Reconsidering Planning and Environmental Protection

Abstract

Recognizing that environmental problems transcend political boundaries, planners have advocated centralization of policy to protect the environment. Strategies of growth management have recommended state preemption of land-use planning traditionally exercised by local government. Thus, a strong bias against local planning has been reinforced in the literature over the last two decades. Based on studies in rural areas of the Northeast, this article questions the prevailing attitudes and underlying assumptions about local planning. The research demonstrates that people in rural areas are concerned about environmental issues, that local planning boards do not reject land control for environmental protection, and that state planning may not protect the rural environment more effectively than local planning.