Ntegrating Land Use and Transportation Planning: a Strategic Approach

T he problems of urban sprawl-low-density residential and commercial development, road traffic congestion and high cost public transit systems are the result of the cumulative, long-term effect of disjointed planning decisions on the urban fabric. What is needed to offset the planning mistakes of the last 30 years is an integrated approach to land use and transportation planning. Existing planning approaches, for the most part, do not work. They are fragmented. The more or less independent plans for transportation, parks, water and sewage, land use and zoning that are prepared focus mainly on short-term capital and operating budgets. Much. of the analysis is concerned with identifying and setting priorities for improvement projects or projects intended to expand the capacity of existing systems. These plans are based on official forecasts for such things as population growth, new land required for development and service levels. Each component is treated individually, assumptions for each are made independently, and only one or two scenarios are developed. Such a disjointed approach to planning results in a lack of consistency among components and assumptions, an inability to test alternative assumptions, an inadequate understanding of interactions among components that are part and parcel of any complex system and little or no vision of the longer-term consequences of the actions being proposed.