Evaluation and Municipal Urban Planning: Practice and Prospects

Recent concerns with performance measurement, efficiency, and effectiveness have sparked a renewed interest in monitoring and evaluation at all levels of government, including municipal government. Much of the literature on evaluation in municipal urban planning focuses on evaluation research methods and techniques. This article explores the state of evaluation practice, including monitoring, in planning departments in municipalities of regional scale and style in Ontario. Applications of evaluation in planning practice are compared and contrasted with generic evaluation practice. Qualitative research methods were used to identify critical determinants of success (or otherwise) with evaluation in these planning departments.