Berkeley Planning Journal

Planners create a wide array of planning products, from area plans to zoning ordinances. How, if at all, are these products evaluated? This article uses a three-pronged approach to identify post-hoc evaluation models for three common products: comprehensive plans, area plans, and zoning ordinances. The three-pronged approach examines the planning textbooks, the evaluation provisions in the plans themselves, and the actual evaluations. After probing the evaluation models, the article discusses incentives and disincentives for evaluations, revealing factors that may make planners less inclined to conduct evaluations. The article concludes by exploring new directions and tools for city planning evaluation.