The urban

1
The urban

• Related to cities and towns
• size
• density
• heterogeneity
• Chaos and order
• Planning
• Planners

2
Views on the urban

• theatre and spectacle (Mumford) or alienation and
  anomie (Wirth)?
• urbanism a way of life associated with life in
  an urban area
• urbanization the process of becoming urban,
  including
• relative and absolute growth in towns and cities
  within a defined area,
• increasing proportion of population in urban
  areas and in largest urban area,
• structural change such as economies of scale,
  concentration and centralization and
• behavioural and cultural change

3
Planning

• Definitions (Hall)
• a physical representation
• a method of doing
• an orderly arrangement of parts of an objective
• but also the act of creating order from chaos
• direct the present along a trajectory aimed at
  particular futures

4
Planning and civil society

• Civil - of or consisting of citizens of the
  commonwealth or state befitting the citizen
  polite legally recognized
• Civil society
• a way of thinking about power and the state
• implies a tension among
• the state (the political functioning of a
  society),
• the economy (which, in capitalism, seeks to bend
  the state to its private purposes), and
• community (the social and cultural functioning of
  a society in which embeddedness or alienation
  gain expression) (see Marris)
• Planning articulates this tension and, as far as
  possible, resolves it

5
What planners do - RAPI

• Planners assist government, private
  organisations, groups and individuals in the
  community to achieve their future objectives
  through developing relevant projects, policies,
  processes and plans.

6
RAPI

• The planning profession aims to
• Improve the quality of life of people.
• Make living and working environments safe,
  healthy, efficient and aesthetically pleasing.
• Plan for the future growth of regions, urban
  areas, industry and commerce, recreation and open
  space
• Plan specific projects to ensure the most
  suitable relationship with the surrounding
  environment.
• Planners are involved in the development and
  re-development of existing towns, cities and
  rural areas. The term town planner is sometimes
  misleading because planning is needed as much in
  rural and regional areas as in urban areas.

7
RAPI

• The planner is trained to advise on the most
  appropriate types of land use for any given area.
  The planner must assess and plan current and
  future plans uses. For example, the case for
  conversion of farm and forest land to meet
  predicted housing needs, and whether or not
  offices should be allowed to spread into inner
  city housing areas.

8
RAPI

• Planners also work in more specialized areas such
  as
• economic development,
• urban design,
• tourism,
• social planning and
• environmental planning.

9

• The planner must have knowledge of the various
  associated professions
• architecture,
• law,
• engineering,
• surveying,
• economics,
• sociology and
• environmental management.
• Geography????

10
Planners are usually employed in four areas

• Government Planners are involved in all levels
  of Government from local councils to State and
  Federal Governments. Local Government is perhaps
  the biggest employer, with planners being
  responsible for planning and assessing
  development within their Council areas.
• Private consultancies Consultants are most often
  employed by developers, local residents or on
  contract to local councils or other government
  bodies in Australia and overseas.

11
and

• Private Companies An increasing number of large
  companies employ their own planners on staff to
  handle development projects for that company.
• A wide variety of other professions, including
  engineering, architecture, education, and
  environmental and recreation management also
  employ planners.