Common Ground for Integrating Planning Theory and GIS Topics

Abstract

The basic premise of this article is that planning theory and geographic information systems (GIS) course topics should be integrated in the planning curriculum. The increased use of GIS technology for informing planning and public policy decision making is discussed in the first section, followed by a summary of related technical and theoretical disparities. The concept of links is then introduced and used in the final section to demonstrate the contexts in which common themes can be identified for integrating planning norms (ethics, values, communicative rationality, planning process, and context) and GIS methods (data creation, analysis, and presentation).

Development of an integrated GIS and land use planning course: impacts of hybrid instructional methods

“…In addition to site/land suitability analysis, other substantive domains in land use planning have been identified and included: impact assessment; growth management and zoning; strategic planning; transit-oriented development (TOD), new urbanism, and site design; debates about higher density versus sprawl; and understanding travel behavior (Berke et al, 2006;Krizek & Levinson, 2005;Pettit & Pullar, 2009). Therefore, there is a need to identify the "common ground" between the substantive areas in planning and their related GIS applications, as demonstrated by Esnard and MacDougall (1997). They first identified the substantive domains of the planning theory course (e.g., ethics and values, communicative rationality, information, misinformation, and power).…”

“…UDB163 is the only land use planning course 1 (unit) offered at QUT which was chosen to integrate GIS because land use planning has been identified as the best suited course for both GIS integration (Esnard & MacDougall, 1997;Krizek & Levinson, 2005) and e-learning (Godschalk & Lacey, 2001). Drummond (1995, p. 281) stated that the land use planning area provides a good candidate for an initial subfield to begin exploring the relevance of GIS technology for traditional planning education and practice.…”

“…Because the learning outcomes were already known in this case, the well-known "backward design" method was followed in the content design process (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998), which means that the instructional modules were designed in a way to lead students to achieve the course learning outcomes. However, to do so in an integrated way between GIS and land use planning, the "common ground" theory, as suggested by Esnard and MacDougall (1997), was applied to content development and is outlined below:…”

“…Visual products, such as GIS maps, assist in communicating effectively because the ultimate products of a plan are often inherently spatial and visual and are therefore critical to these communication efforts and to planners (Yin, 2010). Therefore, it is crucial to equip planners with skills in GIS and the most appropriate context for this instruction is the academic world (Esnard & MacDougall, 1997). Esnard and MacDougall (1997) have also highlighted that planning courses are traditionally abstract and theoretical in nature and do not perfectly suit the bureaucratic political messy environment of the professional world.…”

“…Therefore, it is crucial to equip planners with skills in GIS and the most appropriate context for this instruction is the academic world (Esnard & MacDougall, 1997). Esnard and MacDougall (1997) have also highlighted that planning courses are traditionally abstract and theoretical in nature and do not perfectly suit the bureaucratic political messy environment of the professional world. Incorporation of GIS in planning programs is a means of bridging the practitioner-academic gap that still plagues the discipline.…”