Planning:
To begin the process of planning there are several steps that have to be
followed, in sequence, before there is any attempt to proceed.
1. Identification
of a circumstance that suggests premeditated actions are necessary.
2. Identification of
the constituents, the benefactors, of the activity.
3. Identification of
the limits of “responsibility”.
4. Identification of
a philosophy for the planning activity.
5. Establish the time,
responsibility, social, economic, and physical constraints and imperatives
for the planning activity.
6. Establishment of a
Mission Statement. [The mission statement must include, explicitly or implicitly,
the issues of 1 thru 5 above].
For
planning to be meaningful or to have any sustainability it must have allegiance
to the Mission Statement.
The Planning Process:
Assumptions are both
the genesis and the enemy of planning, and must be continually and openly
challenged and refined. They should be well documented and the planning
process should include a frequent and honest review of the assumptions
throughout the process and most importantly at the completion of the “plan”.
Future “certainty” and
“facts” should be viewed with thoughtful suspicion because they are by
definition based on assumptions. All circumstances and background
information’s do not have equal voices. Power, whether political
or physical, can easily dominate otherwise thoughtful and considerate ideas.
Transparency and openness
must be the prerequisite of all planning. They are the proof of success
and the safeguard against preconceptions. However they also add “inefficiency”
and challenge even appropriate conclusions. This is by far the most
challenging aspect of planning because it introduces frequently random,
assumptions that must and should be addressed. However a well constructed
comprehensive Mission Statement can provide the vehicle for reconciliation.
It is of paramount importance
for the “planner” to recognize that the broader the limits of responsibility,
the more challenging the planning process becomes and the more important
the issues of transparency and openness.
In Urban and Regional
transportation planning the process becomes more complex because it must,
by definition, deal with:
1. past, present,
and possible future modalities
2. historical issues
of technological development
3. past, present and
future anticipated urban growth patterns
4. social and political
acceptance issues and differences
5. densities of existing
and anticipated uses
6. And the old evil,
“Assumptions”
The beginning point
of the transportation planning process is to accurately identify the available
and existing technologies and their characteristics.
1. Capacities and
frequencies of operation?
2. what distances of
travel and speeds are they most affective at?
3. how sympathetic are
they to existing adjacent development and movement patterns?
4. how much change can
the existing social, physical, and ecological environments support?
5. List all the alternatives
for all the identified [and discovered] needs.
6. How do the different
modalities overlap and support or detract from each other?
7. Can regional higher
speed transit operate in harmony with neighborhood and inter-neighborhood
mobility?
All present and anticipated
modalities must have the opportunity for consideration and expression unless
the purpose of the “planning” is to “control” rather that be in sympathy
with existing and future development and activity.
After familiarity
with the technologies comes the “fact” finding and due diligence:
1. Location of population
nodes
2. Location, extent,
and composition of existing and possible future circulation corridors
3. Anticipated demands
4. Demand frequency
5. Coincidence with adjacent,
intersecting, or parallel modalities
6. Recognition of coincidental
travel and commuter travel differences and conflicts
7. Costs vs. Revenue
[cost benefit analysis]
8. Property acquisition
costs, obstacles, advantages.
9. Change tolerance
10. Cultural sympathy
11. Environmental consequences
12. short term and life-cycle
maintenance consequences
Putting it all together:
The final "plan"
must address all of the due diligence issues and align them with appropriate
technologies. It must then address conflicts and recommend alternatives,
each with its own cost [explicit and implicit] benefit analysis.
Again transparency and openness are essential for a successful long term
plan. Lastly it must include a process for periodic reassessment
and review of the proposed plan with opportunities for change, including
major change.
The most difficult
part of any planning activity is that:
Certainty only exists
in hindsight, or in the certainty of future uncertainty.
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