Checks and Balances in Centralized and Decentralized Planning Systems: Ontario, British Columbia and Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT My study aims to identify checks and balances in planning systems through a detailed examination of three systems, where rapidly growing urban regions are located. Ontario serves as a prime example for vertical checks on decentralized decisions, mainly via an appeal board and binding planning documents. Horizontal checks predominate in decentralized British Columbia (BC), demonstrating the crucial significance of restraint in decision-making within a balanced triangle of mayor/councillors, planning bureaucracy and community. Checks and balances in centralized Israel have been based on a three-level hierarchy of commissions and plans. The two more centralized systems – Israel and Ontario – are more susceptible to pressures for reform, but exhibit the multidirectional nature of reforms and path-dependent constraints on radical transformations.