Using Integrated Planning to Break Silos and Create a Shared Vision at Stanford

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Session Content

What is your session about? Briefly describe your session's topic.
250 CH limit. If accepted, this will be used in your abstract.

Learn how Stanford and Gehl created a facilities vision for the new Doerr School of Sustainability, leveraging tools first developed by urban planners to create vibrant, equitable cities - while breaking silos and fostering stakeholder alignment.

Why does this content matter?
250 CH limit. Focus on your target audience. If accepted, this will be used in your abstract.

New campus facilities are a significant investment for colleges and universities. The approach that will be presented is one way to maximize the impact of this investment by forefronting user needs in the design process.

How will your session improve attendees' day-to-day work lives, solve problems, or keep attendees current?
250 CH limit. If accepted, this will be used in your abstract.

Participants will learn human-centered design tools that reveal what kinds of spaces can best support academic and social goals like fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, creating a sense of belonging, and maximizing spatial efficiency.

Imagine your session's participants AFTER the conference when they are back to work. What are four (4) things they will be able to DO back at their campus or place of work because they attended your session? What ACTIONS can they take?
DO NOT use the words "learn, understand, recognize, gain an understanding, etc." If one of your answers is "understand," ask yourself, "what can individuals do because they understand?" Write that down.

	Learning Outcomes
1.	Advocate for a human-centered vision process that can break down silos, align stakeholders, and set the stage for creating spaces capable of supporting an institution’s academic and social goals.
2.	Design a campus engagement process that breaks through departmental silos and identifies moments of alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
3.	Identify how to gather insights about human behavior in campus spaces to pin-point challenges, opportunities, and solutions for campus design and planning.
4.	Gather insights on tricky-to-measure metrics like ‘sense of belonging’ using an innovative eye-level participatory research technique.

Agenda Items (500 CH limit per)

	Topic	Description	Presenter	Timeframe	Learning Outcome Achieved
1.	What makes a human-centered vision process different?	Stanford will present the creation of a human-centered vision for the Doerr School of Sustainability spaces, highlighting its impact in breaking down silos, fostering alignment among university stakeholders, and amplifying the voices of historically marginalized groups. The discussion will demonstrate the transferability of research tools from city planning to enhance university campus planning.	Stanford	10 minutes	Advocate for a human-centered vision process that can break down silos, align stakeholders, and set the stage for creating spaces capable of supporting an institution’s academic and social goals.
2.	Stakeholder Engagement: What do users think?	Presentation on stakeholder engagement tools used at Stanford to gather diverse opinions across departments and align stakeholders on a unified facilities vision. We will demonstrate how insights from this engagement led to a core design principle for the project: Organize Around Interdisciplinary Communities.	Stanford	10 minutes	Design a campus engagement process that breaks through departmental silos and identifies moments of alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
3.	Observational Research: What do users do?	Introduction to observational research methods used to understand how, where, and why people spend time in different spaces on campus. Gehl developed these tools leveraging over 40 years of experience creating vibrant public spaces. We will demonstrate how insights gathered through applying these methods at Stanford led to another core design principle: Create Well-Used, Sustainable Spaces that Adapt Over Time.	Adriana Akers, Gehl	15 minutes	Identify how to gather insights about human behavior in campus spaces to identify challenges, opportunities, and solutions for campus design and planning.
4.	Photo Research App: What do users feel?	Description of a photo research app developed to understand how different user groups experience spaces differently, with a particular emphasis on understanding the perceptions of people from marginalized groups. We will demonstrate how using this tool at Stanford led to design principles for fostering belonging with students, particularly those from backgrounds historically underrepresented in sustainability research and practice.	Adriana Akers, Gehl	10 minutes	Gather insights on tricky-to-measure metrics like ‘sense of belonging’ using an innovative eye-level participatory research technique.
5.	Q&A and Discussion	Opportunity for participants to ask questions about the methods and human-centered visioning process, as well as interactive discussion reflecting on how behavioral research can be used on participants’ campuses.	Stanford and Adriana Akers, Gehl	15 minutes	Synthesize how human-centered design tools can address challenges on participants’ campuses.