Making Plans that Matter: Citizen Involvement and Government Action

Plans that are, as the cliché goes, “dead on arrival” and languish on local government shelves long have contributed to skepticism about the value of comprehensive plans. In this article, I show that if plans are to matter and have an impact on local government actions, planners must involve a wider array of stakeholders in plan making than is usually the case. Evidence from 60 plan-making processes in the states of Florida and Washington indicates that with greater stakeholder involvement, comprehensive plans are stronger, and proposals made in plans are more likely to be implemented. Planners can stimulate broader involvement by stakeholders by directly inviting more groups to take part in the planning process and by providing opportunities for dialogue in which planners both inform citizens about planning issues and listen to citizen concerns.