AN ESPOUSED CONTINUUM THEORY OF PLANNING DERIVED FROM THE ANALYSIS OF THE PLANNING THEORIES AND THE PLANNING PROCESSES OF THE FIFTY MAJOR CITY PLANNING AGENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES

The objectives of this study are based on a Continuum Theory of Planning which conceptualizes the developments and the evolution of the urban planning field within a continuum of change, responding the social, economic and political environment. The resulting changes in the theory of urban planning are seen as refinements and selective modifications to the basic principles and foundations of the discipline, which are believed to form the core of the continuum. This core represents a planning process, with the chief characteristics of the comprehensive and rational planning models in combination with those characteristics of other planning models, that suit local conditions. The implications for urban planning process are twofold: it is eclectic and it is situational. This process, it is believed, is central and commonly used by the urban planning agencies. A planning process model that reflects these ideas and the perceptions of the developments of the discipline, therefore an espoused model, is formulated at the beginning of the study. This model reflects the core of the continuum today and is expected to fit a planning process model derived from the planning processes of the major city planning agencies, termed the in-use model.;In its search for the current planning process the study focuses on the normative and procedural planning models internalized by the urban planning theory literature and also on the structure, functions and planning processes of the fifty largest city planning agencies in the country. The analysis of the several major planning models shows that they are complementary to each other, sharing a number of concepts and values, and that they are applicable to different contexts. Two major trends are observed in the conceptual development of these planning models. One is identified with an economic emphasis and management approach, and the other with a social emphasis and humanist approach to planning. The city planning agencies, on the other hand, reflect a lot of common characteristics in their structure, functions, activities, major goals, and planning products. While few of the agencies seem to be oriented towards the social/humanist approach, the majority remain within the economic/management trend. The planning processes indicate basically similar characteristics to the espoused model. None of the agencies observed is found to be following the concepts of any one of the planning models but rather utilizing a combination of concepts from different models. All these findings reveal that there is an eclectic planning process with a common core used by almost all planning agencies, defined by and oriented towards the local needs and preferences, as suggested by the Continuum Theory of Planning.