ABSTRACT
Standing on its own, the term ‘planning’ often relates to land use planning but, of course, it can apply to many other areas of public or private activity – economic development, health, housing, social security, defense, energy, and so on. This book focuses on land use, urban, and environmental planning. However, as will be very apparent, problems have a habit of becoming ‘interconnected’: they refuse to be neatly parceled into separate areas which can be conveniently dealt with by individual government agencies, policies, programs, or budgets. They also refuse to be neatly defined. These conditions pose difficulties for policymakers and implementers; indeed, it often seems that it is this interrelationship of problems which is the central problem of government. The issue is neatly highlighted in Donna Shalala’s lecture on urban policy:
Every time Treasury changes the Tax Code, every time Congress alters a welfare program, every time the Defense Department awards a military contract, urban policy is being made.
