More than the Sum of Their Parts: Approaches to Understand a Network of Plans

Abstract

Communities create a variety of plans that collectively shape future development patterns. Methodological approaches to analyze multiple plans and their relationships have been underdeveloped. We compare four complementary methodological approaches to study the relationships between plans: (1) cross-referencing, (2) plan quality evaluation, (3) plan integration for resilience scorecard, and (4) social network analysis. We apply each approach to Boston’s network of plans to understand how the city’s plans together address current and future flooding. We find relatively strong integration of plans in Boston. When combined, these four approaches provide a more comprehensive framework for understanding networks of plans.