Surprise planners map out issues in Decision Theater

A collaboration between Surprise planners and Arizona State University’s innovative Decision Theater is spotlighted in the October issue of Planning magazine, a respected national publication of the American Planning Association.

The Decision Theater at ASU’s Tempe campus helped the Surprise City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission arrive at decisions to protect the desert landscape, create distinctive neighborhoods anchored by schools and develop open spaces along natural washes, said Scott Chesney, Surprise community development director.

Chesney said the innovative thinking and high-tech tools of the Decision Theater helped Surprise map out its 300-square-mile planning area in one of the fastest-growing regions of the country.

“It is a tribute to partnership,” said Chesney of the national attention Surprise and ASU share. “Dr. (Michael) Crow and his team are to be saluted for creating the Decision Theater to help planners, resident volunteers and elected officials see more clearly what the future might look like.”

The facility is the brainchild of Crow, ASU’s president, who envisioned a facility using powerful computers and graphics to help city policy makers decide on complex planning issues.

According to the Planning article, the theater allows users to view planning scenarios on a 260-degree screen while using variables to simulate alternate scenarios and visualize possibilities. The computers use GIS map layers, demographic data and 3-D structural models.