Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans

From Theory to Practice

By Mark Seasons
Categories: Urban Studies, Planning & Architecture
Publisher: UBC Press
Paperback : 9780774866262, 248 pages, March 2021
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774866279, 248 pages, March 2021
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774866286, 248 pages, March 2021

Table of contents

Introduction: Tackling the Unknowns

1 Who Does What: The Canadian Planning Context

2 Laying the Cornerstone: Plan Evaluation History and Theory

3 The Toolbox: Indicator Frameworks and Models

4 Measure Twice, Cut Once: Monitoring and Evaluation in Practice

5 Ready, Set: Planning the Evaluation Process

6 Finding Answers: Research Approaches and Methods

7 Making It Work: Management of the Evaluation Process

8 A Pocket Guide for Best Practice

Glossary; Works Cited; Index

Description

Effective practitioners in any field understand that lessons from the past underlie successes in the future. Which practices have worked before and which haven’t? What does that teach us? Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans blends theory and practice to delineate the questions that planners need to ask as they shape the future of Canadian communities. Monitoring the outputs and outcomes generated by a plan – and gauging their impact – ensures that the planning function remains relevant, and that resources are used effectively, efficiently, and equitably. This invaluable resource offers a wealth of pragmatic guidance on plan evaluation processes and methods.

Reviews

Scholarship has been differentiated into many categorizations, including scholarship of discovery versus scholarship of synthesis...Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans contributes to both.

- Lewis D. Hopkins

The combination of theories, methods and practices makes this book an essential resource for all professional planners in Canada and elsewhere.

- Haiqing Xu, Deputy City Manager, Vaughan, ON

This new text is a must-read in undergraduate and graduate planning classrooms.

- Robert Patrick, University of Saskatchewan