Abstract
A few years ago, I encountered the challenge of selecting readings for my land use planning course, a class that typically provides students with an overview of the comprehensive plan making process. Surveying the landscape of books used for similar courses in planning programs, I found two types of books. One type treats land use planning as a mostly technical matter, primarily relying on data analysis and requiring students and teachers to wrangle with specific data and software that may present challenges in terms of resources, the degree of abstractness, timeliness, and value. The second type focuses on plan contents, politics, and processes and is more accessible, but offers only limited guidance on the methods planners use to understand and respond to community conditions. Neither type seems particularly suited to informing the day-to-day decisions of a planning practitioner.
Fundamentals of Plan Making: Methods and Techniques is a most welcome addition to the planning toolkit because it combines the best of these approaches. Jepson and Weitz offer a guide that is remarkable in its ability to be both big picture and nuts and bolts. The authors offer a glimpse at the wide range of information and analysis contained in a comprehensive plan. The unique value of the book comes from the complete but concise and practical way it uses to guide the reader through the core methods of planning. Jepson and Weitz offer a step-by-step approach to plan making, unlocking and underscoring the plan’s logic while providing the reader with a straightforward instruction manual.
The book has ten chapters. It begins with an introduction that describes the purpose of a comprehensive plan. The second chapter explores data retrieval and management for community analyses and provides detailed guidance on practical matters such as using different types of graphs, understanding population estimates, retrieving American FactFinder data, and using North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) data. The next seven chapters cover the core planning areas that usually comprise sections of a comprehensive plan: demographic analysis, housing analysis, economic analysis, community facilities and services analysis, transportation system analysis, and land use analysis. The concluding chapter on the process of plan making identifies participatory techniques, introduces scenario planning, and discusses plan monitoring and revision. This chapter also includes a brief but informative introduction to planning theory, underscoring the way the book works continuously to build connections between nuts-and-bolts analytical skills and the broader purposes and practices in plan making. In sum, the ten chapters provide enough material for a semester-length course and also provide exposure to analyzing a broad set of planning data and to understanding how these analyses are used in the comprehensive plan.
The seven chapters that cover each of the standard elements of a comprehensive plan also introduce a core set of analytical skills that prepare the reader to develop fundamental plan content. For example, in the transportation chapter the authors introduce the reader to data sets used in transportation analysis, for example the American Community Survey, and to variables and concepts used in transportation analysis, for example traffic counts, the functional classification of roads, and transportation analysis zones. Next, they provide an overview of the conventional four-step transportation planning model, discussing its purpose and the data analysis processes related to trip generation, trip distribution, modal split, and trip assignment calculations. They then describe traffic impact analysis methodologies, discussing how planners analyze and respond to issues related to level of service, capacity, and congestion. The chapter ends with a review of other traffic analysis techniques, including traffic sheds and the street connectivity index. The discussion in this chapter occurs over fifteen pages, demonstrating the way the book introduces critical methodologies, along with insights as to why and how these analytical techniques are used, in a concise and manageable way.
The book demystifies and declutters plan making. It is a book that looks, reads, and feels like a thoughtfully in-touch, up-to-date textbook or reference guide designed for an audience that is used to having information at its fingertips. The writing is accessible and the information is easily searchable, with a clear organization within chapters, a detailed table of contents, and an index, making the book an ideal text for an introductory planning course and a valuable reference for practitioners seeking quick and practical tips for completing specific tasks. The abundant figures enrich the text, demonstrating best practices in data presentation. Call-out boxes break down the fundamentals of technical processes, such as survey design, creating population pyramids in Microsoft Excel, or using the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Stream Visual Assessment Protocol.
The exercises at the end of each chapter are especially valuable for classroom use. Each set of exercises is directly based on the data sources and analytical methods introduced in the chapter and provide valuable, self-directed practice. For example, in the community facilities and services chapter, an exercise provides level-of-service standards and guides students and practitioners through calculating the impact of a 375-unit housing development on public schools, libraries, parks, police, and fire operations. Some exercises indicate that use of GIS is preferred, although it is not required to complete the task. In sum, many exercises will appeal to instructors teaching introductory planning courses because they do not require students to draw on specialized prerequisite knowledge or software skills or purchases. For students and practitioners, the exercises readily suggest ways lessons are transferable to real-world issues.
The book’s broad scope and succinct delivery make it an ideal choice for an introductory course on comprehensive planning or planning methods, or as a reference for other classes. The book assists with core skill development and critical thinking about planning interventions, and professional values and ethics. An updated edition could include chapters on plan implementation and new approaches to planning documents, such as form-based codes.
Fundamentals of Plan Making: Methods and Techniques is, at heart, a pragmatic book that offers the basics of planning in a succinct and appealing way that respects the time constraints and needs of its intended audience of new planning students and busy practitioners who would like to keep up with current developments.