There are plenty of plans in Pittsburgh, but there is no plan for Pittsburgh.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl moved to change that Tuesday, asking for proposals from consultants that might craft the first two chapters of what could grow into a comprehensive plan for the city's future. The goal is to unify perhaps scores of existing and emerging plans, and fill in the blanks where there are no blueprints for the use of vacant land and preservation of history.

"When you don't have a comprehensive plan that ties all of the players in together, everyone goes off and does their different things," said city Planning Director Noor Ismail. A unified plan, she said, could try to answer the central question of post-industrial Pittsburgh: "We're not going to grow as big as we were, but how do we deal with the current situation?"

That situation has pluses and minuses, and the existence of hundreds of vacant properties and a relatively large amount of open space is both, she said. That's why the first chapter of the plan would deal with open space, parks and recreation.

"We're looking at this from a glass half full," said Ms. Ismail. "How can we meaningfully utilize this space that could work toward economic development, that could work toward active recreation?" Additions to parks and urban farming also would be addressed in the plan, she said.

Mr. Ravenstahl noted that the city already is "aggressively dealing with how we utilize our vacant land, turning more than 70 vacant lots into urban farms and gardens, and launching a plan to reconnect neighborhoods with rivers." The new plan will be a guideline for building on those efforts.

It also will incorporate the best of many other plans, like the ones the administration has commissioned or proposed on the Allegheny River's shores and the Hill District, and those created independently by neighborhood groups backed by the city.

Kim Graziani, city Neighborhood Initiatives director, said she's going to ask groups to list their top three to five priorities, and get those to the consultants, once they're chosen. She said many advocates have strong views on preservation, which is the subject of the second proposed plan chapter.

"I don't think you can set a course for the future without a connection point to the past," she said. The plan should identify "some very treasured historic assets," not limited to buildings, she said.

Legislation was introduced to council Tuesday to allow as much as $450,000 in spending on the plan. Ms. Ismail said the city intends to tap the state to cover much of the cost, and noted that comprehensive planning is a plank in the newly adopted Act 47 recovery plan.

Consultants have until the end of the month to submit proposals to the Planning Department.