Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Planning

Level of Education Service Planning System

The City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department is one of the nation’s most developed and mature urban land managers. Its more than 40,000 acres of land and vast, environmentally rich landscape are intensely enjoyed by a broad public. Visitation exceeds that of any landscape in Colorado. In its more-than-five decades, OSMP has developed numerous educational programs, interpretive media and visitor experience modes. Studio Tectonic was engaged to develop a methodology to examine delivery of OSMP’s educational services across all forty-thousand acres. The tool is aimed at making a predictable, mission-based model for which to evaluate its many points of public engagement.

We worked in close collaboration with the non-profits the Consensus Building Institute and PUP Global Heritage Consortium in this effort. A series of test reports served to both prove the toolkit and provide informed guidance about how each of the test locations is best utilized for connecting OSMP’s messaging to its diverse public.

As a first-of-its-kind approach, the team worked through a constant refinement process to adjust both methodologies and outcomes. Going forward, OSMP is equipped with the system needed to hold public engagement as a centerpiece of its land planning and human programming efforts.