Facing Down the So-Called Agenda 21 ‘Conspiracy’ Lessons for Planners

Abstract

In the last several years, proposed land use decisions in the United States frequently have been subject to claims that they were influenced in undesirable ways by Agenda 21, the international strategy for sustainable development adopted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Those making these claims work from a bogeyman version of Agenda 21 created by a well-funded anti-government, pro-property rights cottage industry that portrays Agenda 21 in demonstrably false ways. Using a land use controversy in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania as a case study, this article explains how local planners and officials can address these claims when they are made.

Keywords: sustainable, sustainability, land use, Agenda 21, UN Conference on Environment

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K32, Q00, Q01, Q10, Q2, Q3, Q4