Town Planning

Urban, city, or town planning is the discipline of land use planning which explores several aspects of the built and social environments of municipalities and communities. Other professions deal in more detail with a smaller scale of development, namely architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level.

In the nineteenth century, urban planning became influenced by the newly formalised disciplines of architecture and civil engineering, which began to codify both rational and stylistic approaches to solving city problems through physical design. However since the 1960's the domain of urban planning has expanded to include economic development planning, community social planning and environmental planning.

In the 20th century, part of the task of urban planning became urban renewal, and re-invigorating inner cities by adapting urban planning methods to existing cities, some with much long-term infrastructural decay.

In developed countries there has been a backlash against excessive man-made clutter in the environment, such as signposts, signs, and hoardings[citation needed]. Other issues that generate strong debate amongst urban designers are tensions between peripheral growth, increased housing density and planned new settlements. There are also unending debates about the benefits of mixing tenures and land uses, versus the benefits of distinguishing geographic zones where different uses predominate.

Successful urban planning considers character, of "home" and "sense of place", local identity, respect for natural, artistic and historic heritage, an understanding of the "urban grain" or "townscape," pedestrians and other modes of traffic, utilities and natural hazards, such as flood zones.

Some argue that the medieval piazza and arcade are the most widely appreciated elements of successful urban design, as demonstrated by the Italian cities of Siena and Bologna[citation needed].

While it is rare that cities are planned from scratch, planners are important in managing the growth of cities, applying tools like zoning to manage the uses of land, and growth management to manage the pace of development. When examined historically, many of the cities now thought to be most beautiful are the result of dense, long lasting systems of prohibitions and guidance about building sizes, uses and features. These allowed substantial freedoms, yet enforce styles, safety, and often materials in practical ways. Many conventional planning techniques are being repackaged using the contemporary term, smart growth.