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Regional Visioning and Cooperation

As an organization with a diverse membership, one of ULI’s greatest strengths is its ability to tap into the expertise and experience of its members. ULI has identified regional cooperation and coordinated regional planning as a priority. This is a timely issue as the global competition amongst regions becomes more pronounced. Virtually all growth-related issues—from how to achieve economic diversity to how to integrate land use and transportation planning in order to accommodate growing populations—are regional in scale. Recognizing the importance of regional cooperation to the future economic competitiveness and livability of metropolitan regions, ULI works with District Councils and ULI members on regional efforts that will enact change on the regional and local levels. The primary ways that ULI accomplishes such regional visioning and cooperation is through programs such as Reality Check and the ULI Florida Initiative on Regional Cooperation.

Regional Visioning

Reality Check

ULI Florida Initiative on Regional Cooperation

Regional Visioning

Competition among regions in the global economy is pronounced. Indeed, it is regions, not cities or counties or states that are now the functional unit of international economic competition. Thus the future prosperity of a region will depend to a significant extent upon its ability to compete with other leading regions in offering the best mix of economic vitality and lifestyle amenities to attract and retain its most valuable resource - its people. ULI believes that those regions with a clear plan for how they are going to grow, a plan that has broad-based support from the private, non-profit and public sectors, will have a key competitive advantage. “Regional visioning” is a tool that is increasingly being used to effectively engage local stakeholders in building a consensus around a framework for long-term regional planning infrastructure investment decisions and local land use decisions. A multi-year visioning process:

• Identifies the core values that affect regional growth attitudes and should guide priority setting and decision making;
• Documents the base case (current trends projection); creates realistic scenarios that reflect integrated alternatives for land use/transportation/land consumption and environmental impacts/choices;
• Educates stakeholders, elected officials and residents about the impacts of each scenario and builds consensus around a pretend scenario; and
• Engages in education and implementation programs to advance implementation of the pretend scenario by local, regional, state and federal decision makers.

Related Publications

Implementation is a critical component of regional visioning and should be planned for early in the process. In March 2005, ULI convened experts at a policy forum to discuss this topic -- the result is Translating a Regional Vision into Action (PDF). This ULI Community Catalyst Report offers ten broad principles for visioning implementation success. Specific recommendations were then developed in five topic areas: funding; leadership; tools and technical assistance; communications and media; and documentation and dissemination of best practices.

Advisory Services Report (October 2007) - "Ada County Highway District, Boise, Idaho: Regionalism, Consolidation, and the Future."  ULI has brought an advisory panel to Ada County three times in the past 12 years in response to requests to provide recommendations on regional growth issues. In 1995, the issues involved  regional growth management. In 2005, the issue was the county’s approval of large planned communities in its unincorporated areas. In 2007, the issue involves the countywide delivery of road construction and maintenance services.

Urban Land (April 2006) – “Envision Utah: Laying the Foundation for Quality Development” by Robert J. Grow and Alan Matheson (requires member login)
From its beginnings as a regional visioning exercise to its role in laying the foundation for Kennecott Land’s ambitious development, Envision Utah has changed the public dialogue regarding growth and planning.

Urban Land (November 1994) – "On the Agenda for 21st-Century Chicago: Regionalism" by Sally Chapralis (requires member login)

Other Regional Visioning Efforts

In addition to Reality Check District Councils and ULI members have also been involved with the following regional visioning efforts:

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ULI Florida Initiative for Regional Cooperation

ULI, in collaboration with four Florida District Councils, led a multi-year effort to identify new opportunities for the state of Florida to support and encourage regional cooperation. Better collabortion at the regional level will eanble communities to successfully address the growth and development challenges before them. A grant from the MacArthur Foundation and funding from ULI and the MacArthur Foundation and funding from ULI and the four ULI District Councils financed the project. The project resulted in a report, Building Florida's Future: State Strategies for Regional Cooperation and contains the committee's recommendations. In March 2006, the initiative culminated in a statewide symposium on regional cooperation in Florida. For more information on the symposium and the initiative, visit the ULI Florida Initiative web site.

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