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4 PLANNING FOR MINNESOTA ' S' S FUTURE U T U R E • 111) C •heckling your Having a clear vision helps us work more effectively, reduces fatigue, prevents us from missing new opportunities, and keeps us out of harm's way. But vision can also refer to a dream or ideal that shapes our actions and decisions. By W Arthur Mehrhoff, Ph.D. ow more than ever, cities for its chosen future and its image have to think, plan, and act of how to integrate the many roles on their futures or they will and functions of citizens into a be left behind in the new purposeful system—making the era of global competition. flight as rewarding as possible for Despite the enormous everyone on board. demographic, economic, Visioning has several advantages and cultural waves of not found in the typical city plan- change washing over cities—re- ning process. Visioning addresses a placing manufacturing with know- wider range of civic concerns and ledge and service industries as the groups. It identifies strategic trends 1. economic base of cities—there still and forces, seeks a clear under- . � r�� , remains a place for good places in standing of community values, and modern society. In fact, such offers a big picture to guide imme- �� places may become even more diate decisions. The process also precious in the midst of such rapid creates the appropriate tools and change, as the global village be- techniques for implementing the comes a globe of villages and qual- vision. Visioning assumes that citi- ity of life becomes more than just a zens have both the ability and the slogan. responsibility for shaping their own Since quality of life is important futures. to individuals, businesses, and cit- Cities as diverse as Little Falls, ies, cities must learn to understand Minn., Chattanooga, Tenn., and `Visioning addresses a wider and value their own unique char- Portland, Ore., have discovered acteristics and to chart their own that the visioning process releases range of civic concerns and courses on the rolling seas of post- enormous civic energy and cre- groups.It identifies strategic industrialization. Russell Ackoff of ative forces. In fact, one of the ba- the Wharton School of Business sic ideas of visioning is that due to trends and forces,seeks a suggests the only kind of stability the rapid flow of data, ideas, and clear understanding of in such a complex, unpredictable, capital characterizing post-indus- and interconnected environment is trial society, city government no community values,and similar to that of an airplane flying longer has a monopoly on those re- offers a big picture to guide in a storm. Like Charles Lindbergh sources. The more complex the carefully navigating the Spirit of system, the more insights and in- immediate decisions." Saint Louis across the Atlantic, cit- volvement from different levels are ies need to achieve this precarious needed to make the system work. balance through discipline and a One practical consideration, there- thorough understanding of their fore, is making sure citizens are in- systems, tools, and the forces acting volved in the visioning process. • upon them, along with a clear Since each city has different char- sense of direction. A vision state- acteristics, it is important to use ment becomes a city's flight plan existing institutions like churches OCTOBER 1997 MINNESOTA CITIES - 11