Chatterton, Bruce D., December 1984 - THE 701 PROJECT:
LAND USE PLANNING IN TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA
Abstract: A nine month urban planning project conducted in a
small city in Florida is used as the basis for the thesis. The
author served as planning consultant to the city with project
funding provided by the state. The project involved the analysis,
revision, and adoption of the city's comprehensive land use plan
as required by the state. The project is discussed as an example
of problem solving in applied anthropology.
In placing land use planning in an anthropological context, the
author examines the social aspects of land use regulation. The
author's role in the project is compared to those of the action
and advocate anthropologist, with special emphasis on questions
of directed change as promoted by a wider government.
The author relates the process of analyzing the original land use
plan through the application of data from a variety of sources.
It is shown how the plan was revised with additional information
gained from public participation in the planning process. The
revised land use plan was then altered, adopted, and finally
implemented by the city.
Three stages of the city's plan, as originally drafted, as
revised through the project, and as finally adopted, are compared
to one another as to the development potential allowed under each
plan and the distribution of land uses in the city. It is shown
that the project's recommendations remained substantially intact
in the adopted plan.
A critical evaluation of the project's data collection techniques
is presented by the author with special attention paid to the
citizen participation effort. It is determined that the
participation of the public in the planning process could have
been improved through the correction of problems which are seen
in the project's citizen advisory committee and the land use
needs survey administered in the city.
The author shows that the project's stated goals for land use
planning were substantially achieved. It is concluded that,
although the author's role in the project did not embody the
specific roles of action anthropologist or of anthropologist as
advocate, elements of these approaches were present. The nature
of the change which occurred as a result of the project is shown
to resemble examples of directed change in which change is
mandated by a wider government.
.