SSE 07: URBAN GEOGRAPHY

LESSON 1.2
URBAN PLANNING AND ITS IMPLICATION TO THE PEOPLE

Urban planning, design and regulation of the uses of space that focus on the physical form, economic
functions, and social impacts of the urban environment and on the location of different activities within
it.

 Because urban planning draws upon engineering, architectural, and social and political concerns,
it is variously a technical profession, an endeavour involving political will and public
participation, and an academic discipline.
 Urban planning concerns itself with both the development of open land (“greenfields sites”) 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. In the late 20th century the
term sustainable development came to represent an ideal outcome in the sum of all planning
goals.
 As advocated by the United Nations-sponsored World Commission on Environment and
Development in Our Common Future (1987), sustainability refers to “development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs.” While there is widespread consensus on this general goal, most major planning
decisions involve trade-offs between subsidiary objectives and thus frequently involve conflict.

URBAN REFORMS

 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 neighborhood plan, a project plan, or a set of policy alternatives.
 Successful implementation of a plan usually requires entrepreneurship and political astuteness
on the part of planners and their sponsors, despite efforts to insulate planning from politics.
While based in government, planning increasingly involves private-sector participation in
“public-private partnerships.”

4 Theoretical Explanations of Morphological Pattern of a City ( by S. Sharma )

The forces underlying the pattern of land use, process of urban growth and accessibility within and
outward of a city can be generalized by means of a number of theories. It is true to a large extent that
each city possesses a unique combination of various use of land, but to some degree a common pattern
is visible. The commonly referred patterns are concentric, sectoral, walter firey’s criticism of hoyt’s
theory and the multiple nuclei. They are known as models of city structure or theories explaining urban
morphology.

1. The Concentric Theory:

The concentric model was devised in 1923 by E.W. Burgess. He was a sociologist. The idea behind
the concentric model is that the development of a city takes place outwards from its central area in a
series of concentric circles to form zones. The model therefore is also known as concentric zonal model.
According to Burgess, the American city should take the form of five zones. These zones begin with Zone
I as Central Business District (CBD), the focus of the city’s social, commercial and civic life. CBD is also the
focus of transportation.

Burgess identifies its two parts:

- The downtown retail district, and

- The wholesale business district encircling the downtown.

Zone II is the “zone in transition”, surrounding the CBD. It is a zone of residential deterioration of older
private houses consisting of largely subdivided dwelling units.

Zone III is the third ring made up of the houses of working men’s homes. This is the zone of old
residential buildings occupied by stable social groups of working-class families. These are families of
people who have moved out of Zone II to live near their place of work.

Zone IV concentric space still farther from the center is occupied by spacious dwellings. Here, middle-
class groups of native-born Americans live. These people are likely to be proprietors of small businesses,
professional people, clerks and salesmen. Final and beyond the city limits is;

Zone V of small cities, towns, dormitory areas to make up the commuters’ zone. This zone may still be
an open county. Most of the people of this zone seem to commute daily for their livelihood in the CBD.

2. The Sector Theory

The Concentric theory of Burgess was based on the conditions of American cities in 1920. Since then,
as Homer Hoyt observed, picture of cities had changed and therefore, he advanced in 1939, the sector
theory. His idea was that because of rise of automobile, access to the downtown had been improved
and lot of shifting of uses in the CBD had arisen. On major routes of transportation sectors of specific
land use were likely to grow with the expansion of city. Residential land uses tend to be arranged
wedges radiating from the center.
3. Walter Firey’s Criticism of Hoyt’s Theory

Walter Firey carried out a land use study of central Boston. In his study he explored the role of
social factors in shaping urban land use. On this basis, he contradicted various aspects of sector theory.
According to Firey, there is little validity of comparing the result of work in a number of cities when
relief, location on a waterfront and other factors affected the sector pattern of some cities.

He also criticized cartographic approach on the ground that maps can only give clues to theories.
This needs to be worked out in terms of abstract concepts. Hoyt has not sufficiently considered the roles
of cultural and social systems in conditioning land use. Wealthy residents can choose to live anywhere
and may not follow the ‘normal’, either sector or concentric pattern.

4. The Multiple Nuclei Theory

Urban development and growth of a city in different parts of the developed and developing areas is
not a simple phenomenon which can be explained by geometric designs, either concentric circles or
sectors radiating from the center. Its land use too, is not simple and singular. It represents intermingling
of various functions like commercial, industrial, cultural, administrative and social.

The rise of separate nuclei has been due to factors which influence the distribution of human
activities within a city. The various factors may be of four categories:

1. Certain activities require specialized facilities, for example, CBD can function at the point where
maximum accessibility is available.

2. There are also group of activities which prefer cohesion. Clothing industry is clustered in the densely
packed inner districts of large cities. They profit from cohesion.

3. Certain activities are detrimental to one another, and generally seek separate sites. For example,
heavy industry and high-class residential areas do not prefer to be near neighbors.

4. Certain activities are unable to pay the rents of most desirable sites: residential areas of low-income
residents or bulk storage facilities have to seek nuclei in remote corners.

Task/Activity 2

Guided Questions for your understanding: Write your ideas within ten sentences.

1. How important is urban planning within a certain state or country? (10 pts.)
2. Make a reading about urban planning in the Philippines and briefly explain its origin and
development? (10 pts.)
3. Give one particular city that you think based on your search or readings that has a good urban
planning and reforms specifically those modern cities we had globally. (10 pts.)
RUBRICS FOR THE INTENDED GUIDED QUESTIONS