Communities have existed and functioned in the past without official planning programs. With or without planning, communities will change. Though planning is not necessary for communities to survive, communities that plan might fare better. Planning is a mark of good community sense. Change in a community without planning often happens in a haphazard fashion.
Physical changes are the result of many uncoordinated decisions made by individuals.
Because the decisions are often made without concern for the relationship of one development to another, problems can occur. A developer might build a new subdivision in a part of the community that is improperly serviced by schools, streets or utilities. A sewer line might be extended to an agricultural area prompting speculators to purchase farmland and take it out of production, hurting the local economy. Planning can provide a way to coordinate individual decisions so that the ensuing developments support, rather than detract from one another. Planning can also provide facts on existing conditions and trends and it can evaluate each project in light of community objectives.