Sustainable Urban Planning: A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on Oct 2, 2024 in Geography

Planning

Introduction

Planning is an organized social activity to develop the best strategy to achieve a given set of objectives.

Approaches

Rationalist Approach

Centers on the problem and aims to define the mode of action (total sequence of shares) to achieve the goal (to solve the problem).

Strategic Approach

Centers on the intermediate steps and sequential processes. It defines flexible and adaptive action strategies, focusing on the next steps to minimize the problem.

Planning Procedure

Image Planning

Objective: Produce a final, static, rigid, and inflexible plan. It allows immediate response and technical visibility.

Background Planning

Considers all alternatives for all objectives, comprehensive problem definition, and uses programs.

UNCITRAL Planning

Challenges purpose and objectives to define the limits of action; attention to ends in themselves; development independent of constraints, depending on potential tenants and innovation.

Case Planning

Objective: To assist the planning process with new information. It is dynamic, flexible, permissive, with slower response time.

Incremental Planning

Treats society as a group of individuals, does not exhaust the space of action, and uses strategies.

Functional Planning

Purpose and objectives are not compromised in defining action boundaries, but assumes the purpose is rational in relation to the means. It is adaptive, with agents driven by constraints imposed by other agents.

Planning Evolution

Late 19th Century: Industrial Revolution

Growing concern with holistic physical planning, even without a defined method.

Post-War (Late 1940s): Economic Growth

  • Economic Planning: Income distribution, monopoly, market economy, public goods.
  • Social Planning: Satisfaction of basic needs; collective decisions.

Emergence of social theories and interests: Von Thunen (agricultural market), Losch (industrial site), and Christaller (location of central areas).

Post-Environmental Revolution (Late 1960s)

Increased emphasis on physical planning, introducing environmental planning; concerns about pollution, conservation, species protection, and resource scarcity.

Post-Brundtland Report (Late 1980s)

Greater emphasis on environmental management and resources, reconciling economic development with environmental improvement, principles of sustainability.

Sustainable Development Concept

Development that meets present needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987:43). It can be seen as a set of development programs that meet human needs without violating the regenerative capacity of natural resources in the long run, nor the standards of environmental quality and social equity.

Current Planning Process (Amado, 2004)

Promotion: Sustainable Development
Vehicle: Urban Planning
Mode: Operating Process
Interaction: Factors of Sustainability
Guarantee: Justice

Valences of the Planning Process

Objective: Sustainable Development
Intervention: Region, County, Subdivision/Block/Street
Target: Man, Natural Environment
Value Reference: Area of Specialty
Operability: Mode of Decision, Monitoring
Strategies: Multi-disciplinary, Democratic, Public Participatory

Structure of the Planning Process

  1. Aim of intervention. Definition of strategic objectives.
  2. Reference situation. Environmental analysis. Economic analysis. Social and urban conditions and potential criteria definition.
  3. Design and land conditions. Strategies and sustainability factors. Road layout. Plot implementation. Location of equipment and open spaces.
  4. Implementation.

Stages of Planning Development

  1. 19th Century: Control of city design and health factors.
  2. Late 19th Century: Design of the new city with support for city-country connection.
  3. Early 20th Century: Design of ideal cities.
  4. 1970s: Curbing urban sprawl on agricultural land, forest, and landscape.
  5. 1980s: Integration of environmental policy measures.
  6. 1990s: Environmental restoration of degraded areas.
  7. Late 1990s: Drawing of plans including the environmental component.
  8. Early 21st Century: Plan design in conjunction with environmental, social, and economic issues. Application of PRU-planning activities and regional urban component. Process of realization of maps, charts, and regulations.

British Planning Act (1947)

Instituted the survey-analysis-plan methodology, with a five-year planning process. Before World War II, plans were very detailed, with large-scale proposals and strict representations. In the 1980s, a multi-objective and multi-dimensional process emerged.

Objectives

  • Transport infrastructure network of population centers.
  • Valuation of potentialities.
  • Dimensional differentiation of spatial areas.
  • Spatial imbalance, population densification and desertification.

Urbanization Process

Densification of space use, transforming space into urban areas, creating suburban acculturation, infrastructure, equipment, suburban economic management, basic services, public housing, immigration, concentration of clandestine phenomena, emigration, economic activities, accessibility/transport/congestion/parking issues, modal distribution of public transport, public supply, information quality, production and management, planning image and process, flexibility of structures and mentalities, policy options, 4-year mandates, clienteles and political cronyism, long-term planning with short-term fixes, socio-physical-ecological vs. economic approach, professional training of planning technicians, financial resources for authorities to have qualified engineers and technicians.

Issues of Reason

  • More terms of land use.
  • Environmental changes.
  • Social changes.
  • Violation of human values.
  • Valuation of the economic factor.

Period Between 1880 and 1945

Rich in studies on urban problems. Main schools of study: Anglo-Saxon and Continental European.

Anglo-Saxon

Urban settlement supported by single-family homes, two-story buildings.

Continental European

Urban settlement supported by building blocks.

Leading Thinkers of the Anglo-Saxon School

Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928)

Creator of the Garden City movement, which influenced future urban planning theory and practice. His theory focused on the advantages and disadvantages of city and countryside. He idealized the Social City, consisting of a central area surrounded by forest and farms, connected by road to six surrounding cities in a hexagon shape.

Neighborhood Unit Concept

Small residential sets involving commercial areas. Accessibility to the Civic Center by foot. Defined pathways. 5,000 people with housing, commerce, schools, and services. Garden cities could be built by private companies. Two garden cities were built: Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn Garden City (1920), both facing financial problems.

Unwin (1863-1940) and Parker (1869-1947)

Followers of Howard. Developed the Letchwathe Hampstead Garden Suburb project. Parker designed Wythenshawe south of Manchester, but failed in business location. Unwin and Parker changed the density to 50/60 inhabitants/hectare, arguing for increased green areas.

Clarence Perry (1872-1944)

Collaborated on the Regional Plan of New York (1920), developing the neighborhood unit idea. Focused on social structuring, identity, and solidarity. Area of influence: school (800-1200m), 1,000 families, or 5,000 people. Daily trade accessible on foot.

Clarence Stein (1882-1975)

Worked with Parker (UK) and Le Corbusier (France) on the implications of automobiles in cities. Advocated for the segregation of pedestrian and motorized traffic paths. Case study: Radburn, New Jersey (1933) – separative system circuit.

Athens Charter

With CIAM (International Congress of Modern Architecture) and the Athens Charter (1941), organic models were challenged. Proposed a functional city with zoning for living, working, recreating, and moving.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Published The City of Tomorrow (1922) and La Ville Radieuse (1933). Key ideas: obsolete traditional cities due to traffic; lower density in city centers; uniform density distribution; total separation of road, rail, and pedestrian traffic. Planned Chandigarh (1950-57).

Basic Law on Spatial Planning and Urbanism (LBPOTU)

Establishes the basis for planning and urbanism policy.

Scope

Defines actions by public authorities to ensure proper territory organization and use for integrated, harmonious, and sustainable development.

Subject

  1. Setting the policy framework and land management instruments.
  2. Regulating relations between government levels, people, and economic/social interests.

Aims

Organize territory, promote integrated utilization, ensure resource use, preserve environmental balance, humanize cities, ensure protection and enhancement of heritage, promote quality of life, rationalize and modernize urban areas, safeguard rural potential, and protect civil population.

Instruments of Territorial Management

Purpose

Establishes the legal regime, develops spatial planning policy foundations, defines coordination of national/regional/municipal land management, defines the general system of land use, and defines the preparation, approval, implementation, and evaluation of land management instruments.

National Spatial Planning Policy (PNPOT)

Establishes major options for regional development, framework for other territorial management tools, and cooperation with other EU states.

Contents

Guidelines for spatial organization considering urban systems, networks, infrastructure, and areas of national interest.

Composition

Report and action program.

Regional Spatial Planning Plans (PROT)

Defines the regional organizational model, ensures safety and enhancement of areas of national interest, and develops options listed in PNPOT and sectoral plans. Constitutes the framework for PIMOT and PMOT.

Intermunicipal Territorial Plans (PIMOT)

Links social and economic development strategies of involved municipalities, defines the intermunicipal territorial model, guidelines for land use, and sets environmental quality goals.

Sector Plans (PSOT)

Programming instruments with sectoral objectives, actions, and territorial expression of sectoral policy. Examples: National Road Plan, National Water Plan.

Special Spatial Planning Plans (ESDP)

Establish systems of protected natural resources and compatible uses. Examples: Coastal Spatial Planning Plan (POOC), Protected Areas Development Plan (PWP), Public Water Reservoirs Organization Plan (POAAP).

Municipal Spatial Planning Plans (PMOT)

Establish land use system, define urban system organization, and soil parameters. Figures of PMOT: Municipal Master Plan (PDM), Urban Plan (PU), Detailed Plan (PP).

Land Use Scheme

Defined by soil classification and zoning.

Soil Classification

Determines land base fate, distinguishing between rural and urban land.

Municipal Master Plan (PDM)

Sets the municipal territorial model, defines spatial reference of uses and activities, identifies urban networks, and is mandatory. Covers the entire municipal territory.

Urban Plan (PU)

Defines spatial organization of part of the municipality within the urban perimeter, establishes soil classification, and defines road networks and equipment location.

Detailed Plan (PP)

Details the occupation type of a specific area, establishes task division, and defines urban parameters.

Sustainable Urban Planning: Operating Process

Research Framework Objective: Sustainable development
Operating Process: Case study, conclusions

Objectives

  • Integrated development of the area and region.
  • Integration of economic, social, and environmental components.
  • Sustainable development objectives as a key planning factor.

Principles

  • Preservation of natural, economic, social, and cultural diversity.
  • Promotion of consumption efficiency and waste reduction.
  • Promotion of local economy and employment.
  • Population involvement.
  • Increased public information.

Strategies for Action

  • Definition of minimum targets.
  • Baseline characterization.
  • Constant encouragement to community and staff.
  • Technological upgrading of industries.
  • Encouraging new mobility types.
  • Zoning concept.
  • Strengthening control and evaluation functions.
  • Multifunctionality.
  • Maximum density of lots/homes/construction m2.
  • Maximum preservation of natural soil.
  • Fair balance between economic, social, and environmental aspects.

Stages of Intervention

  • Project – conceptual model development.
  • Construction – preference for eco-products.
  • Use – use procedures.
  • Maintenance – maintenance plan.

Easements and Restrictions of Public Utility

Administrative Easement

Charge imposed by law on a building in favor of another’s utility (e.g., right of way).

Public Utility Restriction

Permanent limitations on ownership rights for public interests (e.g., retreat for alignment).