Chapter Objectives / Teaching Hints

Part 1: Plans and Plan Making

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of plan making as applied to a wide variety of types, such as comprehensive plans, urban design plans, transportation plans, economic development plans, and parks and open-space plans. As an important, ongoing component of planning, the roles of citizen participation are also discussed.

Part 2: Environmental Planning and Management

Environmental planning involves using knowledge about physical, biological, and built conditions to provide options for decision making. This chapter explores basic concepts, legal basis, and issues in current practice of environmental planning. It also describes major components in environmental planning, such as physical phenomena including climate, rocks, terrain, and water; biological elements including plants and animals; and the built environment encompassing buildings, streets, yards, and parks.

Part 3: Structures

Structures in urban planning include different types of buildings, streets and roads, vehicle turning radii, traffic calming, parking lots, trails, and transit systems. This chapter reviews conceptual and technical issues and guidelines to better consider these urban structures in a larger context of planning process. Definitions of technical terms and detailed figures of diverse structures from various sources are helpful for understanding spatial issues of urban structures.

Part 4: Places and Placemaking

This chapter describes regions and places, and provides guidelines for places and districts, such as neighborhoods, waterfronts, art districts, industrial parks, and office parks. Planning considerations for different development types are also discussed, including mixed-use development, transit-oriented development, conservation development, and infill development and design considerations for environment, safety, and walkability.

Part 5: Analysis Techniques

Planners use a variety of techniques to analyze physical environment and socio-economic information. In this chapter popular analysis techniques are discussed, including population projections, environmental impact assessment, housing needs assessment, mapping, and visualization. This chapter also provides information on diverse data sources and guidelines to the most advanced computer-based techniques, such as Geographic Information System and remote sensing analysis.

Part 6: Implementation Techniques

Once a plan has been prepared and adopted, it needs to be implemented. This chapter provides a wide range of options and techniques for plan implementation, including legal foundations, growth management and conservation polices to programs, and analysis techniques for economic and real estate development. This discussion enables a better understanding of current working systems of planning practice in different scales.