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Visioning
is a way to get people together to talk about issues common in the area where
they live.
It uses consensus instead of polarizing around fixed and inflexible
positions.
Visioning is a different way for citizens to express their
concerns because it makes them responsible to implement many of their suggestions
in their own community.
Community visioning is not a complaint session,
where one person gets up to speak his or her mind about an issue. Visioning is
about the consensus of citizens from various ages, ethnic backgrounds, genders,
and occupations who come together to share ideas together.
Community visioning
is a structured way for citizens to meet and discuss the important issues affecting
their local community now and in the future.
As a result of visioning,
individuals can form citizen groups or alliances to implement what they would
like to improve.
Visioning is simply a process by which a community envisions
the future it wants, and plans how to achieve it. It brings people together to
develop a shared image of what they want their community to become.
Once
a community has envisioned where it wants to go, it can begin consciously and
deliberately to work toward those goals.
A vision is the overall image
of what the community wants to be and how it wants to look like at some point
in the future.
Community visioning is a process for engaging large numbers
of citizens in thinking about and planning their community's future.
In
doing so, visioning helps create consensus, opens the door to new ideas and strengthens
citizen support for action. |
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purpose is not to force everyone to think alike but to give everyone the opportunity
to talk with one another about the future of where they live. |
Taking
the time to think about your future will ensure that you can shape how growth
takes place.
You have two choices: let the future happen to you or be
a part of shaping the future.
Visioning is a tool to get as many citizens
as possible to have a say in their community's future.
By going through
a visioning process, a community can: - Better understand the values
of its citizens and use those expressed values as a basis for planning
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Identify the trends and forces that are affecting the community
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Articulate a big-picture view to guide short-term decisions and long-term initiatives
- Develop tools to achieve the vision
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