Browsing by Subject "Plan evaluation"

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We are not planning for equity: an analysis of contemporary comprehensive plans
(2023-12) Ogusky, Adam; Oden, Michael; Paterson, Robert G; Lentz, Roberta; Mueller, Elizabeth
This research analyzes contemporary comprehensive plans for the extent and quality of their inclusion of equity, in addition to analyzing the meanings of equity found in the plans and how such meanings relate to plan quality with regard to equity. Despite the growing importance of equity to planning practice, education, and scholarship, the term remains murky, frequently left undefined and underspecified. Moreover, there is very little research indicating the degree to which equity is included in planning work and how the term is employed. Using comprehensive plans as a proxy for planning practice, this project fills this gap in our knowledge of equity and planning. A sample of 25 large U.S. cities with recently passed comprehensive plans was analyzed using a modified plan quality evaluation rubric. Plans were found almost without exception to be of very low quality with regard to their inclusion of equity. In particular, plans largely failed to define equity and were especially poor at delineating problems with regard to equity, remaining almost entirely silent on current and historical conditions of inequality and injustice in their jurisdictions. However, plans were found broadly to claim an interest in equity despite the poor quality of its incorporation, indicating a wide rhetoric/substance gap with regard to their treatment of equity. To analyze the meanings of equity the plans were characterized according to a typology of theories of justice drawn from the literature on justice from moral and political philosophy. On aggregate, plans tended to be characterized as highly liberal and system-maintaining with regard to their conceptions of equity, which aligned with theories of justice that were conservative (versus ideal), distributive (versus corrective), non-comparative (versus comparative), and individual-oriented (versus group-oriented). Plans that took a view of equity aligned with system change-oriented conceptions of justice correlated with higher quality with regard to their treatment of equity, especially plans that took a corrective justice-oriented view of equity.
Whose lands’ slides? : social vulnerability to landslides in Rio de Janeiro and how the local plans affect it
(2021-08-13) Milani, Luísa Duarte; Paterson, Robert G.
Rio de Janeiro has major historical, economic, and political importance in Brazil. The city also has a long history of disasters, particularly landslides, and although there have been mitigation efforts, they are still a common occurrence. Disaster as a research field is particularly comprehensive as it involves many fields, from engineering to social sciences, and while there is no consensus in some of the issues related to the field, social vulnerability and resilience are frequently discussed concepts. Social vulnerability focuses on the pre-existing social, political, economic, and physical aspects of a community, whereas resilience is largely understood as the ability to adapt to change, and “bounce back” after a stressful event. Additionally, it is known that local planning is essential for disaster mitigation. This work discusses the vulnerabilization process of the city of Rio de Janeiro and aims to contribute to the process of resilience building in the city by mapping social vulnerability and analyzing the current local policies in their ability to decrease social vulnerability. Literature about resilience, vulnerability to disasters, planning for disasters, and historic questions about Brazil and Rio de Janeiro was reviewed. The references used varied from official material produced by national and international agencies, newspaper articles, and academic sources. The materials were written in Portuguese, English, or Spanish. To map social vulnerability, CDC’s SVI was adapted for the Brazilian context to generate an index comparing Census Sectors within the city. Finally, local plans and policies were evaluated following the process described in the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard (Malecha et al, 2019), where planning districts and risk areas are overlayed to highlight incongruities. Results suggest that historical patterns of segregation still define the city. Correlations were found between overall social vulnerability and risk. However, Sectors with high vulnerability are located throughout the city, not only in risk areas. The policy evaluation showed a lack of quality and alignment between plans. To build resilience and prepare for climate change the city should make efforts to account for social vulnerability and risk in its policies, as well as improve the quality of its plans to implement them effectively.