2.2.2  Planning Approaches/Issue Identification

There are a number of different approaches to the planning process. They differ depending upon the issues the community seeks to address. They also call for different levels of professional expertise and citizen participation.

Five Approaches to the Planning Process

1. The Blank Slate Approach

2. The Problem-Oriented Approach

3. The Strategic Issues Approach

4. The Blue-Sky Approach

5. The Asset-Based Planning Approach

One way of thinking about planning is to think of it as a learning process through which the community learns as much as possible about what is happening in the community and why. Community members also discover what might be done to influence future changes. In this approach, a primary goal is to collect as much data and information as possible, and to develop an understanding of a comprehensive range of substantive issues and topics. Collecting data and information, and thinking about what that data means, is in fact a good way of deciding what the problems and issues are that need to be address.

This way of characterizing planning comes fairly close to the way that local governments, regional planning commissions and planning consultants often approach the planning process. Indeed, the first step in the rational, technical approach to planning-- and the first part of many plans-- is typically devoted to the compilation and analysis of data.

This approach to planning can be thought of as the "blank slate" approach. In this approach, planners, citizens and elected officials approach the planning process with open minds-- with few if any preconceived ideas as to what the most serious problems and issues are, and few preconceived notions as to what the causes of those problems might be. Instead, planning model assumes that an important reason why citizens and elected officials undertake planning is to discover and define what is a problem and what is not.

This way of thinking about planning has considerable merit. Communities that have not engaged in planning often misunderstand the problems they face, and often make the mistake of attacking "problems" that are simply symptoms of much larger and more complex problems that go ignored.

Thinking of planning as a learning process has important implications in terms of how a community approaches planning. Specifically, it means that, throughout the process, the community needs to remain open to new information. Conclusions reached in earlier stages need continually to be reassessed in the light of new information as it becomes available. Early in the planning process the community will have identified certain issues and problems as of primary concern. However, additional data and information obtained later in the process may make those issues and problems seem less important.

The model of planning on a "blank slate", is often held up as the ideal way to approach planning. Nevertheless, in real life, communities rarely embark on the preparation of a plan with an entirely blank-slate. Nor is it often the case that people simply decide "out of the blue" to prepare a plan. Planning is hard work. It takes time and energy, and costs money. As a result, when communities embark on preparing a plan, they usually do so for a reason.

Often, planning is prompted by the recognition that a serious problem exists that needs to be addressed. Similarly, planning is often precipitated by a sense of crisis, and/or by dissatisfaction with current conditions and/or trends. People may feel that development is out of control-- that too much development is occurring too fast and too much farmland and open space is being lost. Or the spark that prompts a community to feel that it needs a plan may arise from a major development proposal that promises to have a significant impact on a community.

When planning is prompted by a problem or crisis, the focus of planning, not surprisingly, is typically on solving that particular problem. Using planning as a way of solving current problems can be effective in mobilizing community support for the planning process. The disadvantage of the problem-oriented approach is that it is purely reactive, and restricts the planning process to a relatively narrow band of problems and issues. Another limitation is that the solutions produced may deal with the symptoms of the problem, but do not treat the deeper root causes in a way that could achieve a more lasting solution.

A problem-oriented approach to planning has one other shortcoming. Beginning the planning process by identifying problems and deficiencies is a fundamentally negative way of approaching planning. It focuses attention on what is wrong with a community, rather than on what is right and good.

A third way of approaching planning is to drop the comprehensive approach, instead focusing on identifying strategic issues. This approach to planning, which originated in the private sector and has been increasingly applied in the public sector, is frequently referred to as strategic planning. What distinguishes this approach is its selectivity and its pragmatism. It restricts the number and range of issues dealt with at any single point in time-- and focuses attention and energy on issues and concerns which are most strategically important and timely.

Strategic issues are typically identified by conducting an analysis aimed at identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T). First, the community or organization looks at its own Strengths and Weaknesses. For example, what image does the community project to outsiders and visitors-- is it positive or negative? What is the community’s competitive advantage (or disadvantage) relative to other communities in the region?

Second, the community or organization examines the external environment with an eye toward identifying potential Opportunities and Threats. An important strength of this examination of the external environment is that it consciously attempts to identify and capitalize upon changing circumstances.

Taken together, this examination of internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and external Opportunities and Threats, provides the basis for a community or organization to concentrate its limited resources on issues not only of greatest interest and concern, but also on issues most likely to be positively affected. A strategic issues approach is highly pragmatic, in that it seeks to maximize positive results.

A major strength of the strategic issues approach to planning is that it keeps the community from being pulled in different directions and, serves to maximize effectiveness and the attainment of specific objectives.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it may ignore issues and concerns that many people consider important and feel should be addressed in some way. Also, this approach to planning can tend to be less inclusive, less open to broad public participation. Strategic planning directed at the identification of strategic issues is most easily conducted in an organizational context in which there is a relatively high level of agreement on the organization’s mission. Focusing on strategic issues is less easily achieved when there is less agreement on goals and mission, and when citizens and groups in communities are inclined to want to pursue multiple objectives.

A fourth way of identifying planning issues and of beginning the planning process is to formulate a vision of an ideal future, unconstrained by current conditions. This is basically the "Blue-Sky" approach to planning. Under this approach, citizens engage in a creative "visioning process" through which they attempt to produce mental images and rich verbal descriptions of what they would ideally like their community to be. Formulation of this "vision" then sets the basic framework that defines the issues that the planning process seeks to address.

Vision-oriented planning can be effective when there is general agreement about what makes a community special, and about what the community should look like in the future. It can also work well in settings and communities where citizens are not afraid of change, where citizens are receptive to new ideas, and where there is a climate of respect for expression of divergent views.

The fifth way of identifying issues and beginning the planning process is to identify the assets and qualities that make a particular place special and unique. For example, communities undertaking an asset-based approach to planning begin by asking: "What features and natural resources distinguish this community and should be preserved? What makes this community a good place to live and work?"

An asset-based approach to planning is a positive approach to planning and issue identification. It assumes that one of the most important purposes of planning is to protect and reinforce what is good about communities, while avoiding the needless destruction of valued and irreplaceable resources.

To pursue an asset-based approach to planning, a community ideally undertakes a comprehensive inventory of local assets, resources, qualities and features. In addition to objectively identifying and listing physical features and natural resources, an inventory of the positive assets and resources should include subjective and less visible assets that are valued by people in the community, but that may not be discernible to outsiders. Indeed, most of the data and information compiled in an inventory of environmental resources and assets will be directly relevant to the preparation of a plan.

It is important to note that the individual approaches presented here need not be pursued in a pure form, to the exclusion of all others. In fact, in pursuing community based planning processes, it is quite legitimate and appropriate to employ a mixture of these approaches, and/or to employ different approaches at different points in time. The secret to effective and successful planning is to design the planning process to fit local circumstances.