Regional planning - traditional vs contemporary concepts: The case study of Vancouver region

Abstract

Regional planning is exposed to various criticisms today due to its unclear position in the federal planning system, as well as incoherent methodology among other inconsistencies. Nonetheless, despite those critics, the importance and role of regional plans and/or strategies is indisputable, primarily in creating a base for directing development processes. Nowadays, regional planning is going through significant methodological changes as a reflection of overall changes in the planning doctrine, new geopolitical circumstances, and the effect of the "acceleration" of time. The modified perception of space as a global and dynamic environment, and the intensive application of advanced technologies in the planning process, cause the need for refitted methods and techniques in regional planning. Those updates will revive regional planning and make the decision-making process more transparent. This paper will focus on new technologies that are in application in some countries with advanced regional planning. The province of British Columbia in Canada is one of those countries. The regional district of Vancouver will be used to analyze the differences between traditional and contemporary concepts in regional planning through the application of advanced models in policy making.

Keywords

• contemporary regional planning
• regional growth strategy
• planning analytics
• modeling
• vancouver region