PLANNING THEORY AND

PLANNING PROCESS
A LECTURE

PRESENTED BY:
ENGR. A.A. WALSIYEN, JR. MA EHP
 PLANNING
• A universal human activity, a basic survival skill involving the
consideration of outcomes before choosing the alternatives

• An act of thinking out beforehand how something is to be

made or done and decide on the methods, processes and
materials

• A formal process of making decisions for the future of

individuals and organizations

• The process of preparing a set of decisions for action in the

future, directed at achieving goals by preferable means
• Planning theory is the body of scientific concepts, definitions,
behavioral relationships, and assumptions that define the
body of knowledge of urban planning.

Eight (8) procedural theories of planning that remain the

principal theories of planning procedure today:
- the rational-comprehensive approach,
- the incremental approach,
- the transactive approach,
- the communicative approach, the advocacy approach,
- the equity approach,
- the radical approach, and
- the humanist or phenomenological approach. - wikipedia
 THE PLANNING PROCESS

• FUNDAMENTAL LEVELS:

1. Value Formulation – defining what we

want
2. Means Identification – to provide enough
information for decision-makers to
select
3. Effectuation – implementation
 WHY DO WE PLAN?
WHAT IS PLANNING?
 It is a benefit to the community

 Quality of life is maintained and improved.

 There is a vision, clearly stated and shared by all,
that describes the future of the community.
 Private property rights are protected.
 Economic development is encouraged and
supported.
 There is more certainty about where
development will occur, what it will be like, when
it will happen, and how the costs of development
will be met.
• Planning is ‘a general activity…the making of an
orderly sequence of action that will lead to the
achievement of a stated goal or goals’ (Hall 2002).
• Involves written statements supplemented as
appropriate by statistical projections, quantified
evaluations and diagrams. …may, but need not
necessarily, include exact physical blueprints of
objects
• Planning involves an attempt to (re)shape prevailing
social and economic dynamics to achieve particular
developmental ends
 THE NEED FOR PLANNING
• “Why Do We Need Planning” - How an individual connect or interact
with his surroundings or environment

a. interconnectedness – the use of a few acres of urban land

- the amount and character of development on that land will
determine the amount of traffic it generates.
- developing it with:
- single-family houses will produce a different flow
of traffic
- apartments
- neighborhood shopping center
meaning:
- land development decision is a traffic decision as
well which potentially affects everyone in the area
 - how much of the site is paved and even what material is used for
paving, affects how fast rainwater runs off from the property
because runoff may affect flooding and stream from the property
- types and quantities of commercial or residential activity on the
property may affect air quality, noise levels, water quality and visual and
social qualities of the area
- decisions about residential uses of land will affect housing prices,
rent and vacancies

b. complexity – is the condition that justifies planning as a separate

profession and as a separate activity of government
 SPECIFIC CONCERNS OF PLANNING

1. Shaping the pattern of growth to achieve a sensible and attractive land-

use pattern
by:
- avoiding both oppressively dense development or scattered and
fragmentary development
- encouraging a pattern of development that gives residents ready
access to recreational, cultural, school, shopping and other facilities
- having a street pattern that is convenient to use and through which
traffic flows without excessive congestion
- separating incompatible land-uses and activities, example, high
density commercial activity from residential areas
- providing a system of pathways so that pedestrian and bicycle
traffic is separated from automobile traffic.
2. Location of public facilities like schools and social service centers, both for
the convenience of the people served and for reinforcing the development
of a desirable land-use pattern

3. Concerned with seeing that sufficient conveniently located blocks of land

are available and that they are served with adequate roads, water and
sewer facilities.
 The Role of the Planner
• As a technician
- a researcher
- with superb analytical skill but weak political skill
- would rather be right than on time
• Political Role
a. Mobilizer – develop support for plan implementation
b. Mediator – develop proposals to minimize, reconcile or
eliminate problems and wins acceptance for solutions
from conflicting groups through skillful manipulation of
personal and institutional relationships
c. Entrepreneur – put funds to implement plans
• As an advocate – the representative of special interest groups
 TYPES OF PLANNING
• RATIONALISM – the foundation and embodiment of
the scientific method, rational choice that meets
standard logic (heavy on technique, data collection,
and measurement and analysis). It means effective
logic.
• INCREMENTALISM – the ends sought and the ends to
attain them are both highly uncertain. Most people
agree that they want to make the city a better place
to live, but very few people can provide a clear
specification of what a “good” city would look like,
and even fewer can tell how to bring it about.
 TYPE OF PLANNING…
• UTOPIANISM – it seeks to fire the public imagination
and to resolve problems by proposing sweeping new
approaches to system organization and operation.
The pronouncement of Daniel Burnham, the eminent
Chicago planner, is frequently used in the profession:
“ Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir
men’s blood”

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