This paper aims at evaluating the recent Egyptian experience in strategic planning for villages. More than 4000 villages have been planned with this new approach in the period from 2005 to 2008.  The paper adopts a social systems approach as a basic framework for evaluating this experience. In using such an approach of systemic thinking, the paper's aims are not limited to the articulation of evaluation results of past experience, but also extend to envisage recommendations and suggestions that may be taken in consideration to achieve sustainable results. In the terms of systems theory, the paper argues that we can enhance the current planning methodology, that adopts strategic management methods, if we succeed in dealing with the village and encouraging its transformation from a self‐maintaining reactive system to first, one that is responsive or adaptive to its environment, and later, to a purposeful system that actively develops its environment.