Behavior-Based Land Planning

It is no longer just conservative forces but mainstream American culture that opposes and ignores traditional planning formats if judged by action, not word. At its core, the current model has failed because it lacks social resonance and political acceptance within the society, and because interest-group politics enable multiple points of influence. If true land-use reform is to be achieved it must come from some other experimental path. This book suggests, among other things, that the future of American planning must shift in both sector orientation and approach if it is to regain societal relevance. It was in Oregon that I recognized the ethical dilemma of American planning practice and the limited effectiveness of many of our basic tools in a society steeped in competitive individualism. Cultural-Based Incentive Planning was specifically created to reduce the current contentiousness between Americas culture of competitive individualism and plannings egalitarian objectives. These principles work without question in applications from political campaigns to improving safety behavior in the workplace. Our challenge is to best apply these concepts and techniques to planning practice. Land planning in America, both town and county, is arguably the only significant category of environmental management in which major advancements in a system-wide context have not been achieved in the past 35 years. The concept of sustainability in planning is more than creating and maintaining a natural ecosystem, human environment, and supporting economy in balance. It is also inherently tied to social validity and sustained political consensus. One has difficulty conceiving how to achieve sustainability without accommodating these two critical elements in a freewheeling, market-based democracy like the United States. In the final analysis, if you believe in the concept of sustainability, planning programs must have both broad social validity and political acceptance to be effective.