Regional Planning: Preparing for a Stronger, Safer, Connected and More Prosperous Future!
Regional Planning
“Success is where preparation meets opportunity—and regional planning creates the space where both come together. As the convener for Southeast Louisiana, the RPC brings diverse viewpoints, data, and community insight to the same table so we can complete the puzzle and see the region’s bigger picture. With a shared understanding of where we are and where we’re heading, we build the foundational blocks for a stronger, more resilient future for every community we serve.”
Overview
Regional planning aligns the systems that shape how communities grow, move, and thrive. It brings together transportation, land use, housing, the environment, economic development, and public services to ensure that local decisions support long-term regional outcomes. Because people, jobs, freight, and water do not stop at parish boundaries, regional planning provides a coordinated framework that helps Southeast Louisiana address shared challenges and pursue shared opportunities.
Why Regional Planning Matters
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Interconnected Systems. Transportation, housing, infrastructure, drainage, and economic activity are linked. Regional planning ensures these systems work together rather than at cross purposes.
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Efficient and Strategic Investment. Coordinated planning helps communities pool resources, reduce duplication, and make smarter long-term investments.
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Community Priorities. Regional planning centers people—ensuring all communities are represented, benefits are shared, and no group is disproportionately burdened.
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Resilience and Climate Adaptation. Flood risk, sea-level rise, and extreme rainfall require planning at the watershed and regional scale.
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Economic Competitiveness. A strong regional transportation network improves access to jobs, supports freight movement, and attracts new industry
Regional Planning Law
Regional Planning Commissions (RPCs) in Louisiana are created under Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 33, which allows parishes and municipalities to form regional planning bodies when issues extend beyond local boundaries. Transportation, drainage, land use, freight, and economic trends often affect multiple parishes at once, and state law recognizes the need for coordinated, regional solutions.
Under this legislation, RPCs are authorized to:
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Develop long-range regional plans for transportation, land development, community facilities, and resilience.
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Coordinate planning across jurisdictions so parishes and municipalities can work together instead of independently.
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Provide research, mapping, and technical assistance to support local and regional decision-making.
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Engage public agencies, local governments, and communities in collaborative planning processes.
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Administer state and federal planning funds, including serving as the federally recognized Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) where applicable
The purpose of these statutes is simple:
to give regions the structure and authority needed to plan collectively, share information, and make decisions that improve quality of life across all communities.Because the challenges facing Southeast Louisiana—flooding, mobility, coastal change, economic shifts, housing pressures—cross parish lines, this legislation provides the foundation for strong, coordinated regional planning.
Regional Planning Framework
Regional planning is built on three interconnected pillars: data-driven planning, which analyzes conditions and forecasts needs; community-based planning, which ensures public values and lived experiences shape priorities; and performance-based planning, which ties goals and investments to measurable results. Together, these approaches create a transparent, equitable, and accountable framework that aligns regional vision with real-world action and ensures systems such as transportation, land use, housing, environment, and economic development are planned holistically and strategically across parish boundaries.
Data Driven Planning Framework
Regional data and analytic frameworks are the foundation for all planning work. By building high-quality datasets and turning them into clear, actionable insight, RPC helps communities make informed decisions.
RPC, develops regional data, create analytic tools, and translate complex information into results that support transportation planning, flood risk reduction, economic development, and more. Through shared data, transparent methods, and community-informed analysis, we ensure that planning across Southeast Louisiana is data-driven, collaborative, and prepared for the future.
The RPC partners with federal, state. local, and other partners in acquiring, developing, maintaining, and utilization strategies of data to foster information and innovation.
Community Based Planning Framework
Community-Based Planning is RPC’s programatic apparatus that connects comprehensive community level needs with the region’s long-range vision, ensuring that local concerns, lived experiences, and place-specific challenges directly inform regional priorities. The program provides a structured analytic framework that identifies/compares diverse needs across parishes, municipalities, and community types. By emphasizing fair-share programming of funds and proportional representation in planning processes, it ensures that all communities—including historically underserved areas—benefit proportionally from planning investments.
The Community Based Planning Framework is in place to ensure compliance with Federal Title VI nondiscrimination, NEPA, and planning regulations across all scales of regional planning.
Performance Based Planning Framework
Performance-Based Planning is the federally required MPO transportation planning apparatus that ensures that regional decisions are grounded in measurable outcomes, transparent data, and accountability. It links goals, strategies, and investments to quantifiable performance expectations across transportation, watershed, land use, environmental, and equity priorities. This framework ensures resources are allocated where they deliver the greatest benefit, advance equity, and improve long-term regional resilienceThe
The Performance Based Planning Framework is in place to ensure compliance with Federal Highways Act — MPO transportation planning and programming regulations across all scales of regional planning.
Regional Outreach and Planning Engagement Strategies
Effective regional planning requires a deliberate and inclusive outreach and engagement strategy that ensures decisions are informed by the communities and institutions they impact. The Regional Outreach and Planning Engagement Strategies framework establishes a consistent, equitable approach to consultation, collaboration, and communication. It links community-scale experiences with system-level decision-making, ensuring that long-range plans and operational programs reflect the real needs, priorities, and lived conditions of the region.
The Regional Outreach and Planning Engagement Strategies Framework is in place to ensure compliance with Federal Highway Act — MPO Transportation planning and programming regulation across all scales of regional planning.
Functions of Regional Planning
Understand Regional Conditions – Present and Future
Understand Regional Conditions – Present and FutureAnalyzes demographic, socioeconomic, travel, land development, environmental, and flood-risk data to understand how the region is changing.
Engage Communities and Stakeholder
Input from residents, governments, businesses, human services, freight, environmental partners, and community groups ensures the plan reflects real needs
Set Goals and Objectives
Set Goals and ObjectivesGoals are shaped by community priorities, equity considerations, statewide guidance, and federal planning requirements.
Develop Strategies for Investments
Technical analysis and performance-based planning guide selection of strategies and projects with the greatest benefit.
Adopt Strategies and Monitor
Adopt Strategies and MonitorWe track performance, adapt strategies, and report progress to ensure the region moves toward its long-term vision.
Regional Trends
Land Cover
Land Development
Infrastructure and Built Environment
Transportation systems and mobility
Community
Applied Population Statistics
SocioEconomics
Economy
Workforce
Water Resource
RPC Planning Programs
The Regional Planning Commission (RPC) supports a broad range of planning activities that help Southeast Louisiana grow into the future. As the region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and Planning & Development District, the RPC leads coordinated efforts across transportation, environmental resilience, economic development, land use, and community engagement. Together, these planning areas ensure that local decisions align with regional priorities—strengthening mobility, reducing flood risk, supporting economic opportunity, and improving quality of life for all residents.
Transportation Planning
Serving as the designated Greater New Orlean Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the RPC coordinates transportation decisions across the regions urbanized areas, parishes, municipalities, state agencies, transit providers, ports, and community stakeholders ensures that people, goods, and services can move safely, efficiently, and reliably throughout Southeast Louisiana. This regional approach ensures that investments reflect shared priorities, support economic development, and improve quality of life for all residents.
Economic Development
RPC operating as a Planning and Development District (PDD), supports long-term economic prosperity across Southeast Louisiana by aligning regional infrastructure, workforce, land use, and community development strategies. As a federally recognized regional entity, the RPC partners with local governments, industry, academic institutions, and state and federal agencies to ensure that economic growth is resilient, equitable, and grounded in data.
Environmental Planning
RPC works across many programatic areas to strengthen the long-term resilience, safety, and sustainability of Southeast Louisiana by integrating natural systems, flood risk, climate adaptation, and land development considerations into regional decision-making. The region’s unique coastal environment, complex watershed systems, and exposure to extreme weather make environmental planning essential to protecting communities, infrastructure, and economic assets.