1.

Stages of Plan making Process

The plan-making process is the process
by which the necessary components of
the

plan

are

developed,

produced,

adopted and implemented. Hodge and

Gordon

(2008)

have

identified

four

phases in which a planner produces

these plans. The phases are those of
diagnosis,

prediction,

design

and

evaluation.
Diagnosis
The first phase is mainly descriptive. At
this beginning phase the planners seeks
information. The emphasis is on survey
and research. The idea is to identify
problems

and

set

goals

to

solve

communitys problems. At this stage, the

planner employs a number of diagnostic

tools such as descriptive statistics and

survey research. The aim is to collect
data on existing condition such as land
use

pattern,

transportation

network,

traffic situation, housing stock, socioeconomic

characteristics

of

the

community and such other information

that may give clues to the associated
problems. Often the planner will require
data on past conditions (time series data
as

regards

population)

in

order

to

examine trends. Today a major concern

area for many communities is to protect
environment.
environmental

Hence
studies

many
may

be

undertaken for full understanding of

ecological

features

and

chalking

out

strategies to pre-empt possible negative

impact of planned built environment.

As

regards

the

built

environment,

planner first seeks to collect substantive

information about community, district or
neighbourhood that is being planned.
The

information

population,

is

physical

obtained

about

condition

and

economy. The data is analysed to arrive

at average values of various parameters
such as average household size, average
income, density and the like. Sometimes
correlation

analysis

interrelationships

for

establishing
between

characteristics is also quite useful. Often

data is collected for a larger context to
understand

the

local

condition.

For

example the population growth rate of a

neighbourhood may be compared to that
of the district or other neighbourhoods

to make a qualitative statement about

the rate of growth.
The sources of data that can be relied
upon may be of primary or secondary
nature. The primary data is collected by
for the first time by researcher/ analyst
for

ones

own

knowledge

study. These
survey

research

methodologies

including

sampling

techniques

questionnaire

Often

field

of

involve

and

visits

and

design.

observations

provide useful primary data. Secondary

data can be accessed from satellite
images, aerial photography, maps or
documents from other public agencies. A
common source of information is the
Census of Canada. Planner needs to
seek

other

data

sources

such

as

property assessment records, and data

gathered by other local agencies such as

planning

departments,

public

utility

departments, and school boards.

GIS

applications

are

now

highly

sophisticated tool for map making, data

banks and analysis. Some of the typical
planning

applications

include

environmental impact assessment, land

use

inventories,

enforcement
regulation

of
and

recording
zoning

mapping

maps,
of

and
and
traffic

congestion (p. 190).

Prediction
In the second phase of the technical
planning process is prediction. The most
common predictive procedures are used
for forecasting population, employment,
housing demand and other such factors.

However it is more difficult to predict

design solutions because of the involved
subjectivity. Here the planner has to
synthesis various elements in a systemic
manner.

Often

population,

economy,

land use and environment are involved

in complex relationships to shape future
form and pattern of cities. Systems
analysis and simulation modelling are
the most sought after analytical tools in
such situations.
Population Forecasting: Simplest method
is to extrapolate data using graphical
and/or mathematical means. Amongst
the more sophisticated methods is the
Cohort-survival

method

which

allows

each age cohort for either sex to be

forecast separately. This method also
provides an understanding of the role of

births, deaths, fertility and migration in

regard to population change.
Economic Forecasting: The planner is
generally most interested in forecasting
employment and the activities that bring
income to the community by exporting
products to other communities or region.
The community economic base model is
generally the most predictive tools for
impact of location of basic activities.
There
models

are

more

that

elaborate

may

be

economic
used

in

understanding and predicting economic

impacts on communities such inputoutput and industrial complex analysis.
Methodologies for predicting land use
are less developed. There are useful
models, though, for prediction of impact

new

shopping

center

on

existing

business establishments (p. 192).

Design
Analytical tools have limited application
in design. It can help in providing
possible

alternatives

arrangement

of

for

the

communitys

future
built

environment. But one can achieve visual

quality through analytical procedures.
Issues about high rise vs. Low rise,
urban sprawl vs. Compact development,
urban design and green spaces and
pedestrian precincts are settled only
through debates and public discussions.
Often

the

experience

knowledge
of

planner

gained
or

from

empirical

evidences are useful in arriving at a

physical design of a community. Ability

to

synthesize

is

perhaps

the

most

important quality that a planner must

have for articulating physical design of a
community.
Collaborative
visioning

Design:

is

one

Community

process

of

design

involving the community. This method

relies on developing a description of
what the community should look like in
the

future

through

citizen-produced

maps, drawings and texts. Community

vision

process

outreach,

includes

the

extensive

identification

of

community needs, issues, creation of

vision options, broad community voting
on

preferred

endorsement

options
of

the

and

council

final

vision.

Subsequently, the community works on

setting

priorities

for

vision

implementation. Each step provides a

variety

of

ways

for

people

in

the

community to be involved in creating,

reviewing and deciding on their vision
including

meetings,

workshops

and

discussion groups, community events

and festivals, brochures and surveys.
Evaluation
This is a crucial step in plan making. The
plan evaluation may be done at three
stages of plan-making. The first occurs
before the plan is formulated to assess it
for consistency. The second occurs after
the

plan

has

been

formulated

(the

alternative plans) have been formulated

to test for unintended consequences.
The third stage occurs after the plan has

been adopted, the so-called post hoc

evaluation.
In

the

initial

stages,

the

various

components of the plan need to be

assessed for consistency of goals and
objectives, background data, projections
and so on. Two important areas of
preliminary evaluation are (1) a clearer
expression of goals, and (2) assessing
the impact on the environment.
Clarifying Goals: Cross impact analysis is
done to test consistency of goals. This
method

was

used

by

the

Greater

Vancouver Regional District in its 1976

Liveable Regional Plan. It employed a
simple matrix approach. The matrix is
filled in by asking: does achievement of
the specified goal enhance (+), reduce

(-) or have no effect (0) on each other

goal. In this way plan makers can check
the efficiency of goals prior to planning
and thereby improve both their research
and implementation strategies.
Assessing environmental Impact. The
environmental

impact

statement

attempts to forecast the consequences

of a project for its surrounding natural
environment including plant life, wildlife,
soils, water, and air. The most common
approach uses a check list of potential
effects in order to ensure that impacts
are

not

overlooked

and

that

the

identified ones are looked in detail. More

elaborate are matrix techniques that
identify the interaction that occur when
a

project

disturbs

environment.

one

part

of

the

Environmental

impact

assessment

methods have been extended to social

impact assessment methods whereby
impact of large projects on peoples
lives, community functioning, and social
and cultural traditions are tested.
Plan Testing
An

important

evaluation

step

is

to

understand the consequences of each

alternative plan that may be put forward
as a possible final plan. This phase has
been called pre-adoption evaluation.
Two evaluation methods are available for
use

in

this

phase,

one

for

testing

economic impacts and the other for

achieving goals.
Testing for Costs and Benefits. This is a
kind of economic impact analysis that is

rooted in the cost-benefit analysis. It is

applied to planning projects because
these projects too have associated costs
and benefits. However, planning projects
generally

have

intangible

costs

and

intangible benefits as well Due to this

aspect of planning projects; it is not
possible to arrive at the calculations of
net benefit in absolute terms. Various
variants

in

methodologies

the

form

have

of
been

simplified
derived.

Planning-Programming-Budgeting is one
variant. But the most useful variant to
planners is the Goal-Achievement Matrix
method.
Testing for Achievement of Goals. This
method is based on the contention that
if

plan

is

helpful

in

achieving

communitys stated goals then its worth

to community is much more than a plan

that costs less in monetary term but is
not very helpful in achieving goals.