Dames, Thomas Allan. PH.D., Purdue University, August, 1972. The Urban Planning Process.

Dames, Thomas Allan. Ph.D., Purdue University, August, 1972. The Urban Planning Process.
INTRODUCTION
The precept central to this work is that there is a methodology common to urban planning over
the entire ranges of such planning from the most comprehensive to the most limited and from the
greatest in areal extent to the smallest. This common methodology is considered as a process
with a definable beginning, a definable end and requisite intermediate steps. The beginning
occurs with a perceived need to plan. This perception has as its basis the difference between the
style of life currently held by the perceptor and that style defined as "better" based upon his set
of values . In a macro sense, the exploration, definition and development of the various sets of
values held by the public defines the public purpose. The public is made up of those people
directly affected by the plan and is termed the client constituency of the planner so as not to limit
this discussion to the more restrictive sense of public; i.e., governmental, planning. The
formulized and measured sets of values are called the goals and objectives of the client
constituency and serve as the conceptual basis for specific planning endeavors . The planning
process then runs sequentially through a series of steps or phases to investigate the institute
proposals deemed desirable and feasible based upon the enunciated goals and objectives. The
phases have been designated as that of organization, inventory, analysis, forecasting, design,
evaluation, and implementation. The distinctions among the phases are both conceptual and
operational, not withstanding due regard given to feedback and feedforeward elements.
A conceptual model of the planning process is introduced and examined throughout this work. It is
hypothesized that this model adequately demonstrates the sequential nature of the planning process. It
further demonstrates that procedural considerations can be used to conceptually examine the
substantive scope of planning, from the most general to the most specific, and the areal scope of
planning, from the greatest to the smallest. The interaction of substance, area, and process defines
planning in both a conceptual and operational sense. These themes of concept and operationality run
throughout the work. In maintaining the two, some information at the extremes is necessarily omitted.
As a result, this work is neither a theoretical development of the planning process nor a procedural
manual. It rather is conducted on a level of discussion intermediate between the two. A further theme is
one of commonality. Only where absolutely necessary were distinctions made between planning in the
public sector and planning in the private sector. Institutional considerations were also minimized, so
little reference is made to planning in a large, complex and highly structured environment or one less so
in any of these qualities. It is thought that such considerations have impacts which will not detract
significantly from the information presented. Balancing this commonality, specific examples have been
included with a twofold purpose: to demonstrate the mechanics of a specific technique; and, more
importantly to bridge the gap between the themes of concept and operationality. The examples were
purposely chosen so as not to fall within one type of planning from chapter to chapter. It was felt that
this would lend too much credence to the mechanics of the examples, to the detriment of the concepts
underlying those mechanics. There is a commonality of concept from one type of planning to another,
quite apart from whatever
the substance of the chosen examples happens to be. It is up to the reader to make the necessary
transfer as appropriate. In this same vein, the applications of the conceptual model of planning activity
are suggested, but not exhausted. The themes of concept, operationality and commonality were
nonetheless addressed to specific audiences. These include the engineer who finds himself in a planning
situation, representatives of other professions similarly situated, executives in both the public and
private sectors and, generally, that individual with little planning education or experience who is faced
with the need to participate in urban planning . A second audience is the Academe. It is thought that a
work of this type will constitute a sound basis for a graduate or undergraduate introduction to urban
planning irrespective of the student's main area of interest. A third audience is the planning profession
itself. The body of literature on the planning process is disjointed and fragmented. Typically it consists of
four types of documents: detailed technical treatises on a particular technique; somewhat more general
works albiet about a specific type of planning; histories about the planning process in a specific situation
participated in or observed by the author; and philosophical works about the need to plan. This is an
impressive and valuable body of knowledge but, perhaps owing to its generally recent vintage, it has
never been brought together in a format such as this. Chapter I opens with a discussion of the concept
of the client constituency and methods of its identification. The discussion then turns to methods of
identifying the goals and objectives of this constituency and measuring their relative importance.
Chapter II, Organization, introduces the conceptual model of planning activity. This model, together with
the CHAPTER I GOALS AND OBJECTIVES It seems logical to begin the study of planning methodology with
a short note about the planner himself and the milieus in which he must act. A planner is one who plans.
An urban planner plans aspects of urban life and a professional urban planner does so or teaches so for
a living with a further connotation of working under an ethic. It is not purpose of this research to
elaborate on this theme except to note that it is not surprising that numerous longer established
professions lay some claim to professional urban planning (Pollard, 1969). Under the above definitions,
such claims are justified. A client is someone for whom another person acts, again with an ethical
connotation. It is difficult, but necessary, for an urban planner to correctly identify his client, because
the professional relationship established subsequent to this is as delicate as any repeatedly referred to
in law or medicine. The client of the professional urban planner is a constituency made up of the people
affected by the plan and the employer of the urban planner. Carried to its extreme, we are each a
constituent client of any urban plan ever conceived. The dilemma presented by this situation is, of
course, avoided by limiting consideration of this constituency to those persons most likely to be
materially affected by the plan. Two examples will suffice to illustrate this. In the case of a single private
entrepreneur who wishes to develop his vacant property for residential use and annexation by

Dames, Thomas Allan. PH.D., Purdue University, August, 1972. The Urban Planning Process.

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