ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) efforts to improve the planning of our urban areas, a mission on which much emphasis is placed by HUD's legislative mandates. It discusses the objective of good urban planning and the methods HUD uses to encourage it. The chapter argues that any major improvement in urban planning and the shape of our cities will require fundamental changes in American habits, institutions, and values. The need for improved urban planning has been emphasized in nearly all the laws passed under HUD and its predecessor agencies. HUD's urban renewal efforts aimed at revitalizing the central city and improving its form, have been reasonably successful. HUD's programs financing the construction of public works have rarely been used purposefully to shape urban development in the patterns planners conceive. HUD and other federal departments have attempted to spur community-wide planning through the stick of regulations and the carrot of grants.
