Challenges ahead for US regional planning governance

摘要

Challenges of governance complicate regional planning in the United States. With a backdrop of the emergence of new regional planning realms of climate change, homeland security, and shrinking regions, this paper outlines the nature of US regional planning governance challenges and its potential governance solutions. Numerous general and specific institutions shape US regional planning practice and set it apart from regional planning elsewhere. Regardless of the organisational structure and rules of regional planning, regional planners must address three governance questions for each planning situation: by what authority, exercised by whom, and in what territory? In the end, the quality of regional planning rests in the quality of regional planning governance.