SLOCOG Empowers Citizens to Navigate Trade-offs with Interactive Scenario Planning

The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) plays a central role in coordinating transportation planning across the region’s cities and communities. As funding has tightened and regulatory restrictions increased, SLOCOG faced a crucial moment: it needed to refresh its 20-year Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) while ensuring the public not only stayed informed—but was meaningfully involved. That meant finding new ways to communicate complex trade-offs and solicit feedback that reflected the public’s true priorities.

Problem:

Making Budget Trade-offs Understandable to Everyday People. Traditional engagement methods like public meetings and static PDFs make it difficult for community members to grasp the balancing act required in long-term planning. Many were unaware of real-world funding limitations or the difficult decisions planners face. When the final plan didn’t meet public expectations, frustration followed because citizens hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the realities behind the choices.

SLOCOG needed a way to bridge the knowledge gap and turn passive readers into engaged participants - people who could interact with real constraints, understand funding limits, and make informed suggestions.

Solution:

SLOCOG turned to Konveio’s Scenarios & Simulators, a dynamic feature designed to engage the public in understanding budget and planning trade-offs. Hosted within Konveio’s Engagement Hub, this self-guided tool invited residents to explore different transportation investment strategies—across transit, road maintenance, bike infrastructure, and more, while staying within a set budget.

Participants moved sliders or selected trade-off options, allocating resources based on their priorities. The experience was intuitive and visual: as users made choices, they could see how spending impacted the overall budget, environmental indicators, and service outcomes. Educational popups clarified each option, helping participants learn in real-time and make better-informed decisions.

Unlike traditional surveys, the simulator didn’t just collect opinions, it helped shape them through experience. Participants who exceeded the budget were asked whether they’d support new revenue measures, adding nuance to the conversation. The tool also revealed how a user’s preferences compared to aggregated results from the broader community, helping individuals see how their values aligned with others.

Impact:

SLOCOG’s deployment of Konveio’s Scenarios & Simulators changed the dynamic of public engagement. Rather than reacting to a pre-formed plan, residents became co-creators—testing out the very trade-offs planners faced and submitting thoughtful, context-aware input. The tool made a complex topic accessible, even fun, while surfacing key insights about community preferences.

The result was twofold:

• Residents walked away with a deeper understanding of why not everything could be funded and what trade-offs were involved.
• SLOCOG gained rich, structured feedback tied to real-world constraints—feedback that could be easily analyzed and shared with decision-makers.

Through Konveio, the planning process felt more transparent, collaborative, and inclusive—helping SLOCOG strengthen trust and chart a path forward that was informed by the values and voices of the people it serves.

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