Requirements regarding participation by the public in planning and decision making functions of Metropolitan Planning Organizations have become more detailed over the past several decades by adding more groups and individuals to the list of those who should be included in agency planning efforts. This increased emphasis on public participation in MPOs makes the design and selection of particular participation mechanisms by MPO planning staff an important subject for study. The extant literature on public participation takes a view of the planner as one who is able to interpret the existing technical, social, and political requirements of a planning task and match them with the appropriate public participation mechanism. However, this view of the planner overlooks his or her own understanding of the role of the public in agency decision making. This dissertation employs Grid-Group Cultural Theory to explore how a planner's worldview impacts their selection of particular public participation mechanisms. Data were collected using an online survey instrument and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Findings indicate that those planners who held a hierarchist worldview were less likely than egalitarians and individualist planners to select mechanisms that are more intensive (in their requirements for communication). In addition, the research finds that factors internal to the MPO including the budget, project schedule, political priorities, the type of projects, safety issues and agency priorities also have an impact on the mechanisms for public participation selected by MPO planning staff. / Ph. D.

The role played by Metropolitan Planning Organizations in regional transportation planning across the United States is steadily growing, and with Congressional reauthorization looming, experts expect that role to further expand. Increasingly, MPOs are looking to land use and transportation planning integration as a logical step to address multiple pressing issues, including congestion and air quality. This report investigates selected regional entities across the nation that are engaging in various efforts to influence land use in addition to transportation facilities. Such efforts are usually referred to as “sustainable development,” “smart growth,” or “livable communities.” Historical investigation, combined with a look at agency structure, politics, and regional growth inform the discussion. Stakeholder interviews from each agency provide a unique perspective of challenges from professional staff themselves. Several trends are identified in best practices. Comprehensive findings are developed in the context of institutions, politics, finances, and technology. Relationships with the state department of transportation, strong leadership and goal establishment, dedicated sources of funding, and innovation in activity center visualization, are found to be key trends in MPOs that are producing successful outcomes in their land use and transportation integration programs. / text

Over the last century, regionalism in American cities has taken many forms and has risen and fallen in popularity and effectiveness. “New Regionalism” is supported by many as the answer to many urban problems, yet it has proven to often be unsuccessful at addressing one of the most difficult of these problems—disjointed and inefficient regional growth and land use patterns. In this report, it is hypothesized that metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) are in such a position as to become coordinators and guiders of regional growth and land use patterns. Literature reviews and an original survey are performed as part of this research. The results show that MPOs can be politically and functionally capable of guiding land use, that tools are available to MPOs to influence land development patterns, and that MPOs are, in fact, beginning to focus on land use planning issues and are using their policies and programs to guide land development patterns and support a regional growth vision. / text

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2009. / Text document in PDF format. Title from PDF title page (viewed on April 2, 2010). "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references.

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