Sustainable Urban Planning & Infrastructure

According to Thakuriah, N. Tilahun and M. Zellner (2015) urban and regional analysis involve
the use of a wide range of approaches to understand and manage complex sectors, such as
transportation, environment, health, housing, the built environment, and the economy. The
goals of urban research are many, and include theoretical understanding of infrastructural,
physical and socioeconomic systems; developing approaches to improve urban operations and
management; long-range plan making, and impact assessments of urban policy. [4] There is an
increasing amount of people living in urban areas as 55% of the world's population lives
in urban areas as of 2018 (UN), this results in decision-makers facing even more troubling
questions than before.
Like many other areas, Big Data also made its way to urban planning. Decision-making for
better city planning will also be driven by data insights on how people move. Location data
would aid planners to improve the way inhabitants go about their daily commutes without
hassle. Transport authorities will find it easier to plan future lines, adjust the frequency of trains
and buses to meet demand and provide a better commute experience overall. [2]

Since big data bears great potentials for providing enhanced insights and improving decision-
makings, its effective application becomes a key factor for achieving success in the
development of smart cities. In the domain of urban planning, attempts have been made to
explore the better utilization of big data.
 It is found that obtaining public data through passive data acquisition and active public
participation could well support planning decisions, and particularly active civic participation
could generate better social effects and enhance the public acceptance of urban planning.

There is, however, a coincidence between what are now being called smart cities and big data,
with smartness in cities pertaining primarily to the ways in which sensors can generate new
data streams in real time with precise geo-positioning, and how the data bases that are
subsequently generated can be integrated so that value can be added. [3]
Climate change presents a significant challenge for urban systems worldwide. Its effects will
likely intensify over the coming decades. Whilst humanity may be able to take collective action
to limit the intensity of these effects, scientific evidence indicates that some are already
happening and will continue to occur, irrespective of any ongoing mitigation. Climate change
impacts such as increased rainfall intensity, storm surges, and flooding and urban heat island
effects are likely to affect many urban systems worldwide. These will impact severely on urban
systems and the populations and services they support. Adaptation will almost certainly be
required to cope with these effects. In this regard, it is positive to note that urban planning has
the potential to become a key factor in developing and implementing adaptive responses in
urban systems. A advantage of urban planning is the universality of the profession and the tools
available to it. Tools such as plan-making, stakeholder engagement, development management
and design standards are available to and used by urban planning regimes worldwide. These
are important for developing and delivering urban adaptation across a variety of scales.[6]

Sea level rise and dramatic changes in weather patterns, predicted as a consequence of
sustained global warming, could accelerate the disruption of economic systems, dislocation of
coastal communities and port facilities, shortages of food and water supplies, increases in
disease, additional health and safety risks from natural hazards, and largescale population
migration. Secondary effects may include the potential for civil unrest and war.
most decisions about urban form are made at the local level—by public officials, practitioners,
and citizens in cities, counties, metropolitan organizations, and special service districts. Yet
urban planners and local decision makers generally lack the tools and means needed to make
informed choices about the climate change implications of local growth and redevelopment
decisions, or to measure the effects of those decisions.[7]