ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the kinds of improved future land-use patterns advocated in many vision plans prepared by municipal governments and regional planning agencies around the country. It explores the regulatory approaches that would need to be adopted and implemented on a large scale to achieve these ambitious and commendable goals. The chapter describes the challenges of downzoning, which is necessary for implementing purchasing development rights, transfer of development rights, and effective agricultural zoning techniques. Tools for achieving ideal results typically include a range of sophisticated techniques that are politically quite challenging to adopt and implement. In the absence of strong and consistent leadership by state agencies, local governments in most other parts of the country usually develop their own policies. The best vision and sustainability plans are written by experienced planners who know that "planning is the art of the possible". Such plans are seasoned with realistic policies reflecting what is actually achievable in the local political and economic context.
