Linda C. Dalton

Why the Rational Paradigm Persists — The Resistance of Professional Education and Practice to Alternative Forms of Planning:

For thirty years planners and critics of planning alike have confronted inadequacies in the traditional model of comprehensive rational planning. Despite this intellectual acknowledgement of the need for a different paradigm, the underlying characteristics of rationality still pervade planning education and practice. This paper argues that the more insidious features derive from the broader institutional context and deeper historical roots of the field. Consequently, practitioners cannot incorporate alternative forms of knowledge in planning unless they both become conscious of how they have accepted classic rational assumptions and are willing to adopt a new concept of planning. The essay briefly reviews several promising approaches to planning that cope with the implications of the rational paradigm and/or substitute other models. However, academics cannot expect practicing planners to adopt alternative approaches unless they demonstrate them effectively. To do so, they need to develop new teaching approaches in planning schools and to alter their own behavior so as to encourage new roles rather than simply reinforcing existing ones.

The Limits of Regulation Evidence from Local Plan Implementation in California

Abstract Plans can be implemented by capital improvements, social programs, and land use controls. Local planning agencies focus on the last, but incorporate the other two in development regulations. For example, many communities require developers to provide infrastructure directly or cover project impacts through impact fees. This study of local planning agencies in California demonstrates the weaknesses of regulation as an approach to plan implementation. It shows that the process of administering regulations, including those that combine other objectives such as affordable housing, accommodates piecemeal change in plans, and that success depends upon demand for new development in the community.

Weaving the Fabric of Planning as Education

This article explores planning education as a fabric. Over the past century, the central strands of planning knowledge and pedagogy have been remarkably consistent despite changing labels. Nevertheless, tensions persist regarding the identity of planning and nature of professional education. The biggest changes have occurred among the weavers. During the latter half of the twentieth century, social scientists replaced practitioners as teachers. Also, students emerged as demanding learners, calling for an interactive role in their education. Further, the field emerged from one where the planner was a “man who” to acute consciousness about ethnic and gender diversity. The author concludes that planning education in the twenty-first century should draw from multiple theories of practice— applied knowledge that helps planners understand ethical responsibility, communicate effectively, and address community problems meaningfully as they create the future.

Emerging Knowledge about Planning Practice

Studies of planning practice can be organized into a typology according to their substantive focus and re search method. Case studies of plan ning situations and surveys of plan ners and planning agencies have been published for over twenty years. Further, studies appeared in the late 1960s and 1970s of how planning directors assess their roles and how public planning agencies work. However, interpretations of social interaction, organizational re lationships, and political behavior represent a new way of exploring planning practice. This article notes that the findings of the studies re viewed could be made more accessi ble to practitioners and synthesized into theories of practice.

Is State-Mandated Planning Effective?

Abstract One of Americas most interesting trends in land-use and environmental planning is state-mandated planning for local governments. Essentially, it occurs as a means of collaboration between states and local governments on important land-use and environmental issues1-the state sets policies and goals but leaves specific details and plan implementation to the discretion of local governments. Ten states have adopted statewide comprehensive growth management programs that either require or strongly encourage local governments to prepare and adopt comprehensive plans, and seven are strongly considering statewide growth management programs. Twelve other states order at least some local governments to prepare comprehensive plans, but those mandates are not part of a state growth management program.2 In addition, the American Planning Association, as part of its ongoing process of developing a policy on the states role in growth management, is encouraging mandatory planning as a viable option for states ...

Politics and Planning Agency Performance Lessons from Seattle

Abstract This analysis of Seattles executive planning agency illustrates how the way planning is organized affects its success. Staff plan-making agencies are contrasted with traditional line departments that exercise regulatory functions. Plan-making agencies cannot easily demonstrate the effectiveness of plans or how they are prepared. Consequently, they have difficulty becoming stable government organizations with an accepted scope of activities. Further, difficulties in demonstrating performance become confounded with political differences among the mayor, city council, and line departments over the role of planning itself.

Thinking about Tomorrow Bringing the Future to the Forefront of Planning

Abstract Time is a critical dimension of planning: We study present issues, analyze their roots in the past, and propose ways to address them in the future. Myriad definitions of planning explicitly note the fields orientation to the future. The following examples span more than four decades:

Educating Undergraduates in Planning: Characteristics and Prospects

Undergraduate planning programs in the U.S. and Canada have Increased over the past two decades. Their curricula are strong, they take pride in the professional accomplishments of their graduates, and they seek to increase faculty and improve student diversity. Most graduates work for local public agencies; 40% go on to graduate education.

Theory and Practice, Practice and Theory: Reflections on a Planner's Career

Abstract In this essay, the author reflects on her career as a planner and planning educator. In what is partially a personal memoir, Dalton presents several epigrams for planning practice, providing examples as well as the related theory that connects them. In the process, she offers some observations about continuity and change in the context and practice of planning in the United States over a half-century, and speculates about the continuing role of planners in the future.

State of the Art in Planning for College and University Campuses: Site Planning and Beyond

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Colleges and universities have been planning their campuses for centuries, yet scholars have conducted little empirical research regarding the nature of campus planning in the United States. We review recent scholarship on campus planning, discovering that it is dominated by case studies (sometimes in edited collections) and some comparative studies. In this review we organize the literature into 3 geographic scales: the campus per se (or campus park), the campus–community interface, and the larger campus district. The literature addresses 5 topics: land use, design, sustainability, economic development, and collaboration. Most of the studies focus on research-oriented universities in metropolitan locations. The literature emphasizes how campus master planning can support student learning, how design and building guidelines can make a campus more cohesive, and how campuses are adopting sustainable development and operations. At the campus–community interface, the research documents how some colleges and universities have expanded beyond their traditional boundaries, invested in local economic development, and worked with their communities to improve transportation and reduce environmental impacts. Studies of campus district planning emphasize community adoption of development regulations and code enforcement procedures to reduce the impact of students living in nearby neighborhoods. The literature stresses the importance of partnerships, collaboration, and enhanced communications between the university and the community. Takeaway for practice: University planners should continue to focus on site design that reinforces student learning and environmental sustainability and on community interface planning that supports economic development and reduces environmental impacts. City planners should expand campus district planning to address a broad array of issues and opportunities. Both university and city planners should facilitate collaboration between their institutions. Scholars should study a wide range of colleges and universities, including 2-year as well as 4-year institutions and those in nonurban settings.