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Regional planning deals with the efficient placement ofland-use activities,infrastructure, andsettlement growth across a larger area of land than an individualcity ortown. Regional planning is related tourban planning as it relates land use practices on a broader scale. It also includes formulating laws that will guide the efficient planning and management of such said regions.^[1] Regional planning can be comprehensive by covering various subjects, but it more often specifies a particular subject, which requires region-wide consideration.^[2]

Regions require variousland uses; protection offarmland, cities, industrial space,transportation hubs and infrastructure,military bases, andwilderness. Regional planning is the science of efficient placement of infrastructure and zoning for thesustainable growth of a region. Advocates for regional planning such as new urbanistPeter Calthorpe, promote the approach because it can address region-wide environmental, social, and economic issues which may necessarily require a regional focus.

A 'region' in planning terms can be administrative or at least partially functional, and is likely to include a network of settlements and character areas. In most European countries, regional and national plans are 'spatial' directing certain levels ofdevelopment to specific cities and towns in order to support and manage the region depending on specific needs, for example supporting or resistingpolycentrism.

Although the term "regional planning" is nearly universal inEnglish-speaking countries the areas covered and specific administrative set ups vary widely. InNorth America, regional planning may encompass more than one state, such as theRegional Plan Association, or a largerconurbation or network of settlements. North American regional planning is likely to cover a much larger area than theRegional Assemblies of theUK; both, however, are equally "regional" in nature.

Specific interventions and solutions will depend entirely on the needs of each region in each country, but generally speaking, regional planning at the macro level will seek to:^[3]

• Resist development inflood plains or alongearthquake faults. These areas may be utilised as parks, or unimproved farmland.
• Designate transportation corridors usinghubs and spokes and considering major new infrastructure
• Some thought into the various 'role's settlements in the region may play, for example some may be administrative, with others based upon manufacturing or transport.
• Consider designating essential nuisance land uses locations, including waste disposal.
• DesignateGreen belt land or similar to resist settlement amalgamation and protect the environment.
• Set regional level 'policy' and zoning which encourages a mix of housing values and communities.
• Consider building codes,zoning laws and policies that encourage the best use of the land.
• Allocation of land.

• Urban planning
• Regional planning organization
• Metropolitan planning organization (MPO)

• Jonathan Barnett, Planning for a New Century: The Regional Agenda,ISBN 1-55963-806-0
• Patricia E. Salkin, Supersizing Small Town America: Using Regionalism to Right-Size Big Box Retail, 6 Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 9 (2005)Archived 2006-08-19 at theWayback Machine
• Peter Calthorpe & William Fulton, The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl,ISBN 1-55963-784-6

• US National Association of Regional Councils
• Spatial Decision Support Knowledge Portal

• Urban planning

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