Plans?Many names for the same thing

– RegionsAreawide Land Policy PlanPuget Sound Regional CouncilSan Francisco Bay Area Conservation DistrictTahoe Regional Planning AgencyCalifornia Coastal CommissionJoint Venture Silicon Valley

– Local Governments (cities and counties)Communitywide Land Use Design PlanThe General PlanThe Comprehensive PlanSpecific Plans, District Plans, Policy Plans

Plans?Many names for the same thing

– RegionsAreawide Land Policy PlanPuget Sound Regional CouncilSan Francisco Bay Area Conservation DistrictTahoe Regional Planning AgencyCalifornia Coastal CommissionJoint Venture Silicon Valley

– Local GovernmentsCommunitywide Land Use Design PlanThe General PlanThe Comprehensive PlanSpecific Plans, District Plans, Policy Plans

Planning as Reasoning TogetherFacilitation

Planning as CommunicationWays to transmit information

Planning as PoliticsInformation has political power

Planning as applied scienceRational, value-neutral

Views of Planning

Consensus-Building

Strategic PlanningPolicy PlanningComprehensivePlanning

Schools of Thought

1990s1980s1970s1960sTimeframe

A Language for Plans

It’s all about space

1. Land available2. Demands for growth (pop, emp)3. How much space is needed4. Where to supply it (houses, jobs)

… ideas that came along slowly, one by one

A bit of …History1785 Ordinance of 1785. Provided for the rectangular

land survey of the Old Northwest.1901 New York State Tenement House Law. The

legislative basis for the revision of city codes that outlawed tenements such as the "Dumbbell Tenement.“

1916 Nation's first comprehensive zoning resolution adopted by New York City Board of Estimates.

1924 U.S. Department of Commerce issues a Standard State Zoning Enabling Act.

Zoning …History

Tenement Housing in New York CityRiis, Jacob. 1890. How the Other Half Lives. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

A bit of …History1926 Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.

Constitutionality of zoning upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fulton, William. 1999. Guide to California Planning. Solano Press.

Euclidian and Exclusive Zoning

…History1928 U.S. Department of

Commerce issues a Standard City Planning Enabling Act.

Kent, TJ. 1964. The Urban General Plan.

Finally,… Planning!

Zones v. Plans

Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. 2005. California Planning Guide.

It’s all about space

1. Land available2. Demands for growth (pop, emp)3. How much space is needed4. Where to supply it (houses, jobs)

… looking at 3 and 4

The Real Estate Development ProcessKaiser, H. 1978. The Building of Cities. Ithaca: Cornell U Press.

It’s all about space

1. Land available2. Demands for growth (pop, emp)3. How much space is needed4. Where to supply it (houses, jobs)

TransportationThe Tyranny of Standards

Irvine, California

Estimating Demand

Andersen, Larz. 2000. Planning the Built Environment. APA.

Hierarchy of Streets

Andersen, Larz. 2000. Planning the Built Environment. APA.

Process for Highways

Dowall and Whittington. 2003. Making Room for the Future. PPIC.

Institute of Transportation Engineers. 1997. Trip Generation.

Andersen, Larz. 2000. Planning the Built Environment. APA.

Standards?• Don’t take them lightly

– Safety– Respect

• Don’t take them for granted– They creep up– They take over the landscape– They prevent us from re-creating places we love

Creeping Standards

Southworth and Ben-Joseph. 1997. Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities. McGraw-Hill.

Cobblestone Streets of Rome, 15 BC Hampstead Garden Suburb, 1904

Creeping Standards

Southworth and Ben-Joseph. 1997. Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities. McGraw-Hill.

Radburn Cul-de-sac, 1929

Southworth and Ben-Joseph. 1997. Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities. McGraw-Hill.

Radburn Cul-de-sac, 1990s

Sunset District, San Francisco, California

Institute of Transportation Engineer’s guidelines for street width, 1965 and 1984

Southworth and Ben-Joseph. 1997. Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities. McGraw-Hill.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Developers have their own process for deciding how to utilize space

Bosselman, Peter. 1998. Representation of Places. UC Press.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Boston, Massachusetts

Paris, France

In Sum• Scale matters (regional, local)• Organization matters

– Is the plan/map voluntary or binding?• Laws don’t change very much• Figure out how to do your best

– Know what you like– Learn how it became what it is– Develop a critical eye for standards– Engage the public with your ideas