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National Planning Landmark Award
Plan for the Valleys
Baltimore County, Maryland
In the early 1960s, the Green Spring and Worthington Valleys, a rural region of Baltimore County, Maryland, was facing intense urbanization pressure. The community had the foresight to realize that if uncontrolled, the growth would surely wipe out the historic character and natural amenity of the area. The Plan for the Valleys, prepared by WMRT (now WRT), is the first long-range development plan based on the application of principles of ecological determinism.
Ian McHarg developed a philosophic approach to the planning problem based on two assumptions. First, there exists an essential landscape quality which must be recognized and understood as a guide to the form and location of future growth. Second, planning is a process of posing alternatives, weighing them against each other and against a basic value system shared by the community.
The approach to ecological design and growth management represents a pioneering effort to direct growth away from sensitive ecological features such as the valley floors, steep slopes, woodlands, and fertile soils through a combination of growth boundaries, restricted sewer and water expansion, conservation design, and restrictive zoning that remains progressive to this day.
