Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan, Second Edition - Softcover

Kelly, Eric Damian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597265535 ISBN 13: 9781597265539

Verlag: Island Press, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

This book introduces community planning as practiced in the United States, focusing on the comprehensive plan. Sometimes known by other names—especially master plan or general plan—the type of plan described here is the predominant form of general governmental planning in the U.S. Although many government agencies make plans for their own programs or facilities, the comprehensive plan is the only planning document that considers multiple programs and that accounts for activities on all land located within the planning area, including both public and private property.
 
Written by a former president of the American Planning Association, Community Planning is thorough, specific, and timely. It addresses such important contemporary issues as sustainability, walkable communities, the role of urban design in public safety, changes in housing needs for a changing population, and multi-modal transportation planning. Unlike competing books, it addresses all of these topics in the context of the local comprehensive plan.
 
There is a broad audience for this book: planning students, practicing planners, and individual citizens who want to better understand local planning and land use controls. Boxes at the end of each chapter explain how professional planners and individual citizens, respectively, typically engage the issues addressed in the chapter. For all readers, Community Planning provides a pragmatic view of the comprehensive plan, clearly explained by a respected authority.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

By Eric Damian Kelly

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Community Planning

An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

By Eric Damian Kelly

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2010 Eric Damian Kelly
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-59726-553-9

Contents

About Island Press, 
Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Dedication, 
Introduction, 
PART I - The Comprehensive Planning Process, 
Chapter 1 - Some Overarching Issues: Sustainability, Sprawl, and Human Health, 
Chapter 2 - Introduction to Planning, 
Chapter 3 - Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan, 
Chapter 4 - Analysis of Existing Conditions in the Community, 
Chapter 5 - Projecting Possible Futures for the Community, 
Chapter 6 - Involving Citizens in Making a Plan, 
PART II - The Plan as a Document, 
Chapter 7 - Planning for Future Land Use, 
Chapter 8 - Planning for Public Facilities Such as Parks, Roads, and Utilities, 
Chapter 9 - Putting It All Together, 
PART III - Making Plans Work, 
Chapter 10 - Decisions That Change the Land, 
Chapter 11 - Controlling the Use of Private Land through Zoning, 
Chapter 12 - Controlling the Development of Land, 
Chapter 13 - Controlling When and Where Development Takes Place, 
Chapter 14 - Deciding When and Where to Build New Public Facilities, 
Chapter 15 - Fitting the Plans Together: The Regional Perspective, 
Chapter 16 - Planning for Parks, Open Space, and Green In frastructure, 
PART IV - Plans for Special Topics or Areas, 
Chapter 17 - Planning for Particular Geographic Areas, 
Chapter 18 - Planning for Renewal and Revitalization, 
Chapter 19 - Planning for Natural Hazards and Community Safety, 
Chapter 20 - Planning for Housing, 
Chapter 21 - Planning for Jobs, 
PART V - The Planning Profession, 
Chapter 22 - Planning Ethics and Values, 
Chapter 23 - Becoming a Planner or Planning Commission Member, 
Acknowledgments, 
Notes, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 
Island Press | Board of Directors, 

CHAPTER 1

Some Overarching Issues: Sustainability, Sprawl, and Human Health

This chapter introduces some overarching issues—issues that affect many aspects of local planning. Some specific issues, such as transportation and land use, are typically the subjects of specific elements or sections of a local comprehensive plan. The issues discussed in this chapter are rarely treated as separate elements, but they often affect most or all elements of a good local plan and are very important issues with which it is important for planners to become familiar.

The three issues—sustainability, sprawl, and human health—are closely related. The sprawling patterns of development that emerged as consequences of road building, home financing, and other post–World War II policies are fundamentally not sustainable; many of the sprawling suburbs have physical designs that discourage active, healthy lifestyles. Any effective effort to create more sustainable, healthier communities entails an understanding of the government programs and socioeconomic forces that have led to the movement of people from walkable cities to isolating suburbs.

Sustainability is the extent to which development and the resulting lifestyles can be sustained over a long period of time without depleting natural resources. If one (or two or three) generations exhaust scarce resources (e.g., petroleum reserves), those are not available to future generations, and therefore a lifestyle dependent on them is also not sustainable.

Sprawling development patterns may compromise our ability to live sustainably when considered from the perspectives of energy, the environment, or, for most communities, even local fiscal policies. The most sprawling suburbs are the ones where people walk the least, a fact that leads to major health problems. One of the secondary effects of the excess energy consumption and environmental impact of sprawl is that it increases the amount of air pollution generated by automobiles, thus adding to human health risks.

Relationship to Climate Change

An emerging issue of note, which is not addressed in this chapter in detail but is directly related to sustainability and health, is climate change. Climate change is a major international public policy issue in the early twenty-first century. In a 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and that human activity creating greenhouse gases is a major contributor to the warming trend. According to the report, "There is very high confidence that the global average net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming." In a new book, Reid Ewing and others recommend reducing the miles traveled by automobile as one of the legs of a "three-legged stool" needed to address the contribution of transportation to the carbon dioxide emissions that damage the ozone layer; the other two are improvements in automobile technology and changes in the types of fuel. Although automobiles are not the only source of greenhouse gases, one third of carbon dioxide emissions come from transportation uses. Thus, reducing sprawl—low-density, auto-dependent development resulting in overconsumption of land—and creating more walkable communities to reduce driving are positive local contributions to reducing damage to the ozone layer. The initial focus of most state and local governments in the United States that have adopted climate change plans, however, has been on making government buildings more energy efficient and, at the state level, taking steps to change the mix of automobile fuels or adopt tougher emission standards for vehicles. As discussed in Chapter 13 and other parts of this book, a number of state and local governments have implemented programs to reduce sprawl; although not identified specifically as plans to address climate change, those and other efforts recommended in this chapter to address sprawl and human health will also contribute to the effort to mitigate climate change.

Complexity of the Issues

Sprawl is an issue high in the public consciousness and is often the topic of discussion at planning meetings. The fact that people are aware of the issue does not mean that they all agree on it, however. Although researchers have offered plausible working definitions, there is no general agreement among citizens and public officials about what sprawl is. To some public officials, new development represents growth, and growth is good, even if it consumes additional land and expands the urban area. To individuals and families seeking an idealized lifestyle, the most distant, least dense suburbs (often the very definition of sprawl) may seem like utopia. And residents of growing areas who purport to hate sprawl may oppose new development in their communities, thus pushing additional housing development farther and farther out. Although most people would agree that sustainability is a good goal for an individual lifestyle and for a community plan, few are willing to give up their automobiles to make their lives—and communities—more sustainable.

There appears to be increasing public awareness of sustainability issues, but there is seldom a connection made to what sustainability means for individual communities and lifestyles. To the extent that it means tax credits for solar collectors, green roofs on buildings, and other measures with lots of glitz and little apparent cost in lifestyle, many people are supportive. To the extent that it means smaller cars,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Island Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1597265535
• ISBN 13: 9781597265539
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 424
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland