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VOL. 04 ISSUE 05

www.informedesign.umn.edu

A Newsletter by InformeDesign. A Web site for design and human behavior research.

Trends in Planning Research

Ann Forsyth, Ph.D.

The Fall and Rise of Physical Planning cover image goes here - fit image to the black box using the guidelines
Planning is a broad field that emerged as a response to the growth of cities following the industrial revolution. At first linked closely to design fields such as architecture and landscape architecture, planning moved toward government and administration in the middle of the 20th century and embraced the social sciences in the 1960s and 1970s. Planning programs in universities developed social science-based doctoral programs and professional programs that required extensive training in policy analysis and social science methods. The dominant philosophy of planning education became, to use Harvey Perloffs term, a generalist with a specialty. Many of these specialties were policy orientedtransportation, economic development, housing, regional planning, and social and environmental areas of study. In the 1990s, the success of big revitalization projects and new rounds of criticisms of sprawl created renewed interest in what is called physical planning urban design and land use planningboth among the general public and in city and regional planning. After decades of being a minor specialization in planning, urban design,

the design of the urban environment beyond the scale of the building, was increasingly seen as an important area of concentration for US planning practice as well as for architecture and landscape architecture. Land use planning, a traditional bread-and-butter core of the field, broadened its scope beyond traditional comprehensive planning to embrace new approaches to organizing the use of land focused on emerging issues such as protecting the environment and creating a sense of place in a globalizing world. In this period, new fashions have emerged in planning practice including new urbanism, conservation development, ecological design, community visioning, and context sensitive transportation planning. Some practitioners have taken up these new ideas rather uncritically. However, others have maintained a critical edge informed by the years of increasing sophistication among planners in terms of ethics and analysis. Planners have increasingly

IN THIS ISSUE
Research in Physical Planning Related Research Summaries

The commerical area of a suburban downtown

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combined a comprehensive view of how to get things done beyond the site scale, a critical sense that there are often winners and losers in urban change, and systematic theories and methods for analyzing urban and regional affairs. Two examples demonstrate how this design turn has intersected with the legacy of the social sciences in planning to create new research directions: research on 1) new urbanism, and 2) health and community design.

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New Urbanism
New urbanism emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily from architecture. New urbanist projects such as Duany Plater-Zyberks Seaside, Florida, and Kentlands, Maryland, are likely the most visible part of this trend. These developments aim to recreate a sense of place evoking the design of the early automobile suburb. However, the field of planning has been heavily influenced by two other components of this movementregional planning and new regulations. The transit oriented development, and development transectideas of movement leaders Peter Calthorpe and Andres Duany respectivelyprovide a way of organizing the metropolis into coherent, visually appealing, walkable places. Form-based regulations and other new kinds of ordinances simplify

and reorient zoning and subdivision control to focus on creating a sense of place. The flair and charisma of many of the movements leaders have done much to spread the word about these new trends. Meanwhile planning researchers have been assessing the bold claims of new urbanists, typically finding results falling short of the hype. Planning researchers have investigated whether new urbanist developments promote neighboring or walking or affordable housing. In general, developments have been found to promote fewer desired activities than had been proposed. However, if built more compactly than traditional suburban designs they certainly save money.

Health and Community Design

Building on many of the same topics as the new urbanist research has been a recent upsurge in interest in health issues in urban planning. While the intersections between planning and public health are broad, from toxic waste location to social capital and space, funding has focused attention on the association between the environment, physical activity, and healthy eating. Planning researchers from transportation, urban design, and geographic information systems (GIS) have been collaborating with epidemiologists, exercise scientists, and nutritionists. This interest provoked the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) to create a 15th track in its annual conference program: Human Health and Safety.

Do new urbanist projects (above) promote walkability, affordability, and neighborliness better than conventional suburbs (upper right)?

Where Research Informs Design

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After some provocative early findings, more detailed and rigorous research (including research by the Metropolitan Design Center at the University of Minnesota) has shown that the relationships between the built environment and physical activity are complex, with environment likely affecting purpose of physical activity (leisure, travel) rather than total amount. However, many directions are left to exploreincluding the issue of uneven access to food in the urban environmentand the collaboration has deepened the rigor and sophistication of environmental analysis in planning.

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search on disaster prevention is likely to increase. In addition, new health risks and technologies create a number of additional challenges amenable to inquiry. Participatory and real-time visualization and modeling of physical designs. More than architecture and interior design, planning is a field working in the public sector and involved in public processes. Modeling of physical designs is as much for participation as representation, opening up new problems for research in planning. Global dimensions of planning practice affect border cities, immigrant neighborhoods, housing markets, and industrial land use planning. A global interest group has been active in American Collegiate Schools of Planning, aiming to integrate a global perspective across specialties. Planning for reduced human impacts on the environment as the population of the world increases in size, wealth, and in urban residence. Planning for a sense of place and meaning in a world where there is rapid change.

A golf course (above) and a pedestrian-friendly street (right): the environment may influence the purpose, rather than the total amount, of physical activity.

The physical turn in planning has brought together the issues of design with the research interests of planning in what promises to be a continuing pro ductive partnership.

The Future of Research in Physical Planning

Urban design and land use planning are likely to maintain their prominence in the field for some time to come, provoking yet more research. Likely topics for future research include: Planning and safety, including planning for human health risks, terrorist and war recovery, and natural disasters. While planning for floods and earthquakes has long been a niche specialty in planning, the increasing pressure for ever larger populations to live in coastal areas and other locations prone to natural disasters mean that re-

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The Journal of Planning Education and Research is the official journal of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning: http://jpe.sagepub.com. It is to planning as the Journal of Architectural Education is to architecture. Recent articles have included: Kelly-Schwartz, A., Stockard, J., Doyle, S., & Schlossberg, M. (2004). Is sprawl unhealthy?: A multilevel analysis of the relationship of metropolitan sprawl to the health of individuals Journal of Planning Education and Research, 24, 184-196.
This subdivision filters stormwater from roads and yards through constructed ponds into a local river.

Planning Journals and Information Sources

Several journals provide access to key research in planning. Most are interdisciplinary and assume a broad audience. The Journal of Planning Literature provides review essays on themes relevant to planning: http://jpl.sagepub.com/. It provides a broad survey of research on a key question or topic in planning to a wide audience that is typically unfamiliar with that specific topic. Recent articles have included: Frank, L., & Engelke, P. (2001) The built environment and human activity patterns: Exploring the impacts of urban form on public health. Journal of Planning Literature, 16, 202-218. Crane, R. (2000) The influence of urban form on travel: An interpretive review. Journal of Planning Literature, 15, 3-23. Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (2006) Is it safe to walk? Neighborhood safety and security considerations and their effects on walking. Journal of Planning Literature, 20, 219-232.

Zhang, Y., & Fang, K. (2004) Is History Repeating Itself? From Urban Renewal in the United States to Inner-City Redevelopment in China. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 23, 286-298. The Journal of the American Planning Association makes research accessible to planners: http://www. planning.org/japa/index.htm. Written with the practitioner in mind, it is also important for its extensive book review section. Other important general urban studies and planning journals include Urban Studies, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Geography, and the Environment and Planning series (A, B, C, and D). Work on the intersection between design fields and planning appears in more specialized journals including the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Journal of Urban Design, and Landscape and Urban Planning. Also, several Web sites contain reports on recent research, although many also contain more general news. Planetizen is the key email news digest of press reports and policy papers on planning related subjects. It also has annual lists of the top 10 books and the top 10 Web sites in planning: http:// www.planetizen.com/

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About the Author:
Ann Forsyth is Dayton Hudson Chair of Urban Design at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Metropolitan Design Center. Forsyth has won over fifty awards, citations, and fellowships for individual and collaborative professional and research work. Her publications include three books and over ninety articles, reviews, and chapters in planning, geography, and design.

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Factors Influencing Transit-Oriented Development Journal of Urban Design Factors Influencing the Decision to Walk Environment and Behavior Earthquake Risk Influences Urban Planning Journal of Urban Planning and Development Terrorism and the Built Environment Journal of Environmental Health Ecological Planning Through Virtual Imaging Technology Landscape Journal Immigrants Access to Adequate Housing Journal of Housing Research

Related Research Summaries

InformeDesign has many Research Summaries about planning and planning research and other, pertinent, related topics. This knowledge will be valuable to you as you consider your next design solution and is worth sharing with your clients and collaborators. Is New Urbanism Environmentally Sustainable? Environment and Behavior New Urbanism and Natural Resource Protection Journal of the American Planning Association Involving the Public in the Design Process Design Issues Neighborhood Attributes Contribute to Perceptions of Health Social Science & Medicine

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Images in this article come from the Image Bank of the Metropolitan Design Centerhttp://www.designcenter.umn.edu/imagebank/default.html. This is a free, online, searchable database of over 30,000 images.

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