City Planners Invite Public To Play Online Planning Game 'Philadelphia 2035'
By Pat Loeb
PHILADLPHIA (CBS) -- It may be an impossible task, but the folks at Philadelphia's Planning Commission are determined to at least try to make city planning fun. They've created an online game to lure residents into getting involved in their comprehensive plan.
"Philadelphia 2035" is a comprehensive strategy for development of the city's 18 planning districts -- hey, wake up! -- No, seriously, even people who have made city planning their careers, like Clint Randall, know it can be a bit ... dry.
"In traditional planning processes, you hold a public meeting and only certain people are able to come," Randall said.
So Randall adapted a game called Community PlanIt for Philadelphia, asking users to show what kind of development they'd like to see where, by completing a series of missions, which also get them virtual coins that they can use to vote on actual grants to community groups.
"The game is a great way to get responses from a wider population of people."
Randall says some 900 people have logged on. You can join them at http://communityplanit.org/phl2035/
