I guess it’s true. There are no new ideas.

I recently spoke at the Healthcare Design Conference in Phoenix. While waiting in the speakers’ lounge, I struck up a conversation with another presenter. She asked what my topic was (Parking and Transportation Master Planning for Healthcare Campuses) and I asked her what she was speaking on. Her topic was Practitioner-Based Healthcare Planning.

I was kind of floored, because I had just been drafting an article based on the same concept, but within the parking and transportation planning arena (thus no new ideas). I guess even for me and my colleagues, the idea wasn’t really new. A small group of colleagues and I have been bringing in practicing parking professionals on our projects for years to provide added value and insight, but somehow giving it a label such as “Practitioner-Engaged Parking and Transportation Planning,” seemed to put a new spin and a different focus to the practice.

The reasons I am excited about this approach are threefold:

1. I know from numerous experiences that this approach really does add significant value and sometimes unexpected insights to a consulting project.
2. The sheer number and diversity of innovative programs being led by highly qualified parking professionals has grown exponentially. It used to be a challenge to find qualified candidates; now the problem is narrowing down the list!
3. All of this speaks to amazing qualitative growth and development of the parking industry over the past 10 years.

I give IPI a huge amount of credit for creating the idea of a “parking professional” years ago and following through with programs that have made that concept a working reality. The exponential growth of creative ideas that have led to new and innovative programs and strategies is propelling our industry forward!