Land use planning is the practice by which communities make decisions regarding how land will be utilized, including everything from how far residents must travel for shopping trips and where new schools and parks will be situated.
Effective land-use plans rely on high-quality data and rigorous interpretations of that data, and also account for environmental considerations like climate resilience.
Zoning
Zoning regulations establish the types of uses a property may have and the dimensions required, including height limits and distance from other buildings and property lines. As-of-right uses meeting these dimensional standards do not need to go through a special site plan review process and only require a building permit.
Land use planning has traditionally focused on maintaining separation between properties with incompatible uses, such as residential and industrial areas. This prevents residents from living next to smoke-emitting factories that could potentially compromise their health.
But traditional zoning regulations don’t always promote sustainable communities. Given today’s climate, for instance, it would be more efficient and environmentally-friendly for residents to shop, eat and work nearby their homes – lessening dependence on cars while freeing up space for parks and green space – making life more cost effective – something traditional zoning regulations do not always reflect.
Community Involvement
Integrating community involvement techniques into land use planning promotes transparency and collaboration, helping reduce misunderstandings while improving decision-making processes and increasing project efficiency.
Local people can help identify potential issues like traffic congestion or environmental degradation that would otherwise go undetected by distant decision-makers, and offer more sustainable, humane, and eco-friendly solutions to them.
Informative participation means providing residents with knowledge and education on urban planning processes and their repercussions for their neighborhoods. It may include town hall-type meetings or surveys designed to gather opinions and collect feedback on specific development projects.
Small businesses are an integral part of many communities and possess unique needs that should be taken into account when determining the value and reusability of land for reuse. Focusing solely on profit as the best indicator of how land should be utilized can significantly limit community benefit while exacerbating economic, climate change, health disparities, and social inequities.
Economic Development
Economic development and land use planning are often used interchangeably, yet there are ways they can be distinguished from each other. Economic development refers to community and business initiatives aimed at increasing local economies while creating jobs; land use planning refers to regulating physical developments of land within an individual jurisdiction.
In practice, this means a government using their power to manage land for development purposes that benefit the public. Land use planning can help avoid land conflicts, reduce exposure to pollutants, and much more.
At Building Communities, we believe there should be no clash between economic development and land use planning. But it goes beyond simply distinguishing them as distinct concepts – we help communities develop a strategic direction around their shared vision of how best to utilize their most valuable asset: land.
Sustainability
Land use planning serves to steer economic and urban growth toward sustainability, ensuring human activities do not harm the environment. Policies that regulate land zoning, incentivize conservation efforts, and facilitate stakeholder engagement help strike an appropriate balance between development efforts and environmental preservation efforts.
Reforestation and the establishment of green spaces improve air quality, prevent soil erosion, absorb carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate human settlement’s effect on climate change. Furthermore, agricultural sustainability initiatives like crop rotation and diversity help prevent soil depletion while improving water efficiency as well as decreasing chemical fertilizers and pesticide use.
ELI is dedicated to connecting sustainable development with community infrastructure, showing how state and local tax policies can facilitate green practices. For example, we’ve worked to support green roofs and vertical gardens in cities to reduce new land development while decreasing exposure to pollutants; and developed cost-effective natural stormwater solutions and flood protection strategies with local communities.