The methodology of regional planning : the case of the Galil, Israel, 1975-1986

• Main Author: Gilat, Orly
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1992
• Subjects: 307.1
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.645338

The "Achilles heel" of regional planning in the past has consistently proved to be the failure to achieve success in implementing plans. Most scholars acknowledge this reality, but disagree over its explanation, thus, the inadequate theoretical base for planning practice. The essential question behind this dissertation is: What makes decision-makers adopt and implement a given planing product. This concern is based on the perception of planning as a process that depends not merely on the plan's content and competency, but on the way planners choose to integrate their proposals into the decision-making environment within which they operate. Since a plan's approval does not necessarily imply its implementation, it is in the interest of planners to promote implementation. Accordingly, this dissertation proposes a methodological framework to guide planners in creating a highly implementable product. The framework encompasses three elements: the region, with its perceived relative condition guiding the determination of its expected future; the decision-making environment, and the potential to exercise different planning functions within it; and the planning approach which is forged into a strategic perspective that integrates planners' skills and imagination, creating a firm basis for guiding the integration of a planning product into a specific decision-making system, as a means to promote its implementation. The framework is tested through the examination of a particular planning experience in the Galil region of Israel. These two parts, when put together, enable planners to apply prevailing knowledge and skills so as to bridge the gap between plan-making and implementation.