Development Guide: Land-Use Planning and Municipal Economic Development

What is a municipal land use plan? A land use plan manages a community’s land and natural resources. It helps a community set goals for how it will grow and develop, and sets out how to achieve those goals while keeping important social, economic, and environmental concerns in mind. A plan should balance the interests of individual landowners with the wider goals of the community as a whole. Good planning leads to orderly growth, efficient provision of infrastructure and services, and compatible economic development. But bad planning can stymie development and result in inefficient use of land and resources. Planning often remains below the radar for most people, that is until it affects them, and it often seems confusing. The purpose of this handbook is to explore the relationship between planning and economic development – both the good, and the bad.