The following is a list of the major official planning efforts and ordinances related to the land use in the Quito urban and peri-urban area from 1945-1990 (IMQ, 1992c and 1992f).
· Plan Regulador para la Ciudad de Quito - "Plan Jones Odriozola" (1945): (Master Plan for the City of Quito - "Plan Jones Odriozola") This first formal planning document projected a four-fold expansion of population and spatial growth of the city by the year 2000, and recommended setting aside areas for future development of the city. Functionally, the plan divided the city into three major activity zones: housing, work and leisure, and recommended spatial differentiation of land uses, a more rational road network, and the need for sufficient recreation space.
· Plan General Urbano de Quito 67 (1967): (General Urban Plan of Quito 67) By the 1960s, the 1945 "Plan Jones" was very out of date due to enormous growth of the city, and new attempts were made in this document to order land use, institute a general zoning scheme, and improve the urban transportation network. The plan was designed for a 30 year time period, but by the late 1970s, actual growth had already far exceeded predictions.
· Ordenanza 1353 (1971): (Ordinance 1353) Passed in May of 1971, this was the first ordinance attempting to regulate land development outside the strict city limit of Quito. In this ordinance, the Municipality declared the city and its periphery as an "Emergency Urban Development Center" in accordance with provisions of the national law regarding municipal governments. Under this provision, a newly designated "Metropolitan Area of the Capital of the Republic" was formed, which contained four different territorial components: (1) the urban area: defined by the limits of provision of potable water system (i.e., 2950 m. elevation); (2) the suburban area: constituted by the current urban area and its zone of expansion as delineated in the 1967 Master Plan; (3) the urban and suburban parish area: defined by a radius of 2 km. extending from each parish center; and (4) the rural area: all that territory not included in previous categories. Within these classifications, various minimum lot sizes were established, ranging from highly urban residential lots of 150 m2 to agricultural holdings of 5 or more hectares.
· Quito y Su Area Metropolitana, Plan Director 1973-1993 (1973): (Quito and Its Metropolitan Area, Master Plan 1973-1992) Once again in response to growth rates which had outpaced prior planning documents, this study was launched and proposed. Planning guidelines attempted to limit the growth of Quito by a decentralization of functions and spatial relocation. This Plan was never approved by the City Council and never had the authority of law.
· Plan Quito - Esquema Director 1980 (1981): (Plan Quito - Master Scheme 1980) Urban growth had continued unabated throughout the 1970s, and a new planning approach was undertaken in this document which for the first time looked at the entire Quito "microregion". The plan made general recommendations regarding a territorial organization by districts, but did not contain any specific regulations. These were proposed in a 1982 Land Use Planning document, but these norms were never politically supported or approved by municipal ordinance. Although the 1981 general plan was officially in effect, Quito continued to grow under the obsolete legal-regulatory framework included in the land use ordinance of 1967.
· Ordenanza 2446 (1985): (Ordinance 2446) The metropolitan area of Quito was officially expanded to include several additional rural parishes, in an attempt to bring them under municipal control. However, no specific land use regulations were yet approved in accordance with the 1980 Plan.
