Communities constantly evolve and change in response to social, political, economic, technological and environmental forces. Effectively planning for this kind of change in transportation requires the cultivation of a participatory and informed decision-making process that regularly considers what is likely to happen, what could happen, and what the community wants to happen in the future. Scenario planning provides a framework to do just this – it is way to consider the issues and opportunities of different futures and plan accordingly.

While Scenario Planning is probably best known as a process for engaging the public, stakeholders, and elected officials in tradeoff discussions about different desired or aspirational futures, it is also increasingly becoming a valuable technique to help plan in the face of uncertainty or consider emerging trends.

The FHWA and Eno Center for Transportation hosted a webinar on June 14, 2017 with three goals in mind: 1) To highlight the key chapters of the FHWA’s new publication, “The Next Generation of Scenario Planning – A Transportation Practitioner’s Guidebook;” 2) Summarizes the findings of a synthesis report from the National Association of Regional Council’s (NARC) that surveyed 24 regional entities on their use of scenario planning; 3) Have a  discussion with key speakers on some of the driving trends and issues facing MPOs and DOTs for which a scenario-based planning approach could be beneficial.

SPEAKERS

Robert Puentes, President & CEO, Eno Center for Transportation
Ken Petty, Director of Office of Planning, FHWA
Michael Barry, GIS Specialist/Transportation Planner, FHWA
Katharine Ange, Vice President, Renaissance Planning Group
Erich Zimmermann, Director of Transportation Programs, National Association of Regional Councils (NARC)

RESOURCES

Webinar Slide Deck

Webinar Transcript