Multiple Infrastructure Planning

There are many variations on the theme of planning for multiple types of community infrastructure.  Traditional land use planning processes have focused primarily on the "gray," or built, infrastructure (roads, utilities, housing). Today, most planners and communities recognize the importance at least of planning for the "green," or natural, infrastructure as well (open space, water resources).  Still other processes identify less tangible infrastructures to include—most notably economic and civic—and recognize the importance of planning for built, environmental, economic, and social concerns all together.

Planning for multiple infrastructures tends to follow the same general pattern involving identification of major resources, design of alternative scenarios, scenario evaluation, and implementation. The focus on these elements sets multiple infrastructure approaches apart from other comprehensive plans:

• Hub Framework: Infrastructures are conceptualized as a network of hubs and  smaller nodes (i.e. environmental hubs are major blocks of open space; built hubs are transportation centers, downtowns, or high-density developments; social hubs are neighborhoods or other spaces where people congregate).
• Corridor Connections: Hubs are connected on infrastructure maps by major corridors (i.e. environmental corridors are rivers, streams, or strips of undeveloped land; built corridors are major public transportation lines or roads; social corridors are the routes people travel most frequently between social spaces).
• Green infrastructure plans in particular are innovative in terms of technology and implementation, and are often coordinated at different scales.  Regional or statewide organizations create large-scale green infrastructure network plans, for example, with more detailed versions created by counties or municipalities.
• Multiple infrastructure plans are less frequently tied to ordinances and specific local policies; they are used more often as guiding documents for municipalities or for land trusts and other organizations that may work on land protection and integration of different aspects of community planning.