An evaluation of the outcomes of the urban development plans with special reference to moratuwa urban development plan

Abstract

Plan outcome evaluation (POE) is very significant rather than focusing on planning process, usefulness of plan, content and quality of plan. POE has been ignored in the field of planning due to lack of proper POE method.This study focuses on the ex post facto evaluation considering the outcomes of action projects of development plans and aim to develop a POE method to evaluate outcomes of development plan towards the achievement of its objectives quantitatively since no one has made such an attempt. Achieving outcomes of development plan directly affect for sustainable urbanisation. A comprehensive literature survey revealed that adaptation of the components of objective driven, theory-driven and theory-based, utilization-driven and theoretical data-driven evaluation methods will lead to overcome related issues on plan outcome evaluation and identified basic four steps suitable to incorporate in any POE method.This developed POE method comprises four steps including mathematical models. Field surveys and questionnaire surveys were carried out to identify public perception on achievement of outcomes of action projects. Developed POE method can be used as a progress monitoring tool and as an outcome evaluation tool. This POE method will be a useful tool for planners, project managers and policy makers to improve planning practices and provide necessary knowledge for revising plansin order to ensure the sustainable urbanisation. This study can be extended to evaluate the outcomes of development plan when objectives are clear and measurable further considering theory, process and objectives driven methods.