AICP Exam Prep – Comprehensive Study Guide and Practice Questions for Certification
Preparation
Fiscal Impact Analysis - ✔✔A tool that compares the local government revenues associated
with development policies and projects
Collector Road - ✔✔A low-to-moderate capacity road which serves to move traffic from local
streets to arterial roads; they are designed d to provide access to residential properties.
Arterial Road - ✔✔A high-capacity urban road; delivers traffic from collector roads to freeways
or expressways, and between urban centers at the highest level of service possible
Local roads - ✔✔Roads with the lowest speed limits and carries low volumes of traffic and
maybe unpaved in some areas
Cost-effectiveness Analysis - ✔✔Compares the relative costs and outcomes of different courses
of action; it assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect.
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) - ✔✔A systematic approach to estimate the strengths and
weaknesses of alternatives; it is used to determine options that provide the best approach to
achieve benefits while preserving savings
Development Agreement - ✔✔A voluntary contract between a local jurisdiction and a person
who owns or controls property within the jurisdiction detailing the obligations of both parties
and specifying the standards and conditions that will govern development of the property.
Special Use permit - ✔✔A permit that allows for a specific exemption to zoning regulations for
a particular piece of land in a location that has a particular zoning characteristic.
,Impact fee - ✔✔A fee charged by a community and paid by a developer that is commensurate
with the externalities created by a development. Intended to cover the development's impact
on such things as roads, sewer systems, schools, and police and fire protection.
Subdivision Regulation - ✔✔the standards and procedures that regulate the subdivision of
land for development and sale
City Beautiful Movement - ✔✔A turn-of-the-twentieth-century movement that advocated
landscape beautification, playgrounds, and more and better urban parks.
City Efficient Movement - ✔✔A major movement in the U.S., Britain and other industrial
nations in the early 20th century that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the
economy and society, and to develop and implement best practices
Public Health Movement - ✔✔an effort to remedy the high disease and mortality rate that
occurred in cities
Garden City - ✔✔A self-contained planned town combining work, residential, agricultural, and
recreational facilities, and surrounded by a rural belt.
Audience Response System - ✔✔Computer application that enables voting and then collects
and displays the results, simplifying decision-making among event participants.
Visual Preference Survey - ✔✔a technique that can be used to assist citizens in evaluating
physical images of natural and built environments. Citizens are asked to view and evaluate a
wide variety of pictures depicting houses, sites, building styles, streetscapes, etc. Scores are
used to indicate whether a design is what a citizen sees as appropriate for their community.
Dot Voting - ✔✔write ideas on a large board, have people vote by putting a dot by it
, Design Charette - ✔✔an intense period of design or planning activity.
random sample - ✔✔a sample in which every element in the population has an equal chance
of being selected
stratified sample - ✔✔a sample drawn in such a way that known subgroups within a
population are represented in proportion to their numbers in the general population
cluster sample - ✔✔obtained by selecting all individuals within a randomly selected collection
or group of individuals
Nominal Group Technique - ✔✔A decision-making technique in which group members write
down ideas and solutions, read their suggestions to the whole group, and discuss and then rank
the alternatives.
Public Hearing - ✔✔hearings held for public comment on proposed action at public meeting
Tax increment - ✔✔Additional tax revenues that result from increases in property values
within a
redevelopment area.
Consensus Building - ✔✔process of working toward achieving general agreement within a
group
Delphi Technique - ✔✔a decision-making method in which members of a panel of experts
respond to questions and to each other until reaching agreement on an issue
Downzoning - ✔✔reducing the intensity of zoning on a site
Preparation
Fiscal Impact Analysis - ✔✔A tool that compares the local government revenues associated
with development policies and projects
Collector Road - ✔✔A low-to-moderate capacity road which serves to move traffic from local
streets to arterial roads; they are designed d to provide access to residential properties.
Arterial Road - ✔✔A high-capacity urban road; delivers traffic from collector roads to freeways
or expressways, and between urban centers at the highest level of service possible
Local roads - ✔✔Roads with the lowest speed limits and carries low volumes of traffic and
maybe unpaved in some areas
Cost-effectiveness Analysis - ✔✔Compares the relative costs and outcomes of different courses
of action; it assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect.
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) - ✔✔A systematic approach to estimate the strengths and
weaknesses of alternatives; it is used to determine options that provide the best approach to
achieve benefits while preserving savings
Development Agreement - ✔✔A voluntary contract between a local jurisdiction and a person
who owns or controls property within the jurisdiction detailing the obligations of both parties
and specifying the standards and conditions that will govern development of the property.
Special Use permit - ✔✔A permit that allows for a specific exemption to zoning regulations for
a particular piece of land in a location that has a particular zoning characteristic.
,Impact fee - ✔✔A fee charged by a community and paid by a developer that is commensurate
with the externalities created by a development. Intended to cover the development's impact
on such things as roads, sewer systems, schools, and police and fire protection.
Subdivision Regulation - ✔✔the standards and procedures that regulate the subdivision of
land for development and sale
City Beautiful Movement - ✔✔A turn-of-the-twentieth-century movement that advocated
landscape beautification, playgrounds, and more and better urban parks.
City Efficient Movement - ✔✔A major movement in the U.S., Britain and other industrial
nations in the early 20th century that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the
economy and society, and to develop and implement best practices
Public Health Movement - ✔✔an effort to remedy the high disease and mortality rate that
occurred in cities
Garden City - ✔✔A self-contained planned town combining work, residential, agricultural, and
recreational facilities, and surrounded by a rural belt.
Audience Response System - ✔✔Computer application that enables voting and then collects
and displays the results, simplifying decision-making among event participants.
Visual Preference Survey - ✔✔a technique that can be used to assist citizens in evaluating
physical images of natural and built environments. Citizens are asked to view and evaluate a
wide variety of pictures depicting houses, sites, building styles, streetscapes, etc. Scores are
used to indicate whether a design is what a citizen sees as appropriate for their community.
Dot Voting - ✔✔write ideas on a large board, have people vote by putting a dot by it
, Design Charette - ✔✔an intense period of design or planning activity.
random sample - ✔✔a sample in which every element in the population has an equal chance
of being selected
stratified sample - ✔✔a sample drawn in such a way that known subgroups within a
population are represented in proportion to their numbers in the general population
cluster sample - ✔✔obtained by selecting all individuals within a randomly selected collection
or group of individuals
Nominal Group Technique - ✔✔A decision-making technique in which group members write
down ideas and solutions, read their suggestions to the whole group, and discuss and then rank
the alternatives.
Public Hearing - ✔✔hearings held for public comment on proposed action at public meeting
Tax increment - ✔✔Additional tax revenues that result from increases in property values
within a
redevelopment area.
Consensus Building - ✔✔process of working toward achieving general agreement within a
group
Delphi Technique - ✔✔a decision-making method in which members of a panel of experts
respond to questions and to each other until reaching agreement on an issue
Downzoning - ✔✔reducing the intensity of zoning on a site
