Policies, Issues, and Processes

Extensively revised, this textbook continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to the policies, theory and practice of planning. Outlining land use, urban planning, and environmental protection policies, it explains the nature of the planning process and the way in which policy issues are identified, defined, and approached.

Extensively revised and updated, Planning in the USA, fifth edition, continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to the policies, theory, and practice of planning.

Outlining land use, urban planning, and environmental protection policies, this fully illustrated book explains the nature of the planning process and the way in which policy issues are identified, defined, and approached. The new edition incorporates new planning legislation and regulations at the state and federal layers of government and examples of local ordinances in a variety of planning areas. New material includes discussions of

• education and equity in planning
• the City Beautiful Movement
• Daniel Burnham’s plan for Chicago
• segregation
• Knick v. Township of Scott
• reforming single-family zoning and regulatory challenges in zoning and land use
• Daniel Parolek’s ‘Missing Middle Housing’
• climate change, mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency
• the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan
• sharing programs for cars, bicycles, and scooters
• hybrid electric and autonomous vehicles
• Vision Zero
• COVID-19 relief for housing
• Innovation Districts, Promise Zones, and Opportunity Zones
• the sharing, gig, and creative economies
• scenic views and vistas, monuments, statues, and remembering the past; and
• healthy cities, Health Impact Assessment, and active living

This detailed account of urbanization in the United States reveals the problematic nature and limitations of the planning process, the fallibility of experts, and the difficulties facing policy-makers in their search for solutions. Planning in the USA, fifth edition, is an essential book for students of urban planning, urban politics, environmental geography, and environment politics. It will be a valuable resource for planners and all who are concerned with the nature of contemporary urban and environmental problems.