Extending the Revolution: Teaching Land Use Planning in a GIS Environment

Abstract

For planning educators the ultimate worth of the GIS revolution will be measured not by the number of new GIS courses offered, but by the integration of GIS technology into the traditional, substantive areas of planning. In the field of land use planning this integration remains in its infancy. The article suggests a general, modular approach for the incorporation of GIS technology into land use planning course work, using a combination of GIS, database, and spreadsheet software. Numerous specific examples are provided, including major applicauons in data collection, preliminary analysis, plan formulation, and plan evaluation.