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Town/Urban PlanningLecture 1

An introductory Lecture byEngr. Mansoor Ahmed Khan

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Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city

Now how can we define a city then???

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within

general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or

historical status based on local law

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Kowloon Town Hong Kong

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Town and cities…contd…

Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation.

The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and

businesses, benefiting both parties in the process. A big city or metropolis usually has associated

suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas and

urban areas, creating numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for

employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a

conurbation

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What is Urban Planning?

Urban planning is an approach to managing and influencing the growth

and development of communities. Urban planners design and facilitate

the development of livable communities in both small and large

urban areas

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Town or Urban Planning

Urban, city, and town planning integrates land use planning and transportation

planning to improve the built, economic and social environments of communities. Regional planning deals with a still larger

environment, at a less detailed levelUrban planning can include urban renewal,

by adapting urban planning methods to existing cities suffering from decay and

lack of investment

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Planning and aesthetic…hand in hand (Bath England)

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Colorado…United States

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Why Study Urban Planning?

Communities are constantly changing through development and population growth. Rather than

reacting to these changes, most communities choose to control their own fate through planning. As an urban planner, you can help communities chart their future growth by helping them prepare socio-economic and physical design plans. These

plans take into consideration the felt needs of community residents and through them

communities are able to preserve and enhance their quality of life, preserve the physical and natural environment, and promote economic

growth

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Without Urban Planning…(Residential)

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Without Urban Planning…(Sewerage)

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Without Urban Planning…(Transport)

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Without Urban Planning…(Land use)

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Why we need to study Urban Planning???contd…

You might ask yourself, "What exactly is urban planning?"

Simply put, urban planning is the art of turning space into place. As an urban planner, you will design and facilitate the development of livable communities in both small and larger urban areas

As communities continue to evolve through development and population growth, instead of reacting to these changes, communities are choosing to control their own fate through planning. That’s where urban planning comes in…

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Defining some basic terminologies

SUBURB: A separate residential community within commuting distance of a cityEXURBS: The ring of prosperous communities beyond the suburbs that are commuter towns for an urban areaA COMMUTER TOWN is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihoodThe term METROPOLITAN AREA refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housingAn URBAN AREA is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamletsA CONURBATION is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed areaA HAMLET is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community

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A planned city

A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was

carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a

previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use

conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since they are planned

carefully

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Being an Urban planner what does the word planning appeals???

Planning refers to the process of deciding what to do and how to do it

Effective planning takes into account diverse perspectives and impacts,

allowing decision-makers to identify and implement the most effective

ways to achieve goals

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A proverb that means a lot…

A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. But a vision with a plan can change the

world

Are we capable to start a change…a million dollar

question???

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A good planning…

Planning is a noble but underappreciated profession.

Planners help communities create their preferred future – good planning

makes progress toward paradise while bad planning leaves a legacy of

problems and disputes. Planners perform civilization’s heavy lifting by anticipating and resolving community

conflicts

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Skills/properties of a good urban plannerGood planning requires special skills and

perspectives for exampleMost people prefer to ignore problems until they become unavoidable. Planners are professional worriers who seek out potential problems so they can be mitigatedMost people look at a problem from a single perspective. Planners are responsible for considering multiple perspectivesMost people prefer simple problems and solutions. Planners learn to appreciate complexity and search for deeper meanings and underlying causes. Planners learn to work with uncertainty and ambiguity.

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Skills/properties of a good urban planner

Most people consider compromise a sign of weakness and failure. Planners are passionate about compromise because it resolves conflicts and often leads to better solutionsMost people prefer to consider one issue at a time. Planners apply integrated analysis, so individual, short-term decisions are consistent with multiple, long-term goals

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Plan for the future…

According to Harvard University Professor Daniel Gilbert (2006), the human species greatest and most

unique ability is to imagine and anticipate objects and episodes that do not currently exist, that is, to plan for the future. That is our individual

and collective strength. Planners are the coaches

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Look forward to the future…Planners facilitate change and so must overcome

entrenched practices and interests. We often encounter resistance from people who assume that what they consider normal must be good, that is, people who look back to the past rather than forward to the future. For example, efforts to improve transport system efficiency by encouraging use of alternative modes often face resistance from people accustomed to automobile travel. “I just want to be able to drive where I want,” they argue, implying that such a demand is reasonable, even if accommodating additional vehicle traffic is increasingly costly

Resistance in city and Khyber road is an example…

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Planning can be frustratingBe warned:

Planning in Pakistan can be frustrating! There are many ways that a planning process can fail, including inadequate resources, inadequate public or official

support, and unresolved conflicts. Planners often work for years on projects that are implemented ineffectively or not at all.

However, if planning were easy, it wouldn’t be as much fun!

Example Chowk Yadgaar,Shama chowk, Ring road…execution stage blunders…

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Planning PrinciplesComprehensive – all significant options and impacts are considered. Efficient – the process should not waste time or money. Inclusive – people affected by the plan have opportunities to be involved. Informative – results are understood by stakeholders (people affected by a decision). Integrated – individual, short-term decisions should support strategic, long-term goals. Logical – each step leads to the next.Transparent – everybody involved understands how the process operates.

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Planning involves stakeholders

Planning is a social activity – it involves people. Successful planning requires effective involvement of stakeholders

Planners should be prepared to work with people from diverse backgrounds, interests and abilities

StakeholdersUsersCitizens/taxpayers Impacted residentsBusinessesEmployees/workers Public officialsAffected organizations/interest groups Lawyers

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Uncertainty in planning processThe future conditions are impossible to predict

Follow 3 basic principles1. Information limitations: a planner might say that

projected development or transport demand is based on extrapolating past trends and may be inaccurate if population or economic growth patterns, or consumer preferences, change

2. Stay tuned with current research and developments: the relationships between land use patterns and travel activity…Ring road example

3. Establish flexible plans: plans can be adjusted over time

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Generic Planning Process

Establish the basic planning framework, including scope, stakeholders, schedule, etc.Invite stakeholder input to share ideas and concernsCreate a vision, goal or problem statementDevelop a list of possible options (also called solutions) using various information resources (brainstorming, publications, websites, experts, etc)Evaluate and prioritize options from best to worstCreate a Plan which identifies who does what, when and how. This may include a long term strategic plan, and short-term action plans.

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Generic Planning Process

Gather baseline data (data collected before plan is implemented).Implement policies and programs.Evaluate program (gather data after program is implemented to determine whether it is achieving objectives as expected). Revise plan as appropriate

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Next Lecture

Land use pattern and Transportation planning