ments in fully developed urban areas. Public
officials and local units of government must
decide how best to continue to provide essential
urban services to areas which have experienced
population decline and how best to utilize limited
resources available for urban conservation and
renewal. Failure to properly resolve these ques-
tions will result in increasing underutiliza-
tion and abandonment of once viable urban
neighborhoods.
The challenges inherent in planning for the
physical development of the Southeastern Wis-
consin Region are compounded by the increased
uncertainty surrounding many of the factors
affecting the future scale and distribution of
population and economic activity and attendant
urban development within the Region. In view
of this increased uncertainty, it is important that
major public works projects and major private
sector development proposals are evaluated in
terms of their performance under a broad range
of possible future conditions. To this end, the
current regional land use planning effort
included the preparation of alternative futures
land use plans for the year 2010 differing from
the recommended plan in terms of the scale and
distribution of future development. The alterna-
tive futures land use plans are intended to
supplement the recommended plan, providing a
broader basis for planning and decision-making
regarding development and redevelopment
within the Region.
While presenting many challenges, future
growth and change also provide a great oppor-
tunity in that a better overall regional settlement
pattern can be achieved and past mistakes
avoided; new growth and development can be
adjusted to the underlying and sustaining
resource base; preservation, rehabilitation, and

redevelopment can be properly pursued to result
in a better living environment in nongrowth
areas; safer, more efficient, and more convenient
transportation, utility, and public facility sys-
tems can be provided; and a better environment
for life within the Region can be created.
Implementation of the recommended regional
land use plan will provide the future Region with
a balanced allocation of space to the various
urban and rural land uses, an allocation which
would properly meet the social, physical, and
economic needs of the growing regional popula-
tion. It will provide a spatial distribution of the
various land uses which would result in more
compatible arrangement of land use and which
would be properly related to the supporting
transportation and utility systems in order to
assure the economical provision of transporta-
tion and utility services. Most importantly,
implementation of the land use plan will do
much to assure the protection and wise use of the
natural resources of the Region.
Implementation of, or failure to implement, the
recommended regional land use plan will affect
not only the efficiency of supporting transporta-
tion, utility, and facility systems, and thereby
directly affect the cost of living and doing
business within the Region, but will also affect
the overall quality of the environment within the
Region for many generations to come. It is,
therefore, hoped that government, business and
industry, and interested citizen groups and
individuals within the Region will take an active
interest in the plan recommendations, which are
completely advisory to all concerned, carefully
reviewing their soundness and practicality, and,
if in agreement with the plans, support them and
act toward their implementation.

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