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Originally published in 1976 this original work gives insight into the nature of government planning and decision-making processes. It shows that planning is not simply a process of surmounting administrative hurdles, obtaining and treating information, but also a process of becoming committed to a specific course of action. The author examines the commitment-generating propensities of statutorily prescribed and conventional procedures, of patterns of contractual connection, professional affiliation and communication linkage, and of the distribution of interests, powers and obligations. He shows how these factors are likely to influence the formation of plans and the decisions that are taken in the course of two contrasting classes of planning process: namely those leading up to the 'designation' of new towns and town development schemes. Detailed case studies from British experience (of the Central Lancashire New Town and the Swindon expansion scheme) support this analysis, but the approach and findings of the study are of universal application.

Government and the Planning Process continues to fill a major gap in the literature of the history urban and regional planning and public administration and policy making for students, teachers and practitioners in those fields.