aerial view of houston freeways

Transportation Planning: Making Transportation Plans—Rationality and Politics

This course explains the major forms of planning applicable to transportation, including rational comprehensive planning, strategic planning, policy analysis, incremental planning, advocacy planning, and communicative planning.

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Course Info

  • Duration 10 video lessons (60 Mins)
  • Published Published
    2019
  • 4.36
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Browse Course Chapters

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    1.
    Introduction
    Chapter Duration 2 mins
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    2.
    Evolution of the Transportation Planning Process
    Chapter Duration 7 mins
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    3.
    Rational Comprehensive Planning: The Regional Transportation Plan, Part 1
    Chapter Duration 14 mins
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    4.
    Rational Comprehensive Planning: The Regional Transportation Plan, Part 2
    Chapter Duration 4 mins
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    5.
    Scenario Planning and Anticipatory Governance
    Chapter Duration 4 mins
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    6.
    Moving Transportation Organizations Forward
    Chapter Duration 3 mins
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    7.
    Policy Analysis: Problem Solving
    Chapter Duration 5 mins
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    8.
    Advocacy Planning: Multiple Interests
    Chapter Duration 7 mins
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    9.
    Communicative Approaches: How to Talk
    Chapter Duration 5 mins
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    10.
    Matching the Planning Approach to the Context
    Chapter Duration 4 mins

What You Will Learn

  • Learn how transportation planning has moved for a modeling metaphor to a policy framework.
  • Discover the structure of the rational method in planning through the model of the Regional Transportation Plan.
  • Identify roles of strategic planning in the transportation field.
  • Learn about how policy analysis techniques can address focused transportation problems.
  • Understand to role of advocacy planning in transportation Learn about communicative and participatory techniques.
  • Identify the roles of regulatory structures in shaping transportation planning processes.

Course Description

Transportation plans play a crucial role in analyzing issues, setting priorities, and guiding programming. The traditionally rational, comprehensive approach worked well when the goal was to build highway systems, but the context for transportation planning is now more complex. Transportation plans must be multi-modal, be coordinated with land use planning, include community input, and account for environmental and social impacts. This requires a wider variety of plan-making methods.

This course explains the major forms of planning applicable to transportation, including rational comprehensive planning, strategic planning, policy analysis, incremental planning, advocacy planning, and communicative planning. The course also provides examples of how these methods apply to transportation situations, and how they can be used in combination.

Learn these skills

  • Economics
  • Land Use
  • Law and Policy
  • Parking
  • Pedestrian Planning
  • Plan Making
  • Public Health
  • Sustainability
  • Transportation
  • Urban Design
  • Walkability
  • Zoning Codes

AICP CM

This courses is approved for 1 AICP CM credit.

AIA CES

This is 1 LU.

CNU-A

This course is approved for 1 CNU-A credit.

SACPLAN CPD

This course is approved for 1 SACPLAN CPD point.

Meet Your Instructor

Richard Willson

Richard Willson

Richard Willson is a professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Dr. Willson's research addresses parking policy, climate change planning, land/use transportation relationships, travel demand management, and transit-oriented development.

Meet Instructor

Join thousands of urban planners on Planetizen Courses

It was a good refresher on the planning process. As an Environmental Planner, I haven't seen some of this since grad school.
- Nicolas P.
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