Office hours: It’s all about the customer
“Customers aren’t just comparing you to your competitors anymore. They are comparing you to the best service they have ever received – from any company they do business with,” we read in Forbes. Community leaders are consumers, too, and want to give the same high level of service at city hall as they expect from […]
Should you use national standards to plan your parks?
By Chris Nordstrom, PLA, ASLA A 1996 study by the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) developed a set of standards communities could use to evaluate the effectiveness of their recreation systems. While these guidelines continue to be widely cited as a standard for park planning, the NRPA itself recognized the danger of using a […]
Here are the 10 most-viewed stories from our 2018 blog
The Carlisle/Wortman blog has shared planning information and ideas since 2010. The top stories from 2018 include some new content plus our greatest hits.
How planners can respond to the retail apocalypse
Following up on last month’s guest column by Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim tells us what planners can do to anticipate and mitigate changes in the retail sector.
The retail apocalypse: Here’s your lump of coal
Carlisle/Wortman’s guest columnist, Ebenezer Scrooge, brings you the ghost of Christmas future, at least as it applies to the retail sector.
Make your community age-friendly with this AARP program
Your residents are aging. Are you ready for that? AARP’s Age-Friendly Network offers tools and guidance.
Local communities should control short term rentals, not Lansing
Dick Carlisle takes on two bills that would treat short term rentals as a permitted use in any zone and preempt communities’ ability to regulate them.
Planners and public safety officials unite to fight Phragmites
The tool kit for fighting Phragmites includes state laws, building codes, zoning ordinances, noxious weed ordinances and stormwater management rules.
Better storytelling leads to better planning
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
A public health crisis resulted in a pioneering GIS project
Don’t let a crisis be the wake-up call telling you that your infrastructure map is incomplete.