Phase 1: Inventory and Analysis
A community’s existing conditions – some say current state-of-affairs – help a community learn about itself. The inventory helps a community identify available economic, social, cultural and environmental resources, opportunities and constraints. Once completed, the inventory enables residents and local officials decide if existing conditions are satisfactory or if development is needed, thus warranting continuation of the planning process.
What is included in an Inventory of Existing Conditions and How Much Detail is Expected?
The inventory is a comprehensive examination of a community's resources. A thorough transportation inventory, for example, includes the types and miles of roads, physical conditions of the roads, capacities and current traffic flow, maintenance budgets, new construction costs by road type, and other factors such as right-of-ways. During the data analysis step, you would examine trends in the data, predict the impacts of proposed development scenarios on the transportation system, and outline changes in the system to accommodate different development scenarios.
A typical inventory of existing conditions is structured along a community’s primary categories or elements (Kelly and Becker 2000). Click on a category or use the drop-down tab to learn more about each category and review available data, trends in the data, and analyses of the data.
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Land Cover and Use
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Demographics
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Environment and Natural Resources
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Transportation & Mobility
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Education
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Economy and Labor Market
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Housing
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Health and Human Resources
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Governance
Watch a video overview about the interactive mapping tool. 
Robert McCormick