IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i10p1767-d939812.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Constellation of Plans: Toward a New Structure of Comprehensive Plans in US Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Christine Quattro

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311, USA)

  • Thomas Daniels

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311, USA)

Abstract

The comprehensive plan is a fundamental planning document to direct growth and change in land use in US cities. This paper investigates whether US cities are structuring comprehensive plans to resemble a ‘constellation’ of functional, special topic, and neighborhood subplans tied to a central guiding plan. A traditional comprehensive plan features a central plan with few, if any, subplans. We analyzed the comprehensive plans of 39 cities and identified 20 cities that are using the constellation structure with at least four subplans. We then evaluated the quality of the constellation-type plans and surveyed planners in 14 cities to understand how and why they are drafting and implementing constellation-type plans. The responses of planners illustrate how this approach to comprehensive planning allows cities to increase the size and number of functional and area subplans. The constellation structure enables land use planners to add new topics to the central plan in a timely manner leading to more effective land use planning as cities and environments change.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Quattro & Thomas Daniels, 2022. "The Constellation of Plans: Toward a New Structure of Comprehensive Plans in US Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:10:p:1767-:d:939812
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/10/1767/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/10/1767/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philip R. Berke & Matthew L. Malecha & Siyu Yu & Jaekyung Lee & Jaimie H. Masterson, 2019. "Plan integration for resilience scorecard: evaluating networks of plans in six US coastal cities," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(5), pages 901-920, April.
    2. Philip Berke & Galen Newman & Jaekyung Lee & Tabitha Combs & Carl Kolosna & David Salvesen, 2015. "Evaluation of Networks of Plans and Vulnerability to Hazards and Climate Change: A Resilience Scorecard," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 81(4), pages 287-302, October.
    3. Patrick M. Condon, 2020. "Kelbaugh: The Urban Fix: Resilient Cities in the War Against Climate Change, Heat Islands and Overpopulation," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 86(3), pages 382-383, July.
    4. Patrick M. Condon, 2020. "The urban fix: resilient cities in the war against climate change, heat islands and overpopulation," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 384-385, July.
    5. Dave Guyadeen, 2018. "Do Practicing Planners Value Plan Quality? Insights From a Survey of Planning Professionals in Ontario, Canada," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(1), pages 21-32, January.
    6. Hyun Woo Kim & Ming-Han Li, 2017. "Managing stormwater for urban sustainability: an evaluation of local comprehensive plans in the Chesapeake Bay watershed region," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(10), pages 1702-1725, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aparna Kumari & Tim G. Frazier, 2021. "Evaluating social capital in emergency and disaster management and hazards plans," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(1), pages 949-973, October.
    2. Qingchun Li & Shangjia Dong & Ali Mostafavi, 2019. "Modeling of inter-organizational coordination dynamics in resilience planning of infrastructure systems: A multilayer network simulation framework," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Bacău, Simona & Grădinaru, Simona R. & Hersperger, Anna M., 2020. "Spatial plans as relational data: Using social network analysis to assess consistency among Bucharest’s planning instruments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Qingchun Li & Bryce Hannibal & Ali Mostafavi & Philip Berke & Sierra Woodruff & Arnold Vedlitz, 2020. "Examining of the actor collaboration networks around hazard mitigation: a hurricane harvey study," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(3), pages 3541-3562, September.
    5. Qiao Hu & Zhenghong Tang & Martha Shulski & Natalie Umphlett & Tarik Abdel-Monem & Frank E. Uhlarik, 2018. "An examination of midwestern US cities’ preparedness for climate change and extreme hazards," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(2), pages 777-800, November.
    6. Youjung Kim & Galen Newman, 2019. "Climate Change Preparedness: Comparing Future Urban Growth and Flood Risk in Amsterdam and Houston," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, February.
    7. Kristina Hill, 2016. "Climate Change: Implications for the Assumptions, Goals and Methods of Urban Environmental Planning," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(4), pages 103-113.
    8. Rifat, Shaikh Abdullah Al & Liu, Weibo, 2022. "Predicting future urban growth scenarios and potential urban flood exposure using Artificial Neural Network-Markov Chain model in Miami Metropolitan Area," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    9. Malecha, Matthew L. & Brand, A.D. & Berke, Philip R., 2018. "Spatially evaluating a network of plans and flood vulnerability using a Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard: A case study in Feijenoord District, Rotterdam, the Netherlands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 147-157.
    10. Hyun Woo Kim & Tho Tran, 2018. "An Evaluation of Local Comprehensive Plans Toward Sustainable Green Infrastructure in US," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    11. Tom M. Logan & Seth D. Guikema, 2020. "Reframing Resilience: Equitable Access to Essential Services," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(8), pages 1538-1553, August.
    12. Rebecca Lewis & Robert Parker, 2021. "Exurban growth inside the urban growth boundary? An examination of development in Oregon cities," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 885-908, June.
    13. Nicole H. O’Donnell & Jeanine P. D. Guidry, 2022. "Beyond Personal Responsibility: Analyzing How Attributing Responsibility for Environmental Protection Can Hinder Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Comes, Tina & Meesters, Kenny & Nespeca, Vittorio & E.a., [No Value], 2017. "Hurricane Harvey Report : A Fact-Finding Effort in the Direct Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston Region," Other publications TiSEM 6f108c5f-b0f8-447f-835a-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Guyadeen, Dave & Henstra, Daniel & Kaup, Shivani & Wright, Grace, 2023. "Evaluating the quality of municipal strategic plans," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Hyun Kim & David W. Marcouiller & Kyle Maurice Woosnam, 2021. "Multilevel Climate Governance, Anticipatory Adaptation, and the Vulnerability‐Readiness Nexus," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(2), pages 222-242, March.
    17. Jun-Hyun Kim & Wei Li & Galen Newman & Sung-Ho Kil & Sun Young Park, 2018. "The influence of urban landscape spatial patterns on single-family housing prices," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 45(1), pages 26-43, January.
    18. Galen Newman & Garett T. Sansom & Siyu Yu & Katie R. Kirsch & Dongying Li & Youjung Kim & Jennifer A. Horney & Gunwoo Kim & Saima Musharrat, 2022. "A Framework for Evaluating the Effects of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating Pollutant Transferal and Flood Events in Sunnyside, Houston, TX," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    19. Krystyna Solarek & Marta Kubasińska, 2022. "Local Spatial Plans in Supporting Sustainable Water Resources Management: Case Study from Warsaw Agglomeration—Kampinos National Park Vicinity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-27, May.
    20. Reckien, Diana & Buzasi, Attila & Olazabal, Marta & Spyridaki, Niki-Artemis & Eckersley, Peter & Simoes, Sofia G. & Salvia, Monica & Pietrapertosa, Filomena & Fokaides, Paris & Goonesekera, Sascha M. , 2023. "Quality of urban climate adaptation plans over time," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 3, pages 1-14.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:10:p:1767-:d:939812. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.