What is Neighborhood Planning?
A neighborhood is a geographic location with a resident population and distinguishing physical features. It is a place where people live, work and play. Neighborhoods are the building blocks of cities. Neighborhood planning is a process by which community residents identify assets and agree on priorities for neighborhood improvement and to devise strategies to achieve their goals. During these conversations, neighbors ask themselves “what is working well in our neighborhood that we want to protect?” and “what is not up to our standards and how can we improve it?” They ask themselves “what is it about this place that draws us here and what will keep us here in the future?”
The Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan, adopted in 2004, recommended the establishment of a neighborhood planning program with a dedicated staff person. The program would be designed to “engage neighborhoods in the Core Area in a participatory planning process to directly address such issues as land use compatibility, parking, circulation, and neighborhood improvements.” The 2025 Plan Implementation Techniques and Technical Memorandum recommends that “The Planning Commission and City Council would adopt each of the neighborhood plans as an element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Neighborhood planning begins with a documentation of physical and environmental conditions in the area. Planners then meet with neighbors to identify social conditions and neighborhood assets. By articulating goals to protect the physical and social environment, planners help neighbors chart a course of action to protect existing assets and to implement desired change. Ideally, neighborhood plans should be updated every five‐to‐ten years.
The most important goal in neighborhood planning is to develop a strong sense of community connectedness. This means residents know and trust each other and choose to work together to create real improvements in the neighborhood. By working together to identify community assets and to develop a plan for protecting them, neighbors have more of a sense of direct control over their future.
Lastly, in order to be effective and successful, neighborhood planning can only occur in the context of the broader community’s values and aspirations. Though plan goals are specific to a neighborhood, they must reflect goals that are supported and strived for by the community as a whole.
The goals of the Neighborhood Planning Program are:
- Develop a strong sense of community connectedness
- Get neighbors acquainted and willing to trust each other
- Identify neighborhood assets and make plans for their protection
- Help neighbors take direct control over the future of their community
- Connect neighbors with their elected officials
Neighborhood meetings are often held in schools, churches, libraries or other public settings. The plan concept established in this neighborhood plan is consistent with the goals and objectives of all of Norman’s current major planning initiatives including Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan; the Porter Avenue Corridor Plan; the 2010 CDBG Five‐Year Consolidated Plan; Norman Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and the Safe Routes to School Initiative and the Norman Stormwater Master Plan.
To date the following neighborhoods have successfully completed the Neighborhood Planning Process. Although each plan was completed approximately ten years ago, they are still valid.
Bishop Creek Neighborhood
First Courthouse Neighborhood
Lions Park Neighborhood
Old Silk Stocking Neighborhood
Original Townsite Neighborhood
South Pickard Neighborhood
