Guiding Principles

We believe a community’s future is comprised of the physical, social, environmental and economic values its citizens embrace. The work of the Minnesota Design Team (MDT) involves translating these values into sustainable design ideas the community can implement.

MDT community-based planning principles include:

1. Recognizing people are a community’s best resource for visioning and investing in the future.

2. Approaching planning and design problems with an interdisciplinary team is necessary to achieve balanced planning and physical design solutions.

3. Understanding a community’s unique sense of place is developed through respect for the local environmental, physical, social, and economic environments.

4. Promoting physical design as an integral component of a community’s quality of life offers the most effective use of the Design Team’s planning and design skills.

5. Encouraging redevelopment in areas where urban infrastructure exists, or new development in areas where infrastructure capacity exists, ensures that a community’s land and utility resources will be used efficiently.

6. Promoting compact development patterns assures that a community uses its land, transportation and civic resources wisely.

7. Encouraging development of public realm amenities that will attract private sector construction is an effective economic development strategy for improving community quality of life.

8. Promoting a range of housing types assures that citizens of differing incomes, lifestyles and preferences have a range of housing choices within the community.

9. Promoting a range of commercial building types assures a range of building and employment choices within the community.

10. Encouraging community stakeholders to collaborate with one another will assure that community improvements are directed responsibly.

11. Using graphics and visual references allows the Design Team to communicate ideas quickly and effectively.