In many ways, the Great Recession has been a frightening time for planners. As development slowed, the flow of applications submitted for new development slowed from its torrent at the height of the housing boom to the trickle it is today. With the decline in applications came a decline in workload for public-sector planners working in current planning roles and a decline in revenue for the jurisdictions that employed them. The end result was hundreds of planners being laid off, and private-sector planning firms competing with one another for ever-decreasing shares of work from public- and private-sector clients.
Comprehensive Plan
Plan for Haiti Unveiled
Trans_City Architecture and Urbanism have unveiled a comprehensive plan for Jacmel, Haiti. Highlights of the plan, which took a year and a half to draw up, include prefab homes that work around the city's "topographical challenges."
International Business Times
The false hope of comprehensive planning
Thu, 09/15/2011 - 08:53
It is conventional wisdom in some circles that “comprehensive planning” and sprawl are polar opposites- that planning is the enemy of sprawl.
But in fact, a comprehensive plan is almost as likely as a zoning code to be pro-sprawl. Many of the land use policies that make suburbs automobile-dependent (such as wide roads, long blocks, low density, single-use zoning, etc.) can just as easily be found in a comprehensive plan.
Philidelphia Comprehensive Plan Accused of Spreading Gentrification
Community leaders argue that the recently approved Philadelphia comprehensive plan does more for developers than the working class in this op-ed.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Plans to Green 500 Acres by 2015
Today Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced the ambitious 'Green 2015' plan to turn approximately 500 acres of city land into public green space over the next five years, with a focus on bringing parks to currently underserved communities.
PlanPhilly
McMillan Commission Plan
The Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia aka McMillan Commission Plan for Washington D.C. The McMillan plan is a scheme of broad radiating avenues connecting significant focal points, its open spaces, and its grid pattern of streets oriented north, south, east, and west is still the plan against which all modern land use proposals for the Nation's Capital are considered.
forwardDallas!
forwardDallas! has four parts. The first is A Vision capturing the ideas, ideals and goals Dallas residents have for their future. Next, is A Policy Plan providing the framework to guide decisions over time toward achieving the Vision. Followed by An Implementation Plan. An Implementation Plan provides two timelines for accomplishing goals outlined in the Vision and Policy plans- short-term projects to be completed in two years, and longer term projects to be completed within five to seven years. Finally, A Monitoring Program that gives the City and citizens a framework for tracking progress toward the Vision of forwardDallas!
The Sanibel Plan
Sanibel Plan identified nine major ecological zones to help planners designate appropriate land uses, intensity, and performance standards. The "Sanibel Report" explained how a comprehensive land-use plan could be formulated based on the island's carrying capacity and natural systems. The plan has allowed Sanibel to grow without exceeding its carrying capacity and led to one of Florida’s pioneer growth management regulations.
Youngstown 2010
The Youngstown 2010 Plan is based on a new vision accepting the reality Youngstown is a smaller city that will stabilize at 80,000 people. The City of Youngstown and Youngstown State University coordinated this planning process with help from nearly 200 volunteers, neighborhood organizations and businesses. Organizers for the plan prodded residents to turn out for a large public meeting to review the initial city plan vision using every marketing tool they could think of: billboards, public service announcements, and window stickers.
Ontario Growth Secretariat's Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe
Ontario's far-reaching growth plan for metropolitan Toronto provided a road map for the next 25 years of growth in the region comprised of more than 7.7 million people. The plan became law and was adopted by the Ontario legislature in 2006. The plan spelled out infill development goals and density targets for designated centers and corridors as well as bringing together 110 municipal jurisdictions in a huge geographic area of 12,400 square miles.
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Newport Beach General Plan
The Newport Beach General Plan had to be approved by voters. The new general plan reduced potential office and industrial capacities by more than four million square feet, instead designating land for 3,000 more housing units than were permitted by the old plan. The plan is an effort to meet the community vision and preserve the unique and beautiful coastal community. City officials won voter approval for the new plan through newsletters, public meetings and study sessions.
Design for Health
Design for Health (DFH) is a collaborative project between the University of Minnesota, Cornell University, and the University of Colorado that serves to bridge the gap between the emerging research base on community design and healthy living and the everyday realities of local government planning. The Design for Health program integrates human health issues into planning and environmental design using innovative, practice-oriented tools.
Land Use and Comprehensive Development Plan for the Cano Martin Pena Special Planning District
The Plan seeks to resolve critical social, economic, urban, and environmental issues directly affecting the inhabitants of the Cano Martin Pena Special Planning District's eight neighborhoods, living in 500 acres of dense, inadequate conditions along the Cano (channel), next to San Juan's prime financial district. Within the area, more than 3,000 structures lacked a sewer system, environmental degradation and frequent flooding with polluted waters added to the challenge. The plan's long-range vision and phased projects incorporate initiatives for the District's broad, inclusive rehabilitation, integrating the community with the larger San Juan area.
Greensburg Sustainable Comprehensive Plan
Greensburg, KS was hit by an F5 tornado in May 2007, leveling 90% of the town. Greensburg, KS had already been in decline for several decades, but the town made a commitment to rebuild. Their plan shows respect for the land and a vision of a sustainable future. The plan protects social equity and maintains maintains the town's cherished rural character by establishing a framework for affordable, diverse housing. Greensburg City Council enacted a requirement that all publicly funded buildings over 4,000 square feet must be built to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum certification level.
Make No Big Plans
Salon's Michael Lind argues that attempts to create "comprehensive reform" of anything is a recipe for disaster.
Salon.com
Height Ordinance: A Broader Issue
South Walton is considering pass a height ordinance to limit the buildings to 50 feet.
Northwest Florida Daily News
Directing Raleigh's Future
A new comprehensive plan being released in Raleigh has many -- both in and out of the city -- wondering what's the best way to grow in the post-sprawl world.
Raleigh Durham Independent Weekly
Curing Ills in Suburban Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia, has its own brand of suburban sprawl: suburbia without the space. A new comprehensive plan aims to address the woes of suburban Melbourne, but some say it doesn't go far enough.
The Age
Downzoning In Denver
Blueprint Denver, the city's comprehensive plan, calls for preserving single-family neighborhoods. But the recent move by the city council to reduce the allowed density in two communities has some residents and developers unhappy.
The Rocky Mountain News
