Advancing “civic clarity” – and some cool things about being a planner
to celebrate World Town Planning Day!
This might surprise you. Whether or not your writing is “good” is determined by your intended reader – not by you. Your reader needs to be able to understand your research, analysis, and conclusions – quickly and easily. They want to understand the complexities, so they can inform others, make good decisions, or otherwise participate in the planning process.
When your professional writing is good, it’s almost invisible to the reader. When it’s bad, the reader can’t find what they need, understand it the first time they read it, or act on it the way you hope they will. You’ll find out quickly if you’re missing the mark, when reports are sent back for yet more revisions, questions are raised that you thought were minor, or people aren’t supporting your project or perspective.
Something really new
I want to test out the concept of “civic clarity” on you. It’s a term that was popularized by Roy Peter Clark, a U.S. professor and author, to describe the responsibilities of journalists in countering misinformation. If you Google the term, you’ll find lots of ads for Honda! But I think his description applies to the planning profession, as well.
Civic clarity is the concept of applying, “an ethical code to tell the truth, to tell it in a way people can understand it, and to tell it well.” As planners, we have professional codes and standards that require us to be good communicators. Think of it this way:
Civic means relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs.
Clarity means the quality or state of being easy to understand and interpret.
Civic clarity means that in the specific context of community- or city-building, you have an obligation to make the complex clear to the people that are relying on you. It comes down to clear communication – and if you’ve followed me for awhile, you’ll know that for me that means using plain language principles and techniques in day-to-day professional writing. It means helping your reader
find what they need,
understand what they find, and
use it or act on what they find
in the specific context of community-building, land use, and development (or transportation planning, climate change, or social policy, or the myriad of other fields planners work in.)
Being able to participate in the work of city building shouldn’t involve deciphering a secret code that only a few experts can make sense of.
Civic clarity also means being aware of how your writing will be read and used by different readers. The principle of inclusivity is more important than ever before in planning.
And it means making an effort to critique your own writing to be able to meet your readers’ needs, and apply techniques that help you meet your obligations and respect the needs of your reader before your own. This means learning to communicate your complex, technical work in a way that helps you share, listen, and bring people into, your planning vision for the site, neighbourhood, community, or city.
Usually in planning, you’re writing to guide a decision to be made about your community or city. Good writing helps you do this by improving communication among your colleagues and other project partners, making it easier to be open to new ideas, work together, and stay on track. It contributes to you building trust with your reader, as well as with the wider community that is affected by your projects.
We’ve chosen this profession because we care about our communities – otherwise we could have gone into something else. Planning is aspirational, we have hope for the future, we want to make places that we want to live and raise our families in. We have sustainability goals, economic goals, equity goals, for our communities.
The concept of civic clarity is one we can develop and consider when we’re communicating with all partners in city-building, from the micro-managing mayor to the checked-out member of the public. It’s a concept that encourages us to be clear, honest, inclusive, empathetic, accessible, and effective (I know that’s a lot, but I cut it short!).
As a planner, you are responsible for acting in the public interest, whatever environment you work in. You are also responsible to your clients and your employer, providing independent professional opinion on matters that will shape your community over the long term. Communicating well is a key part of meeting these responsibilities.
You have to serve the needs of your community and clients to the best of your ability.
Communication in planning is not just a “two-way street” where the flow of information back and forth matters. It’s more of a “complete street”, where there is room to accommodate everyone, multiple ways to experience it, places to pause and reflect, and benefits for all users.
Try this:
When you start thinking about civic clarity, you start to see just how inward-facing and technocratic our writing can be. Here’s just one example of some typical language that we use all the time; in this instance, it’s a notice of a public meeting on a proposed development, mailed to local residents.
It starts with “Notice of Public Information Centre.” Then comes the plannerese, usually something like, “The Town has initiated a Planning Act Study of the Xyz community, focusing on the centre of the community. The study will guide growth and development, and consider the historical context, cultural heritage, scale of development, transportation infrastructure, and servicing infrastructure in a manner that is consistent with the relevant legislation and will follow the planning process as amended in 2008, 2014, and 2016.”
Are they saying, “C’mon out! We want to tell you more and hear what you think!”? Um, no. These kinds of statements are not written with civic clarity in mind, in my opinion. Most of the information here is written to meet the municipality’s legal requirements. Would most local residents be compelled to participate in a project that’s introduced to them like this? Would they understand what it’s about and why it may be relevant to them, as residents?
We see similar problems in documents that are meant for internal audiences, too. Decision makers, like senior leaders, don’t have the reserves of time and energy needed to figure out what you’re saying! Next time you write a memo or report, get to the point! Get it all on the first page, don’t hide behind wordy and winding passages, and use language that’s appropriate for their experience and training.
Roy Peter Clark said on a Grammar Girl podcast that, “When the information is complicated… you’re going to see in my work shorter words, shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs”. Writing in clear, transparent, plain language that is meant to be understood, without fear of what will come back at you, is one of the hardest things to do in planning, but one of the most important!
Reading takes effort. Good writing considers where the reader should focus their effort. - Source unknown
A few thoughts on what makes planning a great profession
Different fields: Think about the professionals you know and the many different fields they work in. A colleague, for instance, could work in
land use planning, transportation, social policy, heritage planning, public administration, real estate, construction, architecture, design, engineering, or law; or
related fields, like social work, communications, or facilitation; or
technical and data-oriented professions, working on spatial analysis, design and visualization, long range forecasting,
and more.
Different specialties: Planners also build deep expertise in areas like zoning review, transit service planning, research and policy, master planning, environmental assessments, project management, climate resilience, or non-profit housing.
Different skills: Some planners thrive on the strategic, high-level stuff like policy development, while others are skilled in the intricacies of regulations or administration. Some are simply amazing at working with people on local initiatives, from community gardens to safe walks to school. From the global to the local, planners apply and develop their expertise across many different project types.
Different sectors. Some planners choose the private sector, working in a particular industry; some prefer to work inside government. Still others go the non-profit route. How you see the world and practice your profession may depend on which industry you’re in, which level of government you work in (or agency, board, or commission), or the non-profit you’re working for. And it can change throughout your lifetime!
Different people: Planners are each coming from different places and experiences. Those who have studied geography, for example, view the city in spatial terms; others studied political science or social work and aim to address the root causes of the glaring issues in their communities. Motivations differ, too. For some it’s just an interesting job, while for others it’s a calling, an opportunity to make a significant difference in their community, or to society more broadly. Of course, planners also bring their own lived experiences to their work, with their unique and individual perspectives, histories, and approaches.
We are not all starting from the same place, which makes collaboration interesting, and clear communication all the more important.
Happy World Town Planning Day!
Questions for members:
Does the concept of civic clarity makes sense to you? What do you think of it? How would you use it? Want to learn more?
How to work with me:
I’m now booking for January! If you need help writing or editing your documents, or want to take part in a training session to get everyone’s writing skills up to speed, get in touch via ScribeTW.com!