Urban Planning FOR DUMmIES‰ by Jordan Yin, PhD Urban Planning For Dummies® Published by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. 6045 Freemont Blvd. Mississauga, ON L5R 4J3 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design, and icons, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., 6045 Freemont Blvd., Mississauga, ON L5R 4J3, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. For authorization to photocopy items for corporate, personal, or educational use, please contact in writing The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). 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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Yin, Jordan, 1970– Urban planning for dummies / Jordan Yin. Includes index. Issued also in electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-118-10023-3 1. City planning. 2. Land use—Planning. I. Title. HT166.Y56 2012 307.1’216 C2011-908072-9 ISBN 978-1-118-10168-1 (ebk); 978-1-118-10166-7 (ebk); 978-1-118-10167-4 (ebk) Printed in the United States 1 2 3 4 5 RRD 15 14 13 12 11 About the Author Jordan Yin, PhD, AICP, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and his experience growing up in this great American city inspired him to pursue a career as an urban planner. He has also lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jordan has been involved in urban planning for more than 20 years. He has worked extensively with universities, government agencies, and community organizations on a wide range of issues, including neighborhood planning, affordable housing, environmental conservation, economic development, comprehensive planning, downtown redevelopment, and poverty reduction initiatives. Jordan is a faculty member of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in urban and regional planning, including workshop classes that engage students in real-world community service projects related to urban planning. He received master’s and doctoral degrees in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1996. Jordan writes a blog about urban planning on his website, www.ask-a-planner.com. Dedication To my daughter, Evan. We’ll go out for ice cream more often, I promise. Author’s Acknowledgments The opportunity to write a For Dummies book about urban planning has been one of the great experiences of my career. It is also a shining example of the old adage “Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.” Without the assistance and support of many people, this already daunting task might have become simply impossible. I thank Robert Hickey and Elizabeth Kuball of the For Dummies series for their invaluable assistance and encouragement on a day-to-day basis. Suggestions and comments from my technical editor, Jennifer Cowley of The Ohio State University, have been especially valuable and appreciated. I owe much of my expertise in urban planning to mentors and colleagues who have shown me the way over many years, especially Norman Krumholz and Pierre Clavel. I am also greatly appreciative of my colleagues at Cleveland State University and have particularly benefited from the support of Edward (Ned) Hill, Wendy Kellogg, W. Dennis Keating, and Sung-Gheel Jang. Joseph Grengs of the University of Michigan and Susan Hoffmann of Western Michigan University also provided valuable support. The professional assistance of Scott Shapiro and Gordon Hare is greatly appreciated. Lastly, the comfort and support of friends and family have been of tremendous importance in seeing this project to completion, including the Yin, Burness, Huston, Dowd, Kasper, Jacobs, Northeim, Henderson-Terwilliger, Holverstott-Cockrell, Wood-Provence, Wassom, May, Antisdale, Posner, Zulewski, Enos, Cross-Coleman, and Moncrief families. Thanks to all. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book Composition Services to market include the following: Senior Project Coordinator, U.S.: Kristie Rees Acquisitions and Editorial Layout and Graphics: Corrie Niehausr Project Editor: Elizabeth Kuball Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Debbye Butler, Acquiring Editor: Robert Hickey John Greenough Copy Editor: Elizabeth Kuball Indexer: Christine Karpeles Technical Editor: Jennifer Cowley, PhD Project Coordinator, Canada: Elizabeth McCurdy Editorial Assistant: Kathy Deady Cover Photos: © iStock / John_ Woodcock Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. Deborah Barton, Vice President and Director of Operations Jennifer Smith, Publisher, Professional and Trade Division Alison Maclean, Managing Editor, Professional & Trade Division Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Foreword ....................................................................xix Introduction ................................................................ 1 Part I: What Is Urban Planning? ................................... 7 Chapter 1: Making Great Cities: Why Planning Matters ................................................9 Chapter 2: Changing Places: Planning for the 21st Century .......................................23 Chapter 3: Who Makes Urban Plans and Why .............................................................43 Chapter 4: Making Plans: A Step-by-Step Approach ....................................................57 Part II: Putting All the Pieces Together: The Main Components of an Urban Plan ...................... 75 Chapter 5: Land Use: A Place for Everything ...............................................................77 Chapter 6: Housing: A Place to Call Home ....................................................................97 Chapter 7: Moving the City: Transportation ..............................................................119 Chapter 8: The City Beautiful: Urban Design ..............................................................135 Chapter 9: The Great Outdoors: N atural Resources, Open Space, and More ........149 Chapter 10: Infrastructure and Public Services: Something for Everyone .............163 Part III: Hot Topics and Urban Planning Challenges ... 179 Chapter 11: Greening the City: Making Sustainable Places ......................................181 Chapter 12: Urban Revitalization: Cities on the Rebound ........................................195 Chapter 13: Rushing to the Suburbs: Managing Sprawl ............................................207 Chapter 14: Healing the City: Planning and Disasters ...............................................223 Chapter 15: Taking Care of Business: Jobs and Economic Development ...............237 Chapter 16: Global Urban Planning: Answering the Challenges of Growth and Development ..................................................................253 Part IV: Getting Involved and Going Further .............. 267 Chapter 17: Getting Involved in Your Community.....................................................269 Chapter 18: Becoming a Professional Urban Planner ...............................................279 Part V: The Part of Tens ........................................... 291 Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Make Your Community a Better Place to Live, Work, and Play ....................................................................................293 Chapter 20: Ten Great Cities with Great Plans ...........................................................301 Chapter 21: Ten Urban Plans You Can Find Online ...................................................309 Appendix: Resources ................................................ 317 Index ...................................................................... 325