Moving from Community Opposition to Transformation
Public participation is too often devalued or dismissed in professional conversations about key challenges facing the future of urbanism. It doesn't lend itself to easy analytics to make a simple business case, and its methodology is poorly understood by many civic leaders who associate it with poorly designed processes and sclerotic public meetings, heated conflicts and frustrating stalemates. That lack of knowledge – and more importantly the lack of public participation expertise in our communities – carries high costs. In 2015, Forbes Magazine estimated that Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) movements and community opposition to hundreds of projects across the country during the prior decade were costing America over $1 trillion annually. In 2018, Governing Magazine actually argued that involving citizens "can make things harder to achieve." Too often, community opposition is a signal of poor public processes and frustrated citizens who feel community voices have not been represented in decision-making. Many communities struggle to understand how they design processes that help them move beyond oppositional controversies that damage civic health. As we have argued, substantial investments in public participation are required because trickle-down urbanism doesn't work. We need to build a nation of citizen urbanists to help create sustainable communities.
Santa Fe offers an illustrative narrative that demonstrates how public participation can deliver urban innovation that achieves more equitable outcomes. In the 1990s, a conventional development proposal for the former railyard sparked a community backlash. Residents had grown weary as the city's tourism increased and visitors claimed the traditional downtown square, leaving locals feeling like they'd lost not only their central gathering space but a part of their core identity. When a new development for the railyard was proposed, they reached a breaking point. As one account notes, "The people had seen the developer driven Catellus Master Plan and did not like it. It was planned without community input, required significant municipal funding, demolished the existing buildings, tore out the railroad tracks, proposed inappropriate scale of development, provided uses not desired by the public and projected significant financial benefits to the developer's shareholders without substantial financial or civic return to the local community. We learned what the people did not want." The plan was defeated following substantial community opposition along familiar lines. However, what followed was extraordinary. As a local account notes, "The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment is a testament to the power of community involvement in the realization of great civic spaces. When the 40-acre rail yard was threatened by private development in the early 1990s, the city mobilized to purchase and protect the historic site for a local vision. With involvement from over 6,000 community members, a master plan was developed and implemented over the next decade through a unique partnership between a non-profit community corporation and the Trust for Public Land. Today, Santa Fe enjoys a vibrant, multi-use civic space that preserves the industrial heritage of the rail line while strengthening the city's future. The historic rail depot now serves as the northern terminus of New Mexico's commuter rail, and the Railyard's cultural and commercial amenities draw new visitors every year."
In 2008, the Santa Fe Railyard had a grand re-opening with 20,000 citizens celebrating their new civic space. The process was described as "an experiment in deep democracy which resulted in the Community Plan, approved by the City Council in 1997 as a conceptual Master Plan." Locals in Santa Fe now refer to the area as the community's "family room," as opposed to the central square downtown (the "living room"), a place where local residents gather to experience community. It is a remarkable achievement celebrated for its placemaking, and citizens have expressed "a phenomenal feeling of communal accomplishment" as a result.
Steven Robinson, President of the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, captures the outcome of the incredible collective commitment the process demonstrated. As he notes, "Ownership comes through investment. Over 60,000 Santa Feans paid for this property through their tax money. They own it. Over 6,000 people participated in the planning of the property. They invested their time, memories, hopes and their ideas. Not everyone got exactly what they wanted, but their willingness to invest in this experiment and to buy into the result deepened their sense of ownership. The Railyard project has succeeded in creating the manifestation of a place which is ours. We own it, enjoy it and are committed to keeping it as a treasured location for them, their families and future generations."
Watch this short film for a deeper reflection on the Santa Fe model:
What can your community learn from the Santa Fe's experience? What kinds of "experiments in deep democracy" has your community pursued? What lessons learned can be applied? We'd love to hear your ideas.
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Joel Mills
Sr Director, Communities by Design
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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