ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the range of approaches for making plans, describes the approach adopted by the Resource Management Act, drawing on international research on planning, and develops criteria for evaluating the quality of regional policy statements and district plans in New Zealand. It considers various factors that influence the plan-making effort in local councils, including the organizational capability to plan and intergovernmental activities introduced in the Introduction. The chapter extends Baer's conceptualization in examination of the quality of regional policy statements and district plans in New Zealand. It examines how well policy statements and plans in New Zealand use the criteria, and determines how plans can be improved. Developing a plan using a rational-adaptive approach involves a series of steps, the outcomes of which are, at key stages, tested by consultation with the stakeholders in the affected community. The participatory approach may encompass 'critical theory which insists on processes for open communication, including critiques of plans, among all affected interests'.
