CENTER FOR TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING STUDIES FACULTY OF

ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND SURVEYING UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

CAWANGAN SELANGOR, KAMPUS PUNCAK ALAM.

TPS 551 PLANNING THEORY

GROUP AP221/A

ASSIGNMENT 1

SEMESTER SESSION:

OCTOBER 2022 – FEBRUARY 2023

GROUP MEMBER:

MUHAMMAD HAKIM BIN HALIM 2020821536

HALIFEAN ANAK RENTAP 2020836444

PREPARED FOR:

TPr. DR SITI MAZWIN BT KAMARUDDIN

What is Theory of Planning and Theory in Planning? Elaborate (5%).

The theory of Planning is a procedural theory based on the 'form/style/approach' of

planning (Faludi, 1973). A procedural theory is an established or formal way of doing something.
Form or style is about the planner's role in the policy creation process. Formulate planner
functions, tasks, and responsibilities. Furthermore, it reflects the process (sequence of actions or
steps) used in the plan to achieve the desired outcome (Faludi, 1973). Planning theory deals with
issues of structure, procedure, and institutional embedding. The structure is the relationship
between different institutions, a policy is how the institutions work, and embedding is the firm role
of different institutions in the planning process. This query brings up the problem of the type of
activity being examined when researching planning. Although Habermas uses a variety of
categories to describe various forms of human behaviour, in general, his theory of human activity
may be seen as a transition between communicative and instrumental rationalities. Action that is
mediated by power is focused on self-reported success and seeks instrumentally rational tactics,
whereas action that is focused on consensus aims for communicative rationality. An interpretation
of planning as a process that switches between these two rationalities results from a
straightforward application of Habermas' theory of human action. Examples include the central
approaches of planning theory such as comprehensive, incremental, mixed and communicative
planning.

The theory in planning is the "content" of the plan (Faldi, 1973). In content theory, firmly
anchored in reality and viewed as meaningful or important. The content is the scientific method
and concrete means of policy making. Formulated based on systematic observation,
experimentation and testing. The main goal is to improve the relevance of policies to achieve
long-term or overarching goals. A wide range of expertise is available as it is based on an
interdisciplinary approach. Professionals such as economists, sociologists, architects, and
planners are involved in the formulation process. Or Therefore, an expert must have expertise.
Suggest or criticise strategies because planners are involved in various aspects such as
stakeholders and resources. Management is influenced by political interests. The theory of
planning is materialism. Help planners to try to understand what their concerns are. Dexterous in
nature and related to planning topics such as land use, transportation and the environment.

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2. How is Andreas Faludi’s Theory of Rational Comprehensive Planning (RCP) influential
in the preparation of a Structure Plan? (15%)

Theory of Rational Comprehensive Planing (RCP) is theoretical model of how public policy
choices are made (or should be made). All alternative solutions or approaches to the problem
under consideration are identified, and the costs and advantages of each option are examined
and compared. The option that delivers the greatest net benefit is chosen. The fundamental issue
with rational-comprehensive techniques is that they are frequently quite expensive in terms of
time and other resources required to obtain pertinent information. The costs and benefits of
alternative solutions are sometimes unknown and impossible to quantify for meaningful
comparison. The expenses of engaging in rational-comprehensive decision-making may
outweigh the benefits of better decision quality.

Andrea Faludi entered the scene in the early 1970s. He made significant contributions to
the process of planning's clarification. Faludi saw planning as a decision-making process intended
to address some of the many issues that planners encounter. He made the case that rational
planning involves thoroughly weighing all potential courses of action in the context of their effects,
making sure that these considerations consider other objectives, and responding nimbly to
changing circumstances. Planning must also try to link operational choices to one another. (1986
Faludi).

A comprehensive plan is used in a long process for a municipality to improve the future of
the society in a country.The word "comprehensive" implies that it is an all-encompassing strategy
to examining and evaluating a community's potential future growth. The majority of
comprehensive plans, by paying attention to land use and road planning in the future, at the very
least, offer recommendations for the physical development of a town.

The idea of comprehensive planning is closely tied to a community's ability to develop

economically. A detailed plan can be used to forecast a community's future growth or decline.
Most significantly, a thorough plan may be utilised to address a community's ongoing growth and
change. Land use plans are another name for comprehensive plans, which are frequently
concerned with matters pertaining to the proper uses of land. A comprehensive plan was created
to address problems in land use, natural resource protection, the environment, historic structures,
and planning for infrastructure needs. Comprehensive plans are used to solve problems with
housing, recreation and schools. This is capable of changing a development towards
comprehensiveness.

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 Numerous comprehensive plans also offer recommendations for aspects like total
infrastructure, settlements and neighborhoods development, general facilities, gardens, public
space, recreational opportunities, and route, as well as economic growth, urban design and
sustainability and resilience. A comprehensive plan is proposed in one all-inclusive document and
other content is organized according to the main plan which cross-references other more focused
sub-plans which are the main plan.

Figure 1: A comprehensive plan is a guide in creating a comprehensive community place and

space.

What Rational Comprehensive Plan?

A community's future growth is attempted to be governed through comprehensive planning. This

is an all-inclusive strategy for tackling the problem of a community's potential future expansion,
as the word "comprehensive" indicates. This approach results in a formal document called a
comprehensive plan. Since the document is of an official nature, it is intended to be enacted into
law by a local government body. Following that, the document should act as a directive for
decisions on community development.

These include the highway plan, the future land use plan, and the community's future vision.
Together, these give a community's future physical development broad guidelines. Additionally,
they offer an inherent link between potential land comsumption and roadway plan that is two
essential elements for harmonious society design.

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Fundamental idea behind the notion of a comprehensive plan is that it is a tool for community
leaders to utilise when establishing policies and making choices regarding physical development.
The plan document should also satisfy six fundamental needs, including:

a) It should be comprehensive.
b) It should be long-range.
c) It should be general.
d) It should focus on physical development.
e) It should relate physical design proposals to community goals and social and economic
policies.
f) It should be a policy instrument first, and a technical instrument only second.

The process of the existence of a comprehensive plan through six basic requirements:

a) There should be only one official comprehensive plan.

b) The legislative body should formally adopt the plan.
c) There should be a lengthy period of public debate prior to adoption.
d) The plan should be available and understandable to the public.
e) The plan should be formulated to capitalize on its educational potential.

What Is Included Within a Comprehensive Plan?

An implementation mechanism that turns plan ideas into action as part of a defined procedure
after adoption must be the foundation of the plan.

a) Common Integrated Tools

Vision. A thorough public participation approach must result in the community vision.
Vision statement, guideline, aims, objectives, and results of the process are carried out based on
the elements that have been declared which are guided by various problems that are taken into
account.The vision is significant in two ways: First, it shows where and how a community hopes
to develop. Second, it determines the implementation goals that are ready to be considered by
society.

Future Land Use Plan. Future land plan which contains the future land use map and its
categorization analysis, offers important directions for analyzing future development for the
benefit of the community such as rezoning current decisions and reviewing based on development
guidelines. It offers certainty in the built environment for property owners and the entire
community. It must determine a future build-out scenario that is grounded in market reality while

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also being supported by the community's vision. To put it another way, cooperation between the
public and private sectors needs to be established for land use development in the future for the
benefit of the community in the future.

Thoroughfare plan. The thoroughfare plan offers crucial direction for connection across
the whole jurisdiction. The connection of the main road and the secondary road should be given
attention to create good accessibility for the residents to facilitate the community to move
effectively from one place to another when growing over time. A road map should create in
coordination with future land plans and become included in the comprehensive plan, even though
many towns have standalone, more sophisticated thoroughfare master plans. This guarantees
their development in unison and establishes a single, plan comprehensively in forming
communities and relationships.

Figure 2: Land use plans and roads should be given a cohesive attention to create good
accessibility by following current developments.

b) Action-Oriented Implementation Tools

The plan is used by everyone and one that is only used by a select few can be distinguished by
these implementation steps. This category outlines the commonly used implementation
procedures to group the majority of implementation actions.

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 Regulatory Updates. Unaided by future land plans, built environment cannot be changed
predictably. Investment in new development can provide physical change to the planned urban
environment. The community's future vision should be used as a guide to jurisdictional zones,
subdivisions and other development-related regulations to provide a comprehensive plan.

Capital Improvements. While the private sector creates much of the physical environment,
investment carried out by the public sector in infrastructure and long-term maintenance such as
roads, water, sewerage, and drainage. The implemented plan should show rebuilt public
infrastructure, such as the expansion of aqueducts, to stimulate more private sector investment.
In certain circumstances, proposals such as urban streetscape improvements can serve as
catalytic projects to generate momentum for progress. A comprehensive strategy should be
implemented to outline capital improvements that are included in the jurisdiction's capital
improvement program or plan (CIP).

Non-Capital Development. Planning should provide for a variety of community services

such as police, fire, parks and libraries. A comprehensive proposal plan must provide direction on
the community's vision for creating new community services. It should suggest how to incorporate
non-capital improvements into the process of identifying existing expenditures.

Future Research. Research is needed to improve implementation. This may involve

offering strategic guidance on what to consider during the next update of an existing plan

Policy. The community can criticize its strategic direction through actual policy statements
such as the Roads policy. This policy is able to foster the proposed development in the region
supported by public infrastructure for the catalyst of a city to move forward. These policy
recommendations may serve as policy directives in leading to further implementation steps.

Figure 3: An accurate area plan is needed to create a good community environment and identify
the next implementation actions based on the comprehensive plan.

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c) Important Procedures

A comprehensive plan needs to be implemented to create guidance for the public in

implementing development that does not harm the environment and humans. This planning
should have a good reason to include the plan as a decision guide, keep it up to date and conduct
research to get the latest developments.

Mechanism for Decision-Making. The vision, guiding principles, goals, objectives, and
element-based policies are utilised as decision-making tools in various jurisdictions during
rezoning and development-related procedures. In some jurisdictions, all items placed on the
agenda of an elected or appointed board or commission must adhere to the comprehensive plan.
This ensures that elected and appointed officials, personnel, developers, and the community
understand the significance of the comprehensive plan and the direction it gives for the future.

Annual Progress Report and updates. A comprehensive plan, or any plan for that matter,
is merely a snapshot in time. While it is designed to give both immediate and long-term advice for
the future, it will not get everything right or be fully executed. It is meant to serve as a guide for
the future, and it is not fixed in stone. It can only be effective if it is contemporary and applicable
to current community conditions. Comprehensive plans are important to be made available to the
public, such as on the planner's website and are constantly updated to ensure that the community
can act by checking the development that has been completed and knowing the development that
is still being implemented. Therefore, this plan needs to be updated periodically which is five years
and 10 years.

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 Implementation accountability. When it comes down to it, there is no replacement for
accountability. It is critical that protocols be put in place to determine who will be in charge of
administering the implementation programme.

Figure 4: Rational Decision Making Process

Rational Comprehensive Planning Process:

A comprehensive plan needs to create a picture of development for the community in the long
term. The designed process must involve the entire development of the environment and the
public. Each sector should be involved in the development that has been planned to deal with
problems in the future. Therefore, goals and objectives, as well as implementation times need to
be established. The content of the comprehensive plan may differ from other plans, but each plan
must take into account the following elements:

i. land use (both existing and future),

ii. demographics (existing and projected),
iii. housing,
iv. infrastructure,
v. education,
vi. recreation, and
vii. throughfares.

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a) Getting Organized

A leader should be designated to oversee this effort before any work on the comprehensive
plan begins. A committee should also be formed to give guidance to the individual or people in
charge of designing the strategy. A common scenario is for the county commissioners or village
(city) council to select the committee and choose an administrative department head or consultant
to manage the process.

b) Data Collection

Data collection on current circumstances is one of the initial elements in the comprehensive
planning process. The information gathered should be relevant to each of the plan's components.
Obtaining existing zoning maps or land use maps, for example, might serve as a starting point for
examining current land use information. If this information is not accessible, a survey of current
land uses may be necessary. Following that, a categorization system recognising the various
forms of land use must be devised. Existing land uses are often classified as one of three types:
residential, commercial, or industrial. Recreation/open space, agriculture, and government are
examples of additional categories. You may then subdivide each major category into
subcategories. Within the residential land-use category, for example, there are two classifications:
multi-family (meaning more than one unit) and single family. Heavy industrial categories and light
industrial classes exist under the industrial land use category. Each piece of land inside the
community should be defined and labelled on a map with a unique designation.

If housing is included in the comprehensive plan, information on current housing in the

neighbourhood must be gathered. Conditions, age, number of units, whether or not each
apartment has proper plumbing and cooking facilities, and whether the unit is owner- or renter-
occupied might all be significant information. The majority of this information is available from the
United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau can also give demographic information on the
community's population. A more comprehensive house-by-house survey, on the other hand, may
be needed.

If the comprehensive plan includes a transportation study, the community's current highway
infrastructure should be reviewed. This procedure might be started by reviewing current
community maps. As part of the transportation component, an evaluation of present transportation
services might be provided.

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 Data may be collected using a variety of approaches. The ideal ways differ depending on
which parts are to be included in the overall strategy. It is critical to remember that the majority of
the information required for planning is already available from a variety of sources.

c) Analyzing Data

After gathering the data, the following stage in the comprehensive planning process is to
analyse it. The coordinator and committee should devote time to studying the data supplied for
each planning category. Trends and other key aspects should be examined in the data. The
following phase in the process is to develop goals and objectives based on a comprehensive
evaluation and analysis.

d) Goal Setting

The committee's suggestions should be included at the conclusion of the comprehensive plan.
Goals and objectives should be used to offer the suggestions. The objectives should include
methods for achieving each of the major goals.

e) Citizen Participation

Citizen involvement should be sought throughout the whole comprehensive planning process.
After all, the comprehensive plan is a communal document. The residents of the community
should have a say in their town's destiny. Citizen participation is used to assist develop the plan's
aims and objectives. There are several methods for soliciting citizen input:

i. Hold a series of open forums or public meetings to obtain public comment.

ii. Distribute news releases explaining what is being worked on and inviting written
comments.
iii. Include a citizen survey as part of the comprehensive planning process and incorporate
the results into the body of the plan.

Conclusion

Despite criticism, the rational comprehensive approach to planning has taken hold in most nations
as the paradigm of choice and is the most often used strategy in decision-making. Its purpose is
to maximise efficiency by selecting the optimal option based on particular criteria, and it also gives
an organised approach to addressing a problem and arriving at a solution. However, in order to
achieve comprehensive success, political relations and public engagement in planning and
decision-making must be included.

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References

Alexander, ER and Faludi, A. (1996) Planning doctrine: Its uses and implications, Planning
Theory, Vol. 16, pp. 9-53.

Comprehensive Planning, Local Community Resources, University of Illinois Extension,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of ACES © 2022 University of Illinois Board
of Trustees.

Faludi, A. (1985) A decision-centred view of environmental planning, Landscape Planning, 12,

239-256.

Faludi, A., Mastop, J.M. (1982) The I.O.R.-School: The development of a planning methodology,
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 9, 241-256.

Faludi, A. (2012), ‘Multi-level (territorial) governance: Three criticisms’, Planning Theory &
Practice, 13(2), 197-211.

Faludi, A., Zonneveld, W. (Eds.) (1997) Shaping Europe: The European Spatial Development
Perspective in the Making, Built Environment, Vol 32, No. 4, Alexander Press, Oxford.

Halff’s Planning and Landscape Architecture team, (2018), The Importance of Implementable
Comprehensive Plans, Retrieved on November 17.

Planning Tank, Planning Theory, Rational Planning Model. Retrieved on November 17.

William I. Goodman, ed., and Eric C. Fruend, assoc. ed. 1968. Principles and Practices of Urban
Planning. Chicago, Ill.: International City Managers Association, p.1.2-4. Ibid.

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