URP122 Intro to Planning

• Planning


  A deliberate attempt to achieve some objectives and it proceeds by assembling actions into some sequence
• Planning


  The laying out of course of actions that we can follow to achieve our desired goal or objectives
• Planning


  An activity concerned with making choices or alternatives about future options, taking into account of the probabilities of what may be achieved and then secure the implementation of the chosen option
• Consensus or common agreement in definitions of planning

  • A goal-objective oriented activity with course of actions to follow
  • A general approach to decision making
  • A future oriented activity
  • An activity with alternatives or choices
  • A process
• Town planning


  A profession, which is much wider than the planning of urban settlements
• Other names for town planning

  • Urban planning
  • City planning
  • Town and country planning
  • Urban and rural planning
  • Urban and regional planning
  • City and regional planning
  • Spatial planning
  • Land-use planning
  • Physical planning
• Town planning (according to Patrick Abercrombie)

  Seeks to proffer a guiding hand to trend of natural evolution as a result of careful study of place itself and its external relationships. The result is to be more than a piece of skilful engineering, or satisfactory hygiene or successful economics. It should be a social organism and a work of art
• Town planning (according to Thomas Adams)


  A science, an art and a movement of policy concerned with the shaping and guiding of the physical growth and arrangement of towns in harmony with social and economic needs. We purse it as a science to obtain knowledge of urban structure and services, and to understand the relation of its constituent parts and processes of circulation; as an art to determine the layout of the ground, the arrangement of land uses and ways of communication and design of the buildings on principles
• Town planning (according to Stuart Chapin Jr.)

  A means for systematically anticipating and achieving adjustment to physical environment of a city consistent with social and economic trends and sound principles of civic design. It involves a continuing process of deriving, organising and presenting a broad and comprehensive program for urban development and renewal. It is designed to fulfil local objectives of social, economic and physical well-being, considering both immediate needs and those of the foreseeable future
• Town planning (according to Lewis Keble)


  The art and science of ordering the use of land and the character and sitting of buildings and communication routes so as to secure the maximum practicable degree of economy, convenience and beauty
• Characteristics of successful planning (according to Lewis Keble)

  • The promotion of accessibility of homes to work, shops, school and entertainment; industry to sources of labour, power, raw materials and so on
  • The employment of resources as economically as possible, so as to achieve the greatest possible measure of improvement with necessarily limited means
  • The separation of incompatible land uses from each other and association of compatible or mutually helpful ones
  • The carrying out of all development in as visually pleasant a matter as is possible
• Town planning


  The allocation of natural resources, particularly land, in such a manner to obtain maximum efficiency, taking into consideration the welfare of the community by reconciling between their economic, social, physical and political needs. It is an attempt to formulate the principles that guide us in creating a civilized physical environment for human life, seeing and guiding change as well as securing sensible and acceptable blend of conservation and exploitation of land resources for human activities
• Need for town planning

  To solve particularly the physical planning problems and to achieve the objectives of planning
• Objectives of town planning

  • Guide and protect the efficient use of land and hence prevent development contrary to public policy or interest
  • Maximize improvement to human environment by arranging the available land to accommodate things such as schools, health centre, residential areas, commercial areas, industries, places of recreation and entertainment
  • Create quality and beauty environment for human use
  • Preserve the natural resources of the environment and ensure its utilization to the fullest
  • Ensure that the development of plan is in conformity with the desired development standard and control
• Past planning process


  Based on the simple adage of "Survey, Analysis, Plan", thus giving a process with both beginning and end, a process which often resulted in a static, inflexible, once and for all time master plan, drawn up in the light of the existing circumstances at one particular moment and designed for selected dates in future
• Modern planning process


  Continuous and does not present a final definite panacea. It should be able to force, guide and influence change, taking a long term perspective of short term occurrences. It should be sufficiently adaptable to permit review, modification and revision
• Stages of the modern planning process


  • Preliminary study
  • Formulation of goals
  • Identification of objectives
  • Preparation of Alternative strategies
  • Evaluation and Selection
  • Implementation
  • Monitoring and Review
• Preliminary study


  Appraise or survey the area, agencies, organisations, individuals and activities at play, and identify the way in which planning might function to address any imbalance or anomaly that is present in the locality
• Formulation of goals


  Reflect the demands and desires of the community at large
• Identification of objectives


  Identification of the more précised ways in which the goals might be achieved
• Preparation of alternative strategies

  Examine the possible alternative means of achieving these goals and objectives, determined by various constraints such as financial, legal, social, physical or political
• Evaluation and selection


  Compare and measure all the alternatives to see how they achieve the objectives specified in the light of constraints, in order to make selection or decision
• Implementation


  Put the chosen plan into practice, involving planning phase (coordination), scheduling phase (time, manpower, finance) and control phase
• Monitoring and review


  Review the performance of the plan regarding its effectiveness and efficiency, and make adjustments where necessary
• Urbanization


  The agglomeration of people in urban areas. It is a process by which urban areas increase in size and population density
• Urban area/city


  The biggest and most populated area. A large city is one with at least 2 million people. A megacity is one with 10 million people or more
• Urbanization


  A process whereby comparatively increasing number of people lives in urban centres as against the rural areas. It is the proportion of people living in the urban centres as compared with those in the rural areas
• Causes of urbanization


  Urban growth due to natural population growth, reclassification of urban and rural system and rural-urban migration
• In many developed countries which have high level of urbanisation, the rate of urbanisation is low and most cases steady. The rate is high in many developing countries where incidentally the rate of economic development is not catching up with the rate of urbanisation
• The trend of urbanisation in developing countries including Nigeria is that the rate of population growth is higher than the rate of provision of physical, economic and social facilities
• Problems of urbanization in developing countries

  • Overloading of existing facilities
  • Traffic congestion
  • Inadequate housing
  • Slums development
  • Pollution
• Consequences of urbanization


  • Unemployment
  • Low standard of living
  • Inadequate management machinery
  • Overpopulation
  • Traffic congestion
  • Social vices
  • Environmental deterioration
• Unemployment


  Urbanization often leads to high rate of unemployment because most people who migrate from rural areas have no basic education or lack working qualification experience
• Low standard of living


  Due to pressure of population on limited facilities which is manifested in the growth of squatter, poor and substandard housing settlements (slums), overcrowded habitation, lack of waste disposal arrangement, diminishing open spaces and parking spaces, traffic problems and environmental pollution
• Inadequate management machinery


  Growing cities lack the concept of urban management. The deplorable conditions in our cities underline the fact that we are still developing appropriate institutional and legislative machinery for managing them efficiently
• Overpopulation


  Leads to overcrowding of limited facilities, especially housing, water supply, electricity, education, health, etc
• Traffic congestion


  More people means more demand for travelling and more vehicles on the road, which often hinders free flow of traffic, especially during peaks periods
• Social vices


  High rate of armed robbery, rape, violence, kidnapping, suicide bombing etc due to joblessness, poverty and overpopulation, especially in urban centres
• Environmental deterioration


  In form of pollution, indiscriminate urban growth and refuse disposal, climate change in temperature, rainfall, winds, flooding etc. The presence of physical structures, industrial complexes, automobiles etc in the cities have drastic impact on the micro-climate