What ways do residents form an understanding of their trust in planners?

  • “Because I think that some communities have the culture where folks participate more probably because of the history of the communities, other communities, not as much. I can see it causing, not just immigrant communities, but other communities that have been historically disenfranchised, to not want to participate, because they haven't seen the results. They haven't seen positive results of participation in the past. So, I think that that's another thing that I want to point out…If the community has seen years of participating in meetings, and nothing ever comes to pass, that is the way community members start to see them as discouraging and false and don't want to participate anymore."

    Chloe (South)

  • “I think that there’s always this kind of potentially tense relationship of like, ‘are people acting in good faith?’ As community members we will work with city staffers and officials and this machine to try to make something happen and try to follow the processes and procedures they have put before folks to navigate. But I think when things take too long, or people get disregarded, or you just don't hear anything back, or when things feel like they're just superficial like you did the thing to make it look like you were listening, and you already had plans. I think those kinds of things can really damage a sense of agency. And it really fosters that skepticism and distrust. It just takes things multiple steps back.”

    Evelyn (South)

  • “Depending on where residents are coming from, and if they have participated in planning processes, sometimes there is a distrust of any kind of professional."

    Sarah (West)

  • “I think they open up. There's obviously canned answers like, ‘That's what I could afford’ or ‘This is where I grew up’ or ‘My job is a block away,’ but if they start telling you ‘Oh, because there's a little community center that I could go throw pottery at’ or ‘There's a great spot where my kids can meet up with other kids’ or they start to give you a little bit more personal information, you know these guys are serious about it. They are actually trusting you with this information and that you're going to actually use it in a productive way. They know [I’m] not just here faking it to like, be like, ‘Okay, I did my community meeting. Check. I've already got the plan done, but I told them I was going to do community engagement.’ So, they're here to pretend to do this dog and pony show.”

    William (North)

  • “It's a big sign that they're taking the conversation seriously, that they feel respected enough to open up about real issues and not just, you know, more general issues. If you can really get into the details of a particular proposal or project or issue, I think that is a symbol of trust, because people maybe think they can open up a little more about specific issues, as opposed to just saying, ‘Well, I hate all cars’ or something like that, making general statements. So, the more specific, it seems like the more trust there might be in a process or conversation.”

    Leo (South)

  • “I'm an optimist by nature. So, I assume when we’re closing a meeting, or we're having an open feedback portion of the meeting, that if people have questions or concerns that they will voice them. When they do, I'm assuming I'm being trusted, because the information that they're trying to get is from me. I also think that trust is something that has to be built and not just openly granted. So, I always go in with like, the onus is on me to build trust.”

    Abigail (North)

  • "[I trust planners] when they actually do something."

    Jane (North)

  • “I go in from a position of not much trust, because I think a lot of this is about money. Today, they’re groundbreaking for a new building, and I know the organization and I trust them. Because I see that they do what they say.”

    Rebecca (North)