Urban planning, also known as town planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communication and distribution networks and their accessibility. (Urban planning is similar to town planning but done on a much larger scale). Urban planning is the design and regulation of the uses of space that focus on the physical form, economic functions and social impacts of the urban environment. Urban planning concerns itself with both the development of open land and the revitalization of existing parts of the city, thereby involving goal setting, data collection and analysis, forecasting, design, strategic thinking and public consultation. Increasingly, the technology of geographic information systems (GIS) has been used to map the existing urban system and to project the consequences of changes.
Urban planning is an interdisciplinary field that includes aspects of civil engineering, architecture, geography, political science, environmental studies, design science and other sciences. Practitioners of urban planning are concerned with research and analysis, strategic thinking, engineering architecture, urban design, public consultation, policy recommendations, implementation and management.
The modern origins of urban planning lie in a social movement for urban reform that arose in the latter part of the 19th century as a reaction against the disorder of the industrial city. Many visionaries of the period sought an ideal city, yet practical considerations of adequate sanitation, movement of goods and people and provision of amenities also drove the desire for planning. Contemporary planners seek to balance the conflicting demands of social equity, economic growth, environmental sensitivity and aesthetic appeal. The result of the planning process may be a formal master plan for an entire city or metropolitan area, a project plan, or a set of policy alternatives. Successful implementation of a plan usually requires entrepreneurship and political astuteness.
Traditionally, urban planning followed a top-down approach in planning the physical layout of human settlements. The primary concern was the public welfare, which included considerations of efficiency, sanitation, protection and use of the environment, as well as effects of the master plans on the social and economic activities. Over time, urban planning has adopted a focus on the social and environmental bottom-lines that focus on planning as a tool to improve the health and well-being of people while maintaining sustainability standards. Sustainable development was added as one of the main goals of all planning endeavors in the late 20th century when the detrimental economic and the environmental impacts of the previous models of planning had become apparent.
Urban
The concrete technical aspects defining ‘urban’ are:
- Population size
- Population density
- Economic base
- Presence of a municipal body
There must be a minimum number of people residing in the place for it to be called urban; these people must be concentrated in a particular area and not scattered; there should be a minimum number of people in one unit area of land; they should be engaged in economic activities other than primary ones such as agriculture or animal rearing etc. and there must be a municipality or town committee or a planning and governing body to take care of the services and planning of that place. There is no common minimum number that can be put against these aspects, as no numbers are universally applicable all over the world. All countries have their own specifications for each of these aspects and they vary considerably.
In India, the Census defines an urban area as one with:
- Population more than 5000
- Population density over 400 persons per sq.km
- 75% of the male population engaged in non-agricultural occupations
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