storefront space in Gulfport where the tool will be used in real-time by charrette participants.

This is a return to Mississippi for the INDEX team from Criterion Planners. Based in Portland Oregon, the Criterion staff joined the CNU Mississippi Renewal Forum in 2005 immediately after Katrina. "We're excited about returning," says Criterion's project manager Thom York, "this is a chance to help the coast get completely back on its feet, and at the same time integrate sustainability principles in transportation and land-use plans."

The GRPC joins other regions and communities around the nation that are supporting their planning with INDEX, including transit station area planning for Sacramento California, and sustainable regional growth visioning for the Emerald Coast in Florida.

INDEX is a suite of GIS-based tools for assessing community conditions, designing and evaluating scenarios in real-time, and ranking them according to goal achievement. Introduced in 1994, it is now the most widely-used planning support tool in the U.S.

Related Link: INDEX Planning Support Software

For more information contact:

Eliot Allen
Criterion Planners
725 NW Flanders St. Suite 303
Portland
OR 97209
U.S.

Phone: 503-224-8606 Ext 1
Fax: 503-224-8702
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.crit.com