The good. The bad. And the ugly.

That’s what three “smart-growth” consultants saw during an afternoon tour of Lawrence in early April, starting a process that could affect the look of future construction projects in the city.

“I think it’s a tale of three cities,” said team leader Will Fleissig, a Denver developer and former director of planning for Boulder, Colo.

The best part of Lawrence, Fleissig said, is its downtown and historic core — “as good as any in the country.”

The other two, which are newer “cities,” are the big-box retail center along South Iowa Street and “strip” areas along Sixth Street and 23rd Street.

Fleissig’s job: figuring out a way to make the newer developments look less generic, and more like Lawrence. His team will make recommendations to help the city develop design guidelines governing the appearance of new projects.

But Fleissig said in April he was not sure design guidelines would do the trick of making the three cities one.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “That’s the $64 question.”

Fleissig was joined on the tour by Brian Morrow and Colleen Lyons, graduate students at the University of Colorado. They came to Lawrence under the auspices of the Washington, D.C.-based Smart Growth Leadership Institute, which last year designated Lawrence one of nine cities across the country where it wanted to help “make smart growth work.”

After the tour, the trio met with then-mayor David Dunfield and then with Lawrence developers and architects. The following day, they met with a Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission committee developing design guidelines.

The team isn’t ready to start making recommendations, Fleissig said.

“This (trip) is more about listening and fact-finding,” he said. “We’re going to be asking lots of questions.”

During the tour, Planning Director Linda Finger said design guidelines — like those the city already has for downtown — would have improved the appearance of major new commercial developments in Lawrence. Instead, she said, Lawrence has often ended up with the “bottom budget” versions of big-box stores.

“People from other towns tell me they can’t believe Lawrence would accept that kind of development,” Finger said.

City officials are watching the consultants’ work with interest.

“I’m not sure what results to expect,” Dunfield said after his meeting with the consultants.

“I think it’s going to be useful to have an outside, very experienced look at the way we’re doing things, the way Lawrence is growing,” Dunfield said, “and how we might tweak that to make it work better for everybody.”

Fleissig said his team wouldn’t draft actual design standards for the city, but it will point the way.

“It will be a strategy, guidelines to get you where you want to go,” he said.

The consultants’ recommendations should be finalized in June.