WHAT DO DEVELOPERS THINK: WHEN IT COMES TO DEVELOPEMENT PROJECTS,

ARE PLANNERS FROM VENUS AND DEVELOPERS FROM MARS?

American Planning Association, Minnesota Chapter, 2014 APA-MN Summer Seminar

Minneapolis, June 24, 2014

In this all day training program, I emphasized that we must see developers as entrepreneurs if we are to understand their purposes and motives — who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Taking the developer’s perspective, I illustrated how they think about planning, design, community engagement, and what they have to do — and how much money they must spend — before they can even walk upto the counter in City Hall. I concluded the program with a panel discussion featuring three local developers: 

Bob Engstrom, Beth Pfeiffer, and Kit Richardson.