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TWENTIETH CENTURY LAND USE PLANNINu FIGURE 4. Howard County, Maryland, General Plan, Land Use 2010 Source: Adapted from Howard County 1990 and map- oriented. However, it is less specific about the pattern of land uses within areas specified for de- velopment, which results in a kind of silhouette of ur- ban form. On the other hand, land. classification is more specific about development strategy, including timing. Counties, metropolitan. areas, and regional planning agencies are more likely than cities to use a land classification plan. The land classification plan identifies areas where development will be encouraged (called urban, tran- sition, or development areas) and areas where de- velopment will be discouraged (open space, rural, conservation, or critical environmental areas). For each designated area, policies about the type, timing, and density of allowable development, extension of in- frastructure, and development incentives or con- straints apply. The planning principle is to concentrate financial resources, utilities, and services within a lim- ited, prespecified area suitable for development, and to relieve pressure on nondevelopment areas by with- holding facilities that accommodate growth .12 Ian McHarg's (1969) approach to land planning is an early example of the land classification concept. He divides planning regions into three categories: natural use,. production, and urban. Natural use areas, those with valuable ecological functions, have the highest priority. Production areas, which include agriculture, forestry, and fishing uses, are next in priority. Urban areas have the lowest priority and are designated after alldcating the land suitable to the two higher - priority 'uses. McHarg's approach in particular, and land classi- fication generally, also reflect the emerging environ- mental consciousness of the 1960s and 1970s. As early as 1961, Hawaii had incorporated the land classification approach into its state growth manage - ment system (Degrove 1984). The development frame- work plan of the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area defined "planning tiers," each intended for a different type and intensity of development (Reichert 1976). The concepts of the "urban service area, ", first used in 1958 in Lexington, Kentucky, and the "urban growth boundary," used throughout Oregon under its 1973 statewide planning act, classify land according to growth management policy (Abbott, Howe, and Adler APA JOURNAL- SUMMER 1995 1373