By Abdullah Moeen
Town planning, also called “Urban Planning”, is basically the design and regulation of the use of space that focuses on uplifting the physical, economic and social attributes of the urban environment within a city. This very phenomenon applies to both the development of open land as well as the reformation of the existing built portions of the city. Urban planning activities have the capacity to influence the physical, economic and the socio-cultural environments of an urban area. Hence, the following points to are to be remembered whilst engaging in urban planning:
- Target goal.
- Collection and analysis of data.
- Strategic thinking.
- Local social culture.
Town planning is an entire process, which needs to go through multiple stages in order to reach completions. First and foremost, the problems to be catered and the end goals are to be determined. This is the primary step as it provides a guideline for the entire upcoming project. For example, the objective of a town planning project might be to improve facilities and optimize resources utilization, to maybe improve the environmental index of the city or maybe just to add beautification therein. Second step in this process is data collection. This is done via multiple studies and surveys. For instance, analyzing the demography of the area or considering the local topography or maybe analyzing hydrographs to check the precipitation trends of the area. The next step would be to forecast the future situations according to the recent data present. Next, a town planner would engage in designing process, whereby he/she shall be preparing relevant development plans. Then, a town planner shall analyze the urgency of the project, that is whether or not the project needs to be completed at a quick pace or could it be taken slow. Finally, the implementation of the new project shall be made after considering all the factors that have been aforementioned and public review and feedback shall be taken from time to time in order to judge the performance of the project over time.
The main purpose behind town planning is to create and promote an adaptive and sustainable city, whereby the areas of the city are properly zoned in order to allow for easy administration. Also, it serves the purpose to conserve not the environment of a town but to prevent the aesthetic and heritage sites of a city. Other purposes behind town planning are to manage the ever growing population in city. As it is a well known fact that cities are like magnets which population growth at exponential rates, hence to meet the demand of this population is one of the main aims of town planning. Another modern day demand is that town planning serves to cater is the creation of denser, more compact cities. This is so in order to create a better connected city, whereby public and private domains are easily accessible to the general population. Finally, and rather most importantly, town planning aims to create a smart city whereby new technological advancements and the development of modern infrastructure is possible. Since the modern world is very well connected, therefore the access of technology and modern facilities is pivotal in order for the residents to remain up to date with the “global village”.
Like every other phenomena, town planning too is prone to multiple issues. Firstly, the town planners have to deal with the challenge of ever growing population. Developing sanitation, housing, rural to urban rehabilitation centers is not an easy task. With growing security, there is a pressure of creating more economic hubs around the town as well in order to allow for maximum employment opportunities for the benefit of the public. If all these steps are skipped, then sanitation and law and order mismanagement might arise, which could prove to be catastrophic. Another major issue that the town planners have to face are the political and social pressures. For example, development projects might be delayed due to public or political unrests. Hence, the maintenance of social stability via town evolution is another major responsibility of a town planner in order to avoid devastating agitation.
Urban planning evolution provides an impulse for the city development on the grounds of principle of stability, ecological safety and bio-positivity. The above mentioned notions are guiding lights for town planners, since they have to be extremely particular about each and every factor. Hence, it is pivotal for the government to provide maximum cooperation to the town planners, by introducing policies that are friendly towards the town planning process. Finally, the town planners need to flexible in their approach, since many factors may arise in order to hinder their development plans. In short, if better town planning is done, habitation and colonization of new and better urban areas will be made possible.
