Putting the Pieces Together

Pre-TDC Program Studies
One of the factors often correlated positively with successful TDC programs is the existence of studies undertaken prior to conceiving and planning a TDC program. This ‘advance homework’ is often not done solely for the TDC program, and even when it is, communities find the value of these studies ripples into other efforts.
Some examples of pre-TDC studies undertaken in American TDR communities include:
- Build-out scenarios – showing the potential extent and location of development activity under current planning parameters;
- Conservation sub-division plans – outlining how development could be undertaken which supports conservation objectives at the planning stage;
- Environmental significant area maps – delineating what lands are considered environmental sensitive and what that means in the local context;
- Agricultural community profiling – categorizing human communities by the different local agricultural economies, products, services, patterns, activites, etc.;
- Soils mapping – laying out the basic building block of both agricultural land use and wildlife habitat;
- Servicing mapping – identifying where water, road, sewage and other infrastructure exists or is likely to exist in the near future;
- Groundwater mapping – clarifying where the groundwater resources are, and in comes cases, what levels of usage are in place or anticipated;
- Financial/fiscal impact studies – understanding the financial dimensions of various land use scenarios or tools; and
- Visioning and goal-setting – establishing a common view of what the local people would like their landscapes and communities to look like, and what they would like to do to achieve that.