DEVELOPMENT PLANS

1. Introduction

Fundamental to successful implementation of important aspects of any urban and regional

planning law and attaining a built environment that is in line with general goals and objectives of
the community are the development plans.

2. Plans and Planning

A number of definitions of urban and regional planning have been advanced in recent past. One
definition that is also important, particularly to urban land use planning is that put forward by
Chapin and Kaiser (1985). They see physical planning as a “process of identifying and
analyzing problems and exploring and assessing options open to an urban community in the
pursuit of general goals and specific land development objectives”. The general land
development objectives are expected to have been contained in the overall land use policy or the
land development policy, or in a broad sense, urban and regional development policy where the
statement of general goals and principles of action to be used for physical planning is made.

A plan may be considered a development policy – a decision guide that attempts to influence
both the private and public use of land in relation to the overall goals and objectives of the
national, regional, state or local development. It is a form of strategy to achieve a particular
objective of overall physical development. Chapin and Kaiser (1985) again define a plan in two
ways: first as “a design or scheme of arrangement” as it is traditionally known among built
environment professionals, particularly those in design and engineering professionals and second
as “a proposed course of action” that is derived from physical planning profession and planning
theory literature within the past thirty-five years or so. These authors attempt to incorporate both
meanings by considering a plan to be “a spatial arrangement of land uses and as a course of
governmental action to influence land use”

Within the context of this definition of a plan, the fundamental purpose of physical planning with
respect to land use is to ensure that all activities are provided for and organized without creating
physical planning problems. Since planning is a future oriented activity and a continuous
process, physical development plans are seen as planning instruments that provide substantive
basis for decision guides for the built environment. They are prepared at various levels and vary
in their true perspectives, spatial scope and degree of rigidity or flexibility.

More importantly, development plans are policy documents prepared to guide physical
development and solve some planning problems. Getzels (1979) using the Office of Economic
Planning and Development of state of Wyoming (United States of America) as guide
identifies three steps in policy planning approach: (i) the identification of opportunities or

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problems, (ii) the establishment of policies for resolving identified problems, or for taking the
advantage of the various opportunities that may exist and (iii) a discussion of various
governmental programmes that will implement the established policies.

The contemporary Nigerian planning law of 1992 recognises the following development plans:

i. National
ii. Regional
iii. Sub-regional
iv. Urban
v. Subject
vi. Town
vii. Local
viii. Rural
However, in order to enrich our knowledge and bringing to sharp focus the past and the present
practices especially on land use planning at the state and local levels, the discussion shall also
touch on other development plans. The master plans and structure plans are of special interest
due to their considerable importance in planning practices in many developing and developed
countries.

3. National Physical Development Plan

This plan concerns planning at the national level of government and tends to be strongly
economic in content. The whole idea is that a national development plan should be able to reflect
the policies of the government, including the economic and social policies of the government.
For example, if the policy of the government is to construct low-cost houses in the country this
should reflect in the national development plan and then be translated into the national physical
development plan.

4. Regional Plan

Since there is a national plan for the whole country and a local plan for a locality, there is need
to plan for an intermediate level. This has gained momentum in many countries. The regional
plan is concerned with the planning for an area with distinctive economic and social
characteristics, opportunities and problems setting it apart from other regional. Economic factors
are of equal importance; hence, the introduction of the physical/economic aspects as physical and
economic elements, generally present in varying degrees at all level. However, there are no
physical regions deliberately delineated in the country as administrative regions.

5. Sub-Regional Plan

Sub-regional plan is perhaps the most difficult to define. It is something of a ‘hybrid’, relating
to a part of a larger region and although it may not be too clearly definable, it has certain

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 logic in practical terms. In Britain and many commonwealth countries, the sub-region may
overlap with local authority boundaries relating more to specific problems than administrative
convenience. It is a more localized area with its own particular structure, problems and
potentials.

6. Urban Plan

In the developed regions of the world, the early years of the century was marked by functional
problems of urban regions arising from rapid population growth, increasing urbanization and
increasing standards of living and personal mobility. These problems necessitated the need for
specific urban plans to address the problems. Urban plan then, and are still an ‘interregional’
plan or a conurbation of many ‘sub-regional’ plans designed to effect industrial relocation
to assist areas and decongestion of residential concentration. An urban plan may address
problems of two or three sub-regions, if such sub-regions fall into an entity that can be referred
to as urban.

7. Subject Plan
A subject plan is concerned with a detailed development policy that cannot be
accommodated in other plans and generally relates to specific planning issues that are
relatively isolated from others. Such subject matters include redevelopment or renewal of
rundown areas or neighbourhood access roads or a policy towards pedestrianisation throughout a
local authority area, or redevelopment or pedestrian walkways in a city.
8. A Town Plan

This is a plan that comprises many separate but related elements such as transportation,
employment, housing, recreation and education. Usually the plan looks at elements that are
impossible or that cannot be conveniently treated individually, but have created an area of
concern that is viewed as a whole, both by the government and the professionals

9. Local Plan

A local plan may be of two different types: action area plan and subject plan. Subject plan has
been described earlier. Action plan is the instrument used for the short-term physical
development undertaken within the period of approval and implementation of urban or
local plans. Within this period there may be the need to urgently carry out physical development
activity by either the government or the private firm. The areas covered by such plan could be
residential, recreational, industrial, commercial, public places, shopping or transport.

The overall purpose of local plans is to make the system of development plans more adaptable to
changing circumstances, being more detailed and more certain on character while at the same
time being more flexible in application that other plans.

10. Rural Plan

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Rural planning has for long remained a neglected aspect of the overall planning process. In many
developing countries, development issues between 1960 and mid 1980s have been focused on
urban problems. The distinction between urban and rural planning issues however, is often
unclear. Most urban policies have a rural dimension and certain common problems can be
discerned in both the town and country. A rural plan lays emphasis on primary and
secondary activities, countryside residential patterns, and regional recreational land uses.
Such a plan must show details of all planning issue.
11. Master Planning Approach
Urban master planning emerged as a better planning approach towards an effective urban
planning and management with a view to solving the emerging urban problems in many
countries since the beginning of this century. The approach, however, gained prominence after
the Second World War to develop cities, both the old and new ones, in many developed
countries. It is still in vogue in many developing countries.
The master plan generally provides a policy framework aimed at creating a functional
environment that satisfies various human activities through controlling of socio-economic
growth and physical development of the city. The master planning approach is a positive, long
range land-use development planning for a city dealing with housing, circulation, provision of
utilities, facilities and services, open spaces and general urban design.
12. Physical Elements of Master Plan
There are five basic physical elements of standard master plan (as in other plans too).
They are land-use, circulation, community facilities, civil design and utilities.
i. Land-use: this refers to the use of public and private property for commercial,
industrial, residential and other purposes and their population densities and
holding capacity proposals.
ii. Circulation: this is concerned with the roads, street and highway system, public
transportation routes and stations and the servicing infrastructure. The major
circulation requirements of the community are determined by the spatial
relationship between the primary and urban activity centres, the living and
working areas and the community facilities. Generally, circulation system of a
master plan is in hierarchical order of road in relation to facilities including
primary and secondary road systems, the regional freeway, the parkways,
major off-street facilities, pedestrian ways, and air, rail and waters terminal,
routes. Between 23% and 26% of the total land area is required to
accommodate all the circulation systems.
iii. Community facilities: these are those public facilities that involve physical
development, including schools, parks, playgrounds, public libraries, art galleries,
fire station, churches, mosques, stadia and cemeteries.
iv. Civic design: this is concerned with two kinds of aesthetic experiences: the
overall structure and form of the city, as well as sense of individual well-being
experiences in reactions to his immediate surroundings.

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v. Utilities: this section is concerned with those community services that should be
provided including pipelines, conduits or wires that could be overhead or
underground, water distribution networks, storm drainage and sewerage disposal
plants, refuse dumps, pumping and generating or generator stations and water
storage reservoir are the usual elements of utilities.