The organizers of Tucson’s Complete Streets movement not only engaged community members but treated them as valued participants in the planning process with their own expertise to offer. This is in stark contrast to the typical planning approach, which treats planners and engineers as unimpeachable experts in contrast to community members. By countering this hierarchy, organizers made their policy not only better but likelier to pass.

They require significant time and energy from a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure the policy reflects community needs. It took Howard County six years to develop and adopt this policy and the corresponding Design Manual. Although it may create a longer process, it’s critical to take the time to get all the details right and build policies that benefit as many community members as possible.

It took the coalition in El Paso two years to get their policy drafted and passed. In that time, they created local news opportunities, collected stories from community members, conducted street audits, had renderings done to illustrate the concepts, held community engagement activities, and met one-on-one with city leaders to get their message out. These efforts were critical in gaining the support needed to get their policy passed.

Creating the case for a strong Complete Streets policy required funding and knowledge. The Joplin team benefited from funding from the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services and technical assistance programs like Smart Growth America’s Complete Streets Consortium, where they tapped into broader advocacy networks and strengthened relationships with policymakers. These resources helped the committee draft a top-ranking policy and develop strategies to get it passed.