Phase 2: Vision and Plan Framework

Click here to fill out our online survey and let us know about your vision for Austin!

This is where we need you, the public, the most: Setting out a common vision and policy direction for Austin. Phase 2 includes three of the plan's four Community Forum Series, built around the following three sets of questions.

Articulating the Vision
(November 2009-January 2010)

A community forum series--six community meetings held across Austin at different times and places--will be held to allow the people of Austin to come together to answer the question, "What do we want Austin to be in 10, 15, 20, 25 years, and beyond?" These meetings will be complemented by meetings-in-a-box, which allow people unable to attend these meetings an equal voice. The main questions asked will be: What do we aspire to be as a community in 10, 20, 25 years and beyond? This part of the process sets out the Vision for what Austin should be in the future:

• What is the best in Austin that needs to be protected?
• Where are gaps that should be overcome?
• What problems, old or new, need to be addressed to benefit everyone in Austin?

Understanding the dynamics of change
(Spring 2010)

A second community forum series will be held to assess Austin's current conditions and anticipated growth. Participants will engage in a chip exercise, working in small groups to identify where growth should go across Austin and its Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction. The results from all the small groups will be combined and used to develop 2 to 4 alternate scenarios. The main issues addressed include:

• What are we in the process of becoming?
• What will Austin look like in 25 years and beyond if current trends continue?

The public (you!) will be able to discuss where growth should go and what form it should take, if Austin is to achieve its Vision for the future.

Strategic Directions and Plan Framework
(Fall 2010)

What are the choices to "change course" in the direction of the Vision?
This task allows the public to see the sustainability and financial implications of the alternatives. The choices made in this task become the Plan Framework, which lays out in general terms what must change for Austin to move into a sustainable future.

The alternate scenarios, plus a "trends continue" scenario, will be assessed for their impacts and sustainability. The results of that assessment will be presented at a third community forum series where participants will be able to score the different scenarios laid out for the Plan.

Click here to fill out our online survey and let us know about your vision for Austin!

Phase Three-The Comprehensive Plan >>