Evaluating the Quality of Municipal Official Plans in the Ontario-Greater Golden Horseshoe Region, Canada

The focus of plan quality is on evaluating plans-as-objects against normative characteristics researchers and planning practitioners believe contribute to a high quality plan. This study builds on the established plan quality literature and methods to assess the quality of official (comprehensive) plans from sixty-three of the most populous municipalities in the Ontario-Greater Golden Horseshoe region (Canada). Three key themes emerged from this analysis. First, the provincial government plays a role in municipal official plan quality. Second, monitoring and evaluation is underutilized in many plans. Third, the communication of plan contents could be improved to enhance its use and readability.