Discussion Guide for Exploring Issues Surrounding Development of Towns and Cities

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Background Imagine that you are sitting at your computer playing a game called City Scape. What you have in front of you is a topographical map of the land where your city is located. You are there when your city was first established. How would you develop your city? As the game progresses you will be asked to make decisions that will ultimately affect not only the city but the culture of the community. The game will progress through time. At first, your city will be greatly impacted by technology. Means of transportation and communication will be limited. Lack of refrigeration will mean that your city will need to be surrounded by farm land. How do you want to blend the natural features of the land itself (hilly terrain, rivers, lakes) to your city plan. How do you want your city to look? What building practices do you want to encourage or limit? What businesses do you want to encourage or discourage? What control do you want to give city officials about the way your city will develop? How will you balance the interest of the private sector with the plan you are developing? How do you want your city to develop socially? How will you encourage a diverse population base by making housing affordable? How will you support the acceptance of different religions? How will you provide that all citizens of your city have a voice in how the city develops? How will you maintain the stability of your community? What will you do to guarantee a vibrant economy? How will you keep economic interests from adversely impacting what you want your city to become? Think about what will make your city unique. Can you imagine how these might develop? How will you protect the unique identity of your city as the city evolves? Now imagine how a significantly insignificant decision can have a lasting impact on your city (either positive or negative). As you’re playing this game, think about how many times you will need to play the game to get things “right”? Of course the city you live in already exists. This game that led to your city scape has already been played. Does that mean that you have no role to play in the shaping of your city? No it doesn’t. This discussion series will help you think about ways that you as a citizen can influence that shape of your community. We’ll be starting with a series of short scenarios about current ways citizens can impact the development of their communities. These scenarios are designed to challenge your perspectives about how you think about the shaping of communities. Then we will present a description of how communities might develop. We will ask you to respond to the scenarios and the guidance of the development of communities.


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