Skip to main content

ASU students, faculty called to help envision future of Phoenix


February 26, 2013

Arizona State University students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community are invited to help shape the future of Phoenix by participating in an interactive planning session that will be co-hosted by the City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department and ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

The PlanPHX ASU Forum will take place at 6 p.m., March 6, at the A.E. England Building, 424 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. PlanPHX is a combined effort by the city of Phoenix to collaborate with its residents to shape the future of their city through the update of the 10-Year General Plan.

A community-centered initiative, PlanPHX involves an interactive website, a community-member steering committee and public forums for all residents to submit their “big ideas” to city leaders and planners.

“Community team work has resulted in a downtown Phoenix success story in which ASU is proud to have played a major role,” said Christopher Callahan, vice provost and dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication located on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus. “We’re excited that ASU students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in helping city leaders understand what the community values most about downtown. And, we welcome the opportunity to become part of the effort to envision the future of Phoenix.”

The city’s General Plan, which was last updated in 2002, will serve as a blueprint that will guide how Phoenix will grow and change in a 10-year timespan.

Starting in 2012, PlanPHX participants began establishing the foundation for the updated General Plan by answering questions like “What do you love about Phoenix?” and “What’s your big idea for Phoenix’s future?” in order to conserve elements within the updated plan that residents value and create new elements that residents want.

“The forum will be a great chance for ASU students and others living and working near the campus to come out and tell us where their favorite spots are, what they value most and want to preserve along the corridor,” said Joshua Bednarek, City of Phoenix General Plan Update program manager.

The March 6 forum also will provide city officials the opportunity to share what other residents have been saying about the future of the city and begin to collaborate with ASU on testing some of the major themes that will serve as the guiding principles for the updated plan. This will involve identifying what ASU is doing now that can influence these principles and how ASU can help bring elements of the plan to fruition. 

“The hope is that the forum will be the beginning of a collaborative process between ASU and the city through the completion of the project,” Bednarek said.

For more information, visit the PlanPHX website. To submit ideas through the interactive website, receive feedback from other users, support ideas and earn points for prizes along the way, visit myplanphx.com or connect through social media follow @planPHX on Twitter or like planPHX on Facebook.