Put the HEART Back in Your Community

Unifying diverse interests around a central theme

Tim Merriman & Lisa Brochu

Convergent Evolution in Community Planning

• Civic Tourism

• Scenic Byways

• Experience Economy

• Sustainable Communities

CivicTourism.org - Reframing Tourism

• Rethink Economics

• Connecting to the Public

• Invest in the Story

Scenic Byways

• Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (1991)

• Corridor Management Plans

• 2005– 8 All-American Roads– 125 Scenic Byways in 44 states– 175 Million Dollars in grants

Pine & Gilmore’s Experience Economy Theory

• Agriculture economy• Manufacturing economy• Service economy• Experience economy

– Theme the experience– Harmonize impressions– Eliminate negative cues– Mix in memorabilia – Engage all five senses

Sustainability Definitions

• Brundtland Report - Our Common Future (1987)

• “Development which meets the needs of the present without endangering the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Sustainable Seattle (1991)• Triple bottom line planning

• Collaborative planning

• Indicators of sustainability

Sustainability Indicators

Sustainability Indicators

Definition of Interpretation

A mission-based communication process that forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource.

The care of rivers is not a question of rivers but of the human heart.

Tanaka Shozo

Curiosity

Understanding

Care about

Care for

Stewardship

Awareness

Dragged Along

Social Marketing - The Interpretive ContinuumSocial Marketing - The Interpretive Continuum

Definition of Interpretive Planning

A thoughtful decision making process that blends management needs and resource considerations with visitor desires and ability to pay to determine the most effective way to communicate a message to targeted markets in support of the agency’s mission.

Lisa Brochu

5-M Interpretive Planning Model

Management Message

Markets Mechanics

Media

Management

• mission, goals, objectives (logic models)• policies & regulations• key issues• revision and update strategies• operational resources

– staffing– budget– facilities & equipment– maintenance

Markets

• product - what you have to offer• price - perceived value• place - relationship to what’s around• promotion - how do people know about

you• publics - market segmentation

– users & support– existing & potential

Message

• Why is this site significant?

• What interests visitors?

• What is management most

interested in communicating?

Resource

ManagementMarkets

Mechanics

Large Scale Design Balance– Site or landscape features– Facilities and buildings– Interpretive stories

MechanicsSmaller scale

– Functional relationships

– Accessibility

– Space programming

– Placement

– Physical opportunities &

constraints

– Maslow’s Hierarchy

Media

• Publications

• Signs

• Exhibits

• Souvenirs

• Food items

• Visitor centers

• Auto tours

• Guided tours

Products for children Demonstrations Living history Audio tours Landscape features Art & sculpture Playscapes Promotional materials

Interpretive Planning Fills in the Blanks

• Community-Wide Involvement

• Visitor Experience Design based on Logic Models

• Interpretive Guide and Host Training

Sphere of Influence

Interpretive planning works for:

– Individual sites or programs

– Community wide thematic approaches

– Regional or Corridor approaches

• Holistic

• Emotional

• Appropriate

• Rewarding

• Thematic

Put the HEART Back in Your Community

Civic Engagement Strategies

• Public input meetings

• Public hearings

• Focus groups

• Community Coalitions

• Holistic (mechanics) (TM)

Holistic• Community experience plans (CEP)

• Considers community mechanics

• Respects local traditions

Visitor Experience Model

Entry ExitConnections

Decision

Commitment

Emotionalthrough media

- Process worksheets (what is the thing you have at home and what’s the story behind it)

• Making connections

• Advertising approaches

• Keepsakes

• Authenticity

• Audience-oriented

Appropriate

• Rewarding (management) (LB)- rewards for stakeholders, community at large, visitors

- logic model objectives (measuring reward for community and visitors) LB- process worksheets

RewardingDetermine rewards

- stakeholders- community- residents- visitors

Logic Models- outputs (what we do)- outcomes (behavior changes or what happens as

a result)- impacts (benefits to the community or community

resources)

• Research-based– Ausubel (1960)– Thorndyke (1979)– Miller (1954)– Cowan (2000)

Thematic

Traits of a Theme

• Complete Sentence - idea or message

• Answers “So what?”

• Connects tangibles to intangibles (universals)

• Specific and interesting

Getting Started

• Whose project is it?

• What results are desired?– Benefits (impacts) to the community or resources?– Visitor behavior (outcomes) that will support

benefits?

• How do we achieve those results?– What media (outputs) to use?

For More Information

• Put the HEART back in your Community (heartfeltpublications.com)

• Interpretive Planning: The 5-M Model for Successful Planning Projects (www.interpnet.com)

• National Association for Interpretation (www.interpnet.com)

• Tim Merriman and Lisa Brochu (naiexec@aol.com, naiprograms@aol.com)