1. Standards
   • Facilities/programs compared to a standard to see if have enough per 1000 Population--# of, miles of (usable only as a crude starting point)
2. Gross Demand Approach
   Participation levels and projected into
   the future (programs/facilities/areas)
3. Spatial Approach
• Various Travel distance catchment planned by visit rates for areas and facilities
4. Modeling
   • Utilize a predictive model of usage based upon an array of variables (e.g. travel distance, personal auto, etc.)
5. Hierarchy of Facilities
   • Span the range of types
   • E.g. Open Space
     • Vest pocket park
     • Neighborhood park
     • District park
     • Metro-City wide park
       
     • Regional park
       
   • E.g. Facilities
     
   • Room
     
   • Single building
     
   • Complex
     
   • Pool
   • Pool/waterslide/hot tubs
   • Water theme park
6. Grid Approach
   • Needs met in all sections of the area
     (areas/facilities/services available
     in each of the planning units)
7. Organic Approach
   • How to develop and go about planning the development of a certain area/facility (e.g. demand studies, needs assessment, feasibility studies, site analysis, communitymeetings, etc.)
8. Community Development Approach
   • Human betterment at the location level. Focus on what happens to the person/neighborhood/area rather than area/facilities
9. Issue Approach
   • Opportunity directed: hit the trend; problem solving directed (e.g. children bored)
10. Resource Limitation Approach
    • Only those activities that do no or minimal harm to the specific resource (e.g. soil, wildlife, fisheries, forest, etc.)
11. Carrying Capacity Approach
    • Biological, social/psychological, management carrying capacities developed for each area (e.g. trail-amount of soil erosion, size of group, $$'s per mile spent)

Each approach has an inherent bias. Some of each is a realistic approach under the right conditions.