The desire for a more sustainable city drove both Atlanta and Decatur to develop a plan and identify methods for reaching this future. In the case of Decatur, this was largely presented by residents, and the environmental sustainability plan created sought to fulfill that desire. Besides fulfilling that need, the City of Decatur’s plan aimed to serve as a cornerstone for the direction Decatur wanted to go with their planning on every level. Atlanta’s plan, contrastingly, was created very much separate from the master plan that was wider in scope. The methods in creating each plan manifested in very different plans, and how they could be implemented was also affected.
The City of Decatur’s sustainability plan describes how community involvement was the driving force behind its development. It was estimated that over 1,500 community members participated in the Decatur Strategic Plan process of 2010, and the City of Decatur’s environmental sustainability plan of 2012 drew from those reports. Using that data as a reference point, the Environmental Sustainability Board conducted further community outreach with volunteers and organizations to develop the ideas proposed in 2010. At this point, it was put out to the general population, both through public
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However, Decatur seemed much more focused on what they could do to possibly end up in that place; whereas Atlanta was very concerned with showcasing the work they’d already accomplished and defining end goals. The City of Decatur’s environmental sustainability plan outlined clear points of action that would be taken to fully realize the goals that were set by the community, building into the plan methods of measurement and evaluation. This is what it means to focus on the journey of planning, as opposed to the end goal, and it was much better exemplified by Decatur than