Planning for land
development is a rigorous approach to conceptualizing and evaluating
various responses to the question of what to build and how to arrange
buildings and support infrastructure on open or underutilized parcels
of land. Building sites, including land parcels that are already
occupied with buildings, have an intrinsic value that will be realized
once development or redevelopment go forward. Determining the highest
and best use for development parcels is the essence of the planning
endeavor. To determine land use requires contemplative investigation,
analysis and a programmatic approach to the identification of relevant
variables, weighting each, and evaluation of opportunities and impacts.
In planning, a vast number of
factors must be brought into consideration, evaluated for their impact
to the site now and in the future, and in some way integrated into the
overall proposed design and / or mitigated. Some considerations:
