Unique Approaches: Introduction

The literature on planning approaches used for greenways and green spaces is at the initial stages at this time. While the Conservation Fund listed thirty states that are involved in greenway planning, there have been no systematic studies about these statewide planning efforts. Our initial search of state level planning studies yielded only reports from twelve out of the fifty states. Analysis of these twelve reports suggests that greenway planners have used at least four different approaches in planning greenways and green spaces. This analysis based on a previous study by the members of the Landscape Planning Studio directed by the principal author of this chapter at the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department of the University of Massachusetts (1995, pp. 22-38 including a two page long Reference List).