It is commonly recognized that the comprehensive urban and regional planning field needs more information and data as bases for decisions. This recognition arises as a logical response to the complexity of the planning field's current problems. In the past, the planning field generally operated through "hunches" and the drawing board. Although such method served its purpose, it proved inadequate in coping with today's urban and regional planning problems.
Planning is regarded as a "continuous process" that never really ends after the completion or implementation of a plan. As a process, planning relies on vast amounts of data. This emphasis on facts and scientific investigations sharply differentiates the current comprehensive urban planning approach from the old planning practice, which largely focuses on aesthetics.
The field of comprehensive urban and regional planning is undergoing a metamorphosis through the introduction of new analytical techniques and the application of the planning data bank. This paper will attempt to describe briefly the procedures of developing a data bank and how this new tool for urban and regional planning may be applied to Philippine condition.