Home > Terms > English (EN) > urban planning

urban planning

The term “urban planning” can be said to refer to a wide range of city-oriented activities: what planners do; what planners say they do; what citizens do to plan their cities; the process by which comprehensive plans are produced; and what planning schools teach.

These activities can be quite different, yet all are facets of the ongoing creation of American cities.

Planning involves an understanding of the concept of “city,” as well the underlying social and governmental processes that shape a city. Its practice entails establishing goals and objectives, developing and evaluating alternatives for attaining those goals and selecting an appropriate course of action. This process is viewed by some as primarily “rational,” based in the scientific method, by others as primarily political, and by others still as a combination of the two. Differences in these viewpoints are reflected in professional practice. Some planners emphasize professional expertise while others emphasize organizing, interaction and consensus building. American planning has evolved from a focus on development of the physical plan (City Beautiful) in the first half of the twentieth century to an emphasis on analytical modes in the 1960s and 1970s.

Communicative and collaborative modes dominated the 1980s and 1990s.

The focus of modern urban planning up to the 1960s was the “comprehensive plan,” of which the centerpiece was the “image” or “form” of the city. Plans were created by governmental entities to address rapid growth by implementing changes in physical, social and economic patterns. Viewed by some as a mechanism of control over development, planning was viewed by others as a process for balancing competing private and public interests, or addressing pressing problems such as inner-city decay transportation, pollution and housing.

Pre-1960s planning was typically a governmentcontrolled, centralized process that was later found to be inadequate for dealing with issues like transportation that transcended urban boundaries, for achieving public support, or adapting to the rapidly changing and uncertain conditions of the cities. Although the last two decades of city planning emphasized procedural activities and plannerstakeholder interactions, some suggest that a renewed interest in urban design has sparked a revival in the image of the city and the plan.

Today public participation is mandated by law in most planning activities. This entails bringing more and new players into the planning process, transferring power from government representatives to citizens and re-defining planning in ways that often defy the bounds of a traditional academic discipline or profession. These idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, planning can be said to distinguish itself from other disciplines by including some or all of these themes: (1) improvement of human environments; (2) forging interconnections among various sectors; (3) consideration of the future; (4) consideration of equity issues; (5) public participation; and (6) linking knowledge and action (Myers 1997).

0
Collect to Blossary

Member comments

You have to log in to post to discussions.

Terms in the News

Billy Morgan

Sports; Snowboarding

The British snowboarder Billy Morgan has landed the sport’s first ever 1800 quadruple cork. The rider, who represented Great Britain in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was in Livigno, Italy, when he achieved the man-oeuvre. It involves flipping four times, while body also spins with five complete rotations on a sideways or downward-facing axis. The trick ...

Marzieh Afkham

Broadcasting & receiving; News

Marzieh Afkham, who is the country’s first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It is not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment has yet to be announced officially. Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Under the last shah’s rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a ...

Weekly Packet

Language; Online services; Slang; Internet

Weekly Packet or "Paquete Semanal" as it is known in Cuba is a term used by Cubans to describe the information that is gathered from the internet outside of Cuba and saved onto hard drives to be transported into Cuba itself. Weekly Packets are then sold to Cuban's without internet access, allowing them to obtain information just days - and sometimes hours - after it ...

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

Banking; Investment banking

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution established to address the need in Asia for infrastructure development. According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia needs $800 billion each year for roads, ports, power plants or other infrastructure projects before 2020. Originally proposed by China in 2013, a signing ...

Spartan

Online services; Internet

Spartan is the codename given to the new Microsoft Windows 10 browser that will replace Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer. The new browser will be built from the ground up and disregard any code from the IE platform. It has a new rendering engine that is built to be compatible with how the web is written today. The name Spartan is named after the ...

Featured Terms

paul01234
  • 0

    Terms

  • 51

    Blossaries

  • 1

    Followers

Industry/Domain: Food (other) Category: International dishes

pig intestine

Isaw is an intestine from pork or chicken. This delicacy is commonly served in the streets and is paired well with beer.

Contributor

Featured blossaries

Empresas Polar

Category: Food   4 10 Terms

Types of Love

Category: Other   1 6 Terms