F&ES 817a

Land Use Planning at the Local and Regional Level

This course explores land use planning practice, regional planning, and the tools planners use to gain consensus amongst diverse constituencies.  Land use plans and the techniques that implement them determine where development occurs on the American landscape. Planners play a key role in determining how the needs of nation’s growing population for housing and non-residential development are accommodated and how the landscape is protected from the adverse impacts of additional land development. 

Planning, zoning, and other land use regulations are the principal techniques employed to achieve safe and livable communities and to conserve critical landscapes.  In most of the 50 states, land use planning and regulation is conducted principally at the local level, while regional planning is encouraged, but seldom required.  For regional landscapes to be planned effectively, the competitive tensions among local governments--and their land use plans--must be mediated.

This course is part of the concentration in Land Use and Planning, a subset of four classes under the
Specialization in Sustainable Land Management.  This subset is for those students interested in the interface of environmental issues with land use, planning, and development.  The other three courses in this subset are:
F&ES 835a: Land Use Seminar
F&ES 820b: Land Use Law and Environmental Planning
Land Use Strategies for Sustainable Sites (TBA)