Community Planning : An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

This book introduces community planning as practiced in the United States, focusing on the comprehensive plan. Sometimes known by other namesespecially master plan or general planthe type of plan described here is the predominant form of general governmental planning in the U.S. Although many government agencies make plans for their own programs or facilities, the comprehensive plan is the only planning document that considers multiple programs and that accounts for activities on all land located within the planning area, including both public and private property. Written by a former president of the American Planning Association,Community Planningis thorough, specific, and timely. It addresses such important contemporary issues as sustainability, walkable communities, the role of urban design in public safety, changes in housing needs for a changing population, and multi-modal transportation planning. Unlike competing books, it addresses all of these topics in the context of the local comprehensive plan. There is a broad audience for this book: planning students, practicing planners, and individual citizens who want to better understand local planning and land use controls. Boxes at the end of each chapter explain how professional planners and individual citizens, respectively, typically engage the issues addressed in the chapter. For all readers,Community Planningprovides a pragmatic view of the comprehensive plan, clearly explained by a respected authority.

Eric Kelly is a professor of urban planning at Ball State University. He is a past president of the American Planning Association and has more than thirty years of experience consulting with local governments in thirty-five states.