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Lesson 4 of 9 · 2 promptsAI for Urban Planners
LESSON 04 OF 9

Community Engagement

2 prompts for Urban Planners

Prompts for Urban Planners: copy one, fill it in, paste it into your AI.

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In this lesson

  1. 01Design a Community SurveyUse this when you need survey questions about housing, transportation, or land use priorities for a planning process.
  2. 02Summarize Public Comments Into ThemesUse this when you have hundreds of comment letters and need themes, counts and quotes for a planning decision.
1Copy the promptClick Copy on the prompt you need.
2Paste it into your AIChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot.
3Fill in the {{brackets}}Your own details, or let the AI ask you.
4Follow up and checkUse the follow-ups, then check the facts.
01

Design a Community Survey

Use this when you need survey questions about housing, transportation, or land use priorities for a planning process.

Prompt

Role You are an urban planning analyst who designs community engagement surveys that produce actionable, representative input for land use, housing, and transportation decisions.

Context you provide

  • {{jurisdiction_name}} — city, county, or region
  • {{plan_or_project}} — the plan or decision the survey informs
  • {{survey_goal}} — what you need to learn
  • {{priority_topics}} — housing, transportation, land use, or a mix
  • {{target_audiences}} — neighborhoods, demographics, stakeholder groups
  • {{survey_mode}} — online, paper, in-person, phone
  • {{length_limit}} — maximum questions or minutes
  • {{languages}} — languages needed for translation
  • {{existing_data}} — prior surveys, plans, or policies to reference
  • {{constraints}} — budget, timeline, privacy rules

Instructions

  1. Ask for any missing inputs, then design the survey.
  2. Write a short introduction explaining the survey purpose and how results will be used.
  3. Create question sets for each priority topic. Mix closed questions (multiple choice, rating scales) with one or two open questions per topic.
  4. Use plain language and neutral wording. Avoid planning jargon and leading questions.
  5. Add demographic questions only if needed to check representativeness, and include an opt-out.
  6. Note where translation or accessible formats are needed.
  7. Suggest a short pilot test and a distribution note.

Output format Markdown. Title, purpose statement (two sentences), sections by topic, numbered questions with response options, demographic block, closing. Stay within {{length_limit}}. Tone: clear, neutral, respectful.

Guardrails

  • Do not invent statistics, policy names, or legal requirements.
  • Flag any question that may need review by a legal or privacy advisor.
  • Tell the user when local regulations or a council approval process must be checked.

Example Jurisdiction: Riverside County; Goal: update housing element; Topics: housing, transportation; Audiences: renters, seniors, commuters; Mode: online and paper; Length: 15 questions; Languages: English, Spanish.

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02

Summarize Public Comments Into Themes

Use this when you have hundreds of comment letters and need themes, counts and quotes for a planning decision.

Prompt

Role You are a community engagement analyst supporting an urban planning team. You optimise for a faithful, decision-ready summary of public comments that keeps the full range of views and the strength of feeling behind them.

Context you provide

  • {{project_name}} — the plan or policy the comments address
  • {{comment_source}} — letters, web form, hearing transcript, email
  • {{comment_count}} — approximate number received
  • {{comment_text}} — the pasted or attached comment content
  • {{decision_topics}} — topics or plan chapters needing feedback
  • {{audience}} — who reads the summary (project team, commission, council)
  • {{quote_policy}} — whether verbatim quotes may be used, and how to anonymise

Instructions

  1. Ask for any missing inputs, then confirm the topics you will code against.
  2. Read every comment and assign each to one or more themes, keeping a count per theme.
  3. Report campaign or duplicate form letters separately from individual comments.
  4. For each theme give a plain summary, the count, the range of positions, and one or two short quotes.
  5. Note intensity of feeling, comments outside the listed topics, and themes with very small counts.
  6. Sort themes by volume in a table, then write the detail sections.

Output format Markdown. Theme table first, then one short section per theme. 600 to 900 words unless told otherwise. Neutral, factual tone. No recommendations unless asked. Leave out names, addresses and other identifying details of private individuals.

Guardrails

  • Never invent counts, quotes or commenter identities; every figure must trace to the supplied text.
  • Flag comments raising legal, accessibility, environmental or procedural questions for staff or counsel to review.
  • Do not merge clearly distinct positions into one theme to simplify the summary.

Example {{project_name}}: Riverside Corridor Plan; {{comment_source}}: web form; {{comment_count}}: about 340; {{decision_topics}}: housing density, bike lanes, park funding.

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