The long-term development or conservation of an area and the establishment of a relationship between local objectives and regional goals. Land-use planning is often guided by laws and regulations. The major instrument for current land-use planning is the establishment of zones that divide an area into districts which are subject to specified regulations. Although land-use planning is sometimes done by private property owners, the term usually refers to permitting by government agencies. Land-use planning is conducted at a variety of scales, from plans by local city governments to regulations by federal agencies. The United States has never developed a national land-use plan because land use is considered a local concern.
A major part of local planning is zoning, the division of areas into districts. Zones cover most potential uses, such as residential, commercial, light industry, heavy industry, open space, or transportation infrastructure (such as rail lines or highways). Detailed regulations guide how each zone can be used. As a result of pressures from rapid growth, some cities have begun to write growth management plans that limit the pace of growth. Comprehensive city plans aimed to limit the pace of growth have been accepted by the courts. See also Landscape architecture.
Very few plans have been undertaken at a statewide scale. Each state plan differs by the needs and philosophy of the state. The state plans represent a balance of regional structures that address widespread growth with local powers that keep specific decision-making at the local level.
Environmental regulations are among the few national-level policies that have direct implications for land-use planning. Four of the major types of environmental laws that impact land-use planning are wetland laws, clean-air laws, clean-water laws, and laws for the protection of endangered species. See also Endangered species; Wetlands.
Land-use planning, in large part, has focused on urban planning. Increasingly, land-use planning is done at larger scales and involves multiple issues. Awareness of environmental concerns, coupled with the wide availability of technical tools that include digital maps at all scales, has led to new approaches to land-use planning. These approaches often use ideas from landscape ecology, such as the concepts of patches; edges, boundaries, and fragmentation; buffer zones; and corridors and connectivity. See also Ecology, applied; Landscape ecology.
