The Montana Association of Planners (MAP) is an association of professional planners, planning consultants, planning board members, citizen planners, and interested citizens. Individual interests and expertise in the association include a variety of planning topics ranging from historic preservation to housing development. The association takes no position for or against growth, but rather promotes planning as a positive and proactive way to address change in our communities.

Planning is the process by which a community attempts to deal with existing conditions, and provide for future needs. Though most often associated with guiding future land use and land development, local planning efforts can also include planning for public facilities and service needs, historic preservation, environmental protection, transportation, parks and recreation, and economic development.  In Montana, comprehensive, general, or master plans are instead known as growth policies.

Planning involves many tools, including economic and demographic analysis, natural and cultural resource evaluation, goal-setting, and strategic planning. Planning provides options so communities and their citizens can achieve their vision of the future. Many people equate planning with subdivision and zoning regulations. Subdivision and zoning regulations are not planning. Rather, they are examples of implementation tools of the planning process. Good planning results in opportunities for smart growth that create livable, sustainable, and economically viable communities.