PlaceMatters believes in informed, equitable, and effective citizen engagement in increasingly complex land use planning situations. We work to ensure that communities and organizations design and implement processes that garner broad public involvement and support and lead to sustainable, livable communities. 

Through the use of novel public engagement processes and emerging technical tools, we work to enable effective land use decision-making.  Technical tools that help stakeholders understand land use tradeoffs and analyze impacts, known as "decision support tools", when coupled with strong civic leadership and good public processes, can radically democratize what are often dysfunctional and/or expert-only-driven decisions at the community level.

PlaceMatters works to contribute to the growing body of knowledge and practice in the field of decision support, public engagement, and sustainable design by joining others in creating, using, experimenting with, applying and sharing tools, processes and ideas in on-the-ground projects across the country.