Planning the Future of your Community

The Comprehensive Planning Process

Author/s: Ligaya A. Delos Santos
Rizal Technological University, Mandaluyong, Philippines
Ligayadelossantos0@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper will be responsible to discuss “Planning the Future of your Community; The
Comprehensive Planning’’ As time passes by, how do the modern time find about the
comprehensive planning process? Planning brings the whole community together to
establish clear community goals and set realistic, sustainable strategies to achieve them.
Community goals can range from constructing facilities, such as housing or a community
centre, to expanding infrastructure, creating jobs, protecting subsistence areas and
sustaining cultural traditions. This paper also includes information’s on how did people
planning the future of your community, its history and role upon the community.

Keywords: Comprehensive, Future, Community, Realistic, Subsistence, Cultural, History and

Sustainable

INTRODUCTION
Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal.
It is the first and foremost activity to achieve desired results. It involves the creation and
maintenance of a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even
a couple of tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, planning is a
fundamental property of intelligent behaviour. An important further meaning, often just called
"planning" is the legal context of permitted building developments. Also, planning has a specific
process and I s necessary for multiple occupations (particularly in fields such as management,
business, etc.). In each field there are different types of plans that help companies achieve
efficiency and effectiveness. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the
relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future will
look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like for multiple scenarios.
Planning combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios and how to react to them. Planning is
one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is
preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If a person does it effectively,
they can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal. A plan is like a map.
When following a plan, a person can see how much they have progressed towards their project
goal and how far they are from their destination.
A process that determines community goals and aspirations in terms of community
development. The outcome of comprehensive planning is the Comprehensive Plan which dictates
public policy in terms of transportation, utilities, land use, recreation, and housing.
Comprehensive plans typically encompass large geographical areas, a broad range of topics, and
cover a long-term time horizon. It is a local government's guide to community physical, social,
and economic development. Comprehensive planning is a process that determines community
goals and aspirations in terms of community development. The result is called a comprehensive
plan and both expresses and regulates public policies on transportation, utilities, land use,
recreation, and housing. Comprehensive plans typically encompass large geographical areas, a
broad range of topics, and cover a long-term time horizon. The term comprehensive planning is
most often used by urban planners in the United States.

1.1 History
While often thought of as a modern pursuit, planning has a long history. Hippodamus of Miletus
is considered the first city planner because of his efforts in several Greek cities in the fifth century
B.C. These plans, and much of the collective efforts throughout history, were largely architectural
in focus.
After the American Revolution, the focus on property rights turned to self-rule and personal
freedom, as this was a time of very strong personal property rights. Cities had little power, if any
at all, to direct development in the city. The issue of comprehensive planning in the United States
has been addressed since the birth of the country.
The original Williamsburg was one of the first highly successful products of an attempt to create a
land use plan in the colonies.

In 1699, Williamsburg was laid out under the most detailed piece of town-planning legislation
adopted in the English colonies up to that point. Williamsburg reflected what is referred to as
“axial planning,” which means that it is formal but not pompous
In 19TH century the final plan for the park system was completed, and it left an impression on
many cities and villages throughout the country. Public improvement groups were established in
these communities, and they began the work of applying the new gospel of planning.
Early on, this planning process was referred to as the “City Beautiful Movement. This movement
established two aspects of the local comprehensive planning process that are still in use:
1. The professional consultant in the field of comprehensive land use planning, and
2. The planning commission, which is used in communities all across the country.

Cities became very dense and full of disease. As a response to the over population and chaotic
conditions, planning became a major focus of many large American cities. The City Beautiful
movement was one of the many responses to the decaying city.
The City Beautiful Movement was the beginning of what is more commonly referred to today as
“Comprehensive Planning.”

1.2 What is Included Within a Comprehensive Plan?

The elements of a comprehensive plan can vary from community to community. In most cases
though, the plan consists of a study of existing conditions and a discussion of future trends, goals,
and objectives. Land use patterns, housing conditions, population, roadways, and other
infrastructure issues are usually the principle elements that are studied.

Eight Elements of Comprehensive Planning

Population and demography

Should be looked at in terms of existing conditions and future trends.

Land use

Existing land use map should be included along with projections of future use.

Traffic circulation and transportation

As automobile use rises and traffic worsens, the need for roadway expansions, system
improvements, and public transportation increases.

The park and open space

Element is fairly easy to grasp. Changes to the existing system should be outlined as well as
projections of future need based upon forecasted growth.

Housing

Information can include provisions for affordable housing, planned residential growth, and
building and density requirements.

Utilities and services

Should include water, sanitary and storm sewer, and treatment information.

Community facilities

Include hospitals, schools and government buildings, and so forth.

Economic development

Will also be a necessary element of the plan for most communities. Whether geared toward
serious efforts to attract major employers or toward business retention and improvement, an
economically strong community is a common goal.

In some cases, educational facilities are reviewed along with recreational and other government
facilities. Social service facilities may also be discussed. Comprehensive plans deal with the land-
use-related issues relevant to each of these topics.

1.3 The Comprehensive Planning Process

Typically follows a planning process that consists of eight different steps. By following this
process, planners are able to determine a wide range of interconnecting issues that affect an urban
area. Each step can be seen as interdependent and many times planners will revise the order to
best fit their needs.

1. Identifying issues

The planner must first address the issue they are investigating.

” To be relevant, the planning process must identity and address not only contemporary issues of
concern to residents, workers, property owners, and business people, but also the emerging
issues that will be important in the future”

2. Stating goals

Once issues have been identified by a community, goals can then be established. Goals are
community visions. They establish priorities for communities and help community leaders make
future decisions which will affect the city. Stating goals is not always an easy process and it
requires the active participation of all people in the community.3. Collecting data

Data is needed in the planning process in order to evaluate current city conditions as well as to
predict future conditions.The most typical data collected for a comprehensive plan include data
about the environment, traffic conditions, economic conditions, social conditions (such as
population and income), public services and utilities, and land use conditions (such as housing
and zoning). Once this data is collected it is analyzed and studied. Outcomes of the data collection
process include population projections, economic condition forecasts, and future housing needs.

4. Preparing the plan

The plan is prepared using the information gathered during the data collection and goal setting
stages. A typical comprehensive plan begins by giving a brief background of the current and
future conditions found in the data collection step. Following the background information are the
community goals and the plans that will be used in order to implement those goals into the
community. Plans may also contain separate sections for important issues such as transportation
or housing which follow the same standard format

5. Creating implementation plans

During this stage of the process different programs are thought of in order to implement the goals
of the plan. These plans focus on issues such as cost and effectiveness. It is possible that a variety
of plans will result from this process in order to realize one goal. These different plans are known
as alternatives.
6. Evaluating alternatives

Each alternative should be evaluated by community leaders to ensure the most efficient and cost-
effective way to realize the community's goals.

During this stage each alternative should be weighed given its potential positive and negative
effects, impacts on the community, and impacts on the city government.

One alternative should be chosen that best meets the needs and desires of the community and
community leaders for meeting the community goals.

7. Adopting a plan

The community needs to adopt the plan as an official statement of policy in order for it to take
effect. This is usually done by the City Council and through public hearings.

The City Council may choose not to adopt the plan, which would require planners to refine the
work they did during previous steps. Once the plan is accepted by city officials it is then a legal
statement of community policy in regards to future development.

8. Implementing and monitoring the plan

Using the implementation plans defined in the earlier stages, the city will carry out the goals in
the comprehensive plan. City planning staff monitor the outcomes of the plan and may propose
future changes if the results are not desired.

A comprehensive plan is not a permanent document. It can be changed and rewritten over time.
For many fast-growing communities, it is necessary to revise or update the comprehensive plan
every five to ten years. In order for the comprehensive plan to be relevant to the community it
must remain current.

Legal Basis

The basis for comprehensive planning comes from the government's ability to protect the health
and welfare of its citizens.

The power for local governments to plan generally comes from state planning enabling
legislation; however, local governments in most states are not required by law to engage in
comprehensive planning.

State statutes usually provide the legal framework necessary for those communities choosing to
participate while allowing others to disengage themselves with the process.

However, a comprehensive plan is not usually legally binding. A community's ordinances must be
amended in order to legally implement the provisions required to execute the comprehensive plan.
1.4 Why Is Planning Important to the Sustainability of Your
Community?

A sustainable community is a resilient community – a community that has the ability to adapt to
changing circumstances. Resiliency is influenced by the natural environment, attitudes towards
change, community cohesiveness, cooperative problem solving, leadership, infrastructure, human
resources, and economic structure and diversity.

Just as each community has a unique set of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges,
each community needs a unique plan. Solutions need to be developed through collaborative,
community-based approaches that involve an expanding leadership base and actively seek input
from all walks of life. The community planning process needs to honour the past, assess the
present, and describe the desired future.

A community comprehensive plan that includes a economic development strategy can empower
communities to maintain a sense of place, become more resilient during times of economic
challenges, take advantage of economic opportunities, and can generally increase a villages’
stability and its residents’ sense of security. A plan helps individuals and communities see where
they want to go and make decisions on how to get there.

Increase the Likelihood of Success

While each community has a unique set of development challenges, several common factors
increase the
likelihood of successful community planning and development.1
• Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the local economy and its comparative
advantages.
• Local leadership that brings together government (tribal and city), business, and non-profit
organizations, coupled with active citizen participation.
• Policies and programs that respond to local needs
and use local resources.
• A planning facilitator with the appropriate
attitudes, skills, and knowledge to assist your
community.

1.5 What Is a Community Comprehensive Plan?

A community comprehensive plan brings the entire community together to look forward over the
long term and agree on a preferred vision for the future of the community. Comprehensive plans
are tools used
by municipalities to guide physical growth and development, to meet social, economic, and
environmental
goals. Nearly all communities in the Lower 48, and all large communities in Alaska, have
prepared and
continue to update their community comprehensive plans. A community comprehensive plan has
the
following features:
• Looks twenty years into the future and takes a broad view of the whole community.
• Gathers input from the entire community to define the community’s vision and values.
• Identifies goals and priority actions in specific categories, for example: Land Use, Housing &
Environment; Community Wellness, Culture & Education; Public Facilities & Transportation;
Economy; Leadership.
• Includes an implementation plan and measures for evaluating progress.
The comprehensive plan is a compilation of policy statements, goals, standards, and maps for
guiding the physical, social, and economic development, both private and public, of the first or
second class borough, and may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Statements of policies, goals, and standards;
- Land use plan;
- Community facilities plan;
- Transportation plan; and,
- Recommendations for implementing a comprehensive plan.

CONCLUSION
A major conclusion of this study was that land is a basic resource on which human activity
ultimately depends. Comprehensive planning is a tool for determining how to use this resource.
The comprehensive plan, also known as a general plan, master plan or land-use plan, is a
document designed to guide the future actions of a community. It presents a vision for the future,
with long-range goals and objectives for all activities that affect the local government. This
includes guidance on how to make decisions on public and private land development proposals,
the expenditure of public funds, availability of tax policy (tax incentives), cooperative efforts and
issues of pressing concern, such as farmland preservation or the rehabilitation of older
neighbourhood’s areas. Most plans are written to provide direction for future activities over a 10-
to 20-year period after plan adoption. However, plans should receive a considered review and
possible update every five years.

REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_planning
https://www.slideshare.net/jobitonio/comprehensive-land-use-planning
http://logodef.org/comprehensive-planning/
http://www.region6.dilg.gov.ph/index.php/programs/64-environment-protective-disaster-resilient-
and-climate-change-adaptive-lgus/121-clup