Regional Planning and Regional Governance in the United States 1979-1996

Abstract

Friedman and Weaver's book, Territory and Function, which includes a survey of ideas concerning regions and regionalism in the United States, was published in 1979. Much has happened since then. There is a renewed interest in regionalism, particularly in conjunction with efforts to analyze and manage entire metropolitan areas. This bibliography incorporates works on regionalism and regional governance published since 1979. It draws from major sources in planning, urban affairs, and public policy. Entries are arranged in eleven categories, beginning with existing literature reviews of the topic. The bibliography contains 168 annotated entries, a subject index, jurisdiction and planning organization indexes, and a periodicals index.

Public policies for managing urban growth and protecting open space: policy instruments and lessons learned in the United States

“…Interest in the role of regional entities in growth management has increased in recent decades (Weitz and Seltzer, 1998). Regional agencies have been created to manage growth and protect open space on a larger scale and coordinate the fragmented efforts of individual municipalities and counties.…”

A Return to State-Led Integrated Regional Planning? Emerging Approaches from Three U.S. States

“…In the U.S., regional planning in metropolitan areas has been episodic. The term “regional planning” has been applied to a broad set of endeavors undertaken by very different types of organizations across varied scales using a variety of approaches (see Table 1; Friedmann and Bloch 1990; Friedmann and Weaver 1979; Weitz and Seltzer 1998; Seltzer and Carbonell 2011; Chapin 2012). The first government agency with regional planning authority, the Boston Metropolitan Improvement Commission, was created by the Massachusetts state legislature in 1902 (Meck 2002).…”

Regions, Megaregions, and Sustainability

“…Since the 1980s there has been an upsurge of interest in metropolitan regionalism in the USA as well as in other countries (DOWNS, 1994;WEITZ and SELTZER, 1998), and greater incorporation of environmental, quality of life, and equity issues into a regional agenda often dominated by economic development. This resurgence has sometimes been referred to as the 'new regionalism' (WHEELER, 2002).…”