The historical evolution of development planning methods has progressed in a growing and adaptive manner, shaped by human experience over time. Although various classifications exist for types of development planning approaches, this paper focuses on the land‑use planning document (Territorial Planning) as the most recent method—one that has emerged from earlier planning experiences and represents current best practice.

This document, which historically dates back about fifty years and originates from France, quickly became a widely adopted planning model across different countries. The diversity of its versions in recent decades reflects the dynamism of its theoretical and conceptual foundations, which increasingly encompass broader dimensions of planning and development.

However, this study aims to explain the landscape-based approach within development planning by conducting a comparative analysis between the latest theoretical foundations of territorial planning documents and the landscape approach. This comparison, which refers—at the level of applied and case-study analysis—to Iran’s National Territorial Planning Document, shows that the differences between a landscape-oriented, place-based approach to development and the dominant conceptual and policy framework of territorial planning stem from their fundamentally different interpretations of “place.”

The philosophical foundations of landscape science and the planning methods derived from it introduce new definitions of place, which diverge from the methodological foundations of territorial planning documents. Although territorial planning is based on newer concepts—“planning” as land-use allocation and “territory” as the geographical unit of analysis—it has developed within reductionist scientific traditions. For this reason, it cannot fully encompass ontological concepts found in holistic sciences such as landscape studies, including the concept of place. This issue becomes evident in this research through the comparison of definitions related to space, place, and territory at different theoretical and practical levels with the definition of place in landscape science.