With suburban sprawl and traffic congestion among the top concerns of San Diegans, CityWorks is promoting a community design model that actively involves residents in urban planning. CityWorks co-presidents Catherine Smith of Collaborative Services and Laura Warner of Warner Architecture and Design say sprawl has left many people feeling disconnected.

“I think the congestion has gotten to such a bad state that people are spending an awful lot of their life in a car sitting in traffic,” says Smith. “So our goal is really to assist the community in identifying places where they can create these sorts of nucleuses and town centers or build off of what they currently have.”

To that end, CityWorks has sought the input, participation and cooperation of chambers of commerce, town councils, transit agencies and other planning groups to improve urban plans.

Warner says a recent Urban Land Institute study showed that development plans were not getting “community consensus and support and involvement early enough” and that financing infrastructure and improvements were the two main obstacles to implementing smart growth and village planning concepts.

Reaching that same conclusion, the pair earlier formed a business that blended community involvement and urban planning. As a result, says Smith, “We’ve been more successful in developing plans that were supported, plans that people aren’t running away from but running toward.”

Warner agrees. “We find the solutions we come up with based on their input are what people really are receptive to,” she says. Rather than seeing a neighborhood as too dense, people are beginning to see it as an exciting way to live their life.

Warner says offering alternative modes of transportation is a key. “Having this sort of lifestyle where you’re walking from place to place, and you can get all your services and amenities within walking distance, is an exciting idea for people.”

Read the original article at San Diego Metropolitan Magazine.