Spatial plans

Participation in a plan that is still on the drawing table

For zoning plans, area visions and masterplans, HelloStreet helps planning teams reach everyone in the plan area, explain the choices in plain language, collect reactions by theme and place, and report back what was done with them at every step of the procedure.

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Early accessWe are starting with a small group of organisations. Book a demo to request a place.

A participation workshop around a large site plan.
Vaartkant plan: workshop results go straight into the participation report.

The situation

A plan for a whole neighbourhood, and a consultation evening with forty people

A city prepares a new zoning plan for an old industrial area next to a residential neighbourhood: homes, a park, a school and room for small businesses. The procedure takes years and has several formal moments for public input.

The consultation evening draws forty people, most of them already involved. The young families who might live there later, the shop owners and the tenants are hardly heard.

A plan is abstract. People respond more easily to what it means for their own street: higher buildings, more traffic, a park at the end of the road.

What neighbours ask

  • How high will the buildings be next to my house?
  • Where will the new traffic go?
  • Will the park really come, and when?
  • What happens with what I say in this consultation?

A typical project, step by step

From the scoping note to a plan the neighbourhood recognises

This is how the procedure for a spatial plan usually unfolds, and how HelloStreet helps you reach people who never come to an information evening.

  1. Step 1: Scoping

    Reach people who don’t come to information evenings

    The procedure starts. Formally you have to inform; real reach is something else.

    I didn’t even know there was a plan for this.
    What you hear in the neighbourhood
    With HelloStreet

    A letter for every address in and around the plan area, and a project page in plain language: what this plan is, what is already fixed, and what is still open for discussion.

  2. Step 2: Consultation

    Ask concretely, street by street

    A plan is abstract. People respond to what it means for their own street.

    Are there going to be five storeys opposite my house?
    What you hear in the neighbourhood
    With HelloStreet

    A consultation with short questions and a map where people respond on a spot. That way you also hear young families, tenants and shopkeepers.

  3. Step 3: Analysis

    See who you hear, and who you don’t

    Hundreds of responses. The question is not only what people say, but also who is missing.

    It’s always the same people who get a say.
    What you hear in the neighbourhood
    With HelloStreet

    Insights group the responses by theme and by street, and show which neighbourhoods you have barely reached.

  4. Step 4: Public inquiry

    A report that fits the file

    The draft becomes a design, and then the public inquiry follows.

    What did you do with our responses?
    What you hear in the neighbourhood
    With HelloStreet

    The participation report follows the formal stages of the procedure, with ‘you said, we did’ for each theme.

  5. Step 5: Adoption

    Promises that outlast the years

    The plan is adopted. Delivery takes years, with other teams.

    Is that park really coming first?
    What you hear in the neighbourhood
    With HelloStreet

    The commitments from the procedure are in the register, visible to whoever delivers the plan later.

Example

Vaartkant plan: from industrial site to a neighbourhood with a park

Hoeveld (a fictional town) · 14 ha plan area · 2,300 addresses in and around it

The city wants to turn an abandoned industrial site along the canal into a neighbourhood with homes, a park and a school. Next to it lies a residential area with mostly older family houses.

  1. StartA letter to every address in and around the plan area, with a project page that explains the three scenarios per street.
  2. ConsultationReactions by theme and place: building heights on the side of the existing houses and traffic come up most often.
  3. ScopingA ‘you said, we did’ update: lower heights along the existing houses, car-light access from the canal side.
  4. Public inquiryA weekly update on the project page, with answers to the questions asked most often.

At every step there is a record of what was asked, from where (per street, not per name) and what the plan did with it.

Illustrative example. The place, people and figures are fictional.

Questions and answers

Does this replace the formal consultation of the procedure?

No. The formal steps of the procedure stay as they are. HelloStreet helps you reach more people around them and keep track of what you heard and answered.

Can we split a large plan area into parts?

Yes. You can address letters and updates per part of the area, while keeping one plan and one record.

How do we reach people who do not come to information evenings?

With a letter for every address in and around the plan area, a project page in plain language and short questions on the map. Insights show which neighbourhoods you have barely reached.

Does the report fit the formal procedure?

The participation report follows the formal stages of the procedure, with what you heard and what you did with it per theme. You add it to the file.

Can we show scenarios per street?

Yes. On the project page, a resident enters their street and sees what each scenario means there: height, traffic, green space.

What if the procedure takes years?

The log and the commitments stay in the project, even when teams change. Whoever delivers the plan later sees what was promised.

Talk to us about your project

Book a demo to see HelloStreet with a project from your sector, or start with a free neighbourhood scan.

Book a demoRequest a free neighbourhood scan

Early accessWe are starting with a small group of organisations. Book a demo to request a place.

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