The Commissioner — Winter 2005

Resource Finder

Safe Growth

Put safe growth into practice in your community using these resources as a guide.

Publications available from APA's Planners Book Service

SafeScape: Creating Safer, More Livable Communities Through Planning and Design (2001)
by Dean Brennan and Al Zelinka
Examine how the urban environment influences crime and the fear of crime. Provides strategies for building-or rebuilding-communities for safety.

Articles in APA Publications

"Landslide Hazard Planning: Incorporating Scientific Analyses into Public Policy" in Practicing Planner (Summer 2004)
by Peter Gutowsky and Les Sasaki
The city of Salem and Marion County, Oregon, cooperated with stakeholders and other professionals to help steer development away from slippery, unstable hillside slopes.

"Homeland Security Begins at Home: Local Planning and Regulatory Review to Improve Security" in Land Use Law and Zoning Digest (November 2003)
by Rufus Calhoun Young, Jr. and Dwight H. Merriam
The article provides a comprehensive outline of Homeland Security factors that merit consideration in the land use review and approval process, as well as numerous references for further information.

"Growing Safe" in Planning (April 2002)
by Michelle Steinberg and Raymond Burby
Local plans can be a powerful tool for protecting communities from natural hazards from fire, flood, earthquake or hurricane.

"Saving Homes from Wildfires: Regulating the Home Ignition Zone" in Zoning News (May 2001)
by Jack Cohen, Nan Johnson, and Lincoln Walther
This article explains the home ignition zone, the effective application of land-use regulations to reduce the threat from wildfires, and the relationship between building and land-use codes for structure survival. The authors provide a toolbox of regulatory devices planners can use, the issue of reconstruction after the fire, and case studies for design and zoning.

"Community Policing and Planning" in PAS Memo (January 1999)
by William M. Rohe
This article defines community policing as having three main characteristics: shared responsibility, prevention, and increased officer discretion. It also profiles the many benefits of community policing, and profiles examples of community policing in two North Carolina communities.

"Post-Disaster Zoning Opportunities" in Zoning News (August 1998)
by Jim Schwab
Rebuilding after a disaster poses special challenges and opportunities for reshaping the pattern of land use and development in a community. This article examines the experiences with planning for those opportunities in order to achieve objectives of hazard mitigation and economic development in Nags Head, North Carolina, and Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Other Publications

The National Capital Planning Commission, Designing for Security in the Nation's Capital, October 2001; available online at www.ncpc.gov/planning_init/security/security.html

Websites of Note

National Governors Association, "Growth Tool Kit: Reduce Crime and Improve Public Safety" and other safe growth resources: www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_2475,00.html