Problem: It would be useful to identify and connect the major ideas of American environmental planning from the late 19th century up to today, to show its evolution over time and anticipate its potential future direction. Purpose: I aim to tie together the major ideas of American environmental planning, showing how they have evolved, and suggest what additional changes will be required to progress further toward sustainability. Methods: I review the literature, defining five time periods that are useful for understanding and analyzing environmental planning successes and shortcomings. Results and conclusions: Environmental planning has its roots in the physical design of cities and the tension between conserving natural resources for human use and protecting wilderness. In the 1920s, regional environmental planning emerged. Federal environmental impact statements were first required in the 1970s, along with efforts to clean up and prevent pollution. A backlash against government command and control began in the 1980s, leading governments to use incentives to address environmental problems. The current era makes sustainability the goal, tying together the ideas and practices of the previous eras and blending regulation and financial incentives to address national and global environmental problems, such as climate change. To reduce carbon footprints and increase water and energy conservation in the face of significant population growth in the United States will require making environmental planning a political priority, with the goals of curbing sprawling land development, and changing lifestyles and business practices. Takeaway for practice: Environmental planning ideas have been around for the past century and underlie the currently popular concept of planning for sustainability. However, environmental planning has been only modestly effective at influencing business practices and lifestyles. To change this, federal and local governments will have to lead by example, pursuing environmental sustainability as seriously as they pursue economic growth. Research support: None.

Farmland preservation has been an important issue in the United States for over 40 years. Since 1977, 28 states and over 95 local governments have formed farmland preservation programs to acquire development rights from willing farm owners. These programs have preserved over three and a half million acres. Private nonprofit land trusts have preserved nearly three million acres. Maryland and Pennsylvania have preserved nearly one million acres, accounting for almost one-sixth of the nation’s preserved agricultural land. Ten adjoining counties in Pennsylvania and Maryland have preserved 660,000 acres, or one-tenth of the nation’s preserved agricultural land. This paper defines “large scale preservation” and analyzes the funding mechanisms and land use policies that have enabled these ten counties to achieve it. The paper also identifies additional indicators of preservation success that give a more complete picture of the long-term viability of agriculture as an industry.

Preserving Large Farming Landscapes: The Case of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

The comprehensive plan is a fundamental planning document to direct growth and change in land use in US cities. This paper investigates whether US cities are structuring comprehensive plans to resemble a ‘constellation’ of functional, special topic, and neighborhood subplans tied to a central guiding plan. A traditional comprehensive plan features a central plan with few, if any, subplans. We analyzed the comprehensive plans of 39 cities and identified 20 cities that are using the constellation structure with at least four subplans. We then evaluated the quality of the constellation-type plans and surveyed planners in 14 cities to understand how and why they are drafting and implementing constellation-type plans. The responses of planners illustrate how this approach to comprehensive planning allows cities to increase the size and number of functional and area subplans. The constellation structure enables land use planners to add new topics to the central plan in a timely manner leading to more effective land use planning as cities and environments change.