Urban and Regional Planning

In broadest terms, urban and regional planning is the

process by which communities attempt to control
and/or design change and development in their
physical environments.
In broadest terms, urban and regional planning is the process by which
communities attempt to control and/or design change and
development in their physical environments. It has been practised
under many names: town planning, city planning, community
planning, land use planning, and physical environment planning. The
object of planning is the "physical environment," which is taken to
mean land and all its uses, along with everything that has tangible
existence on or beneath the land surface. Planning also includes the
manner and style by which buildings are laid out in a city, and the
design of public places.
Physical environments are partly natural and partly man-made. A
satisfying man-made or "built" environment is the ultimate goal of
planning, but relations between natural and built environments, and
interactions between people and their environments, are also of vital
concern. Human activities can have negative impacts upon the natural
environment, just as certain natural conditions are hazardous to human
well-being. Planners are equally concerned to protect natural
environments from the adverse effects of human use (eg, water
pollution), and to protect people from adverse natural circumstances
(eg, flood zones).
To plan the physical environment means to impose some deliberate
order upon it, with the aim of achieving a desired standard of
environmental quality. Environmental quality is the heart of planning
practice, although there is no universal agreement about the
characteristics of a "good" or well-ordered environment. Different
cultures have tended to value environmental qualities differently and
to organize their environments in different ways. Many factors
influence the choice of qualities that are most desired at a particular
time and place. Each community, through social and political
processes, must set its own standards of a good physical environment.
Also, people's needs, tastes and economic circumstances influence the
quality of environments that are planned and built.

A variety of issues fall within the scope of urban and regional

planning, depending partly on the geographical scale of the planning
area. Regional planners will be concerned with such matters as the
protection of farmland or other valued resource sites (eg, forests,
mineral deposits, seashores, lakeshores); the preservation of unique
natural or historical features; the locations of highways and other
transport facilities, such as PIPELINES or airports; and the growth
prospects of communities located throughout the region. If the region
is organized around a large city, the planners must also take account of
the problems caused by the city's expansion, and its impact upon the
surrounding countryside and nearby towns.
For cities and towns, planning issues are of 2 general kinds. First there
is a need to think ahead to accommodate the city's growth - deciding
which lands should be built on and when, and whether they should be
used for residential development, for industry or for some more
specialized function, such as a shopping centre or playing fields.
Eventually, more detailed plans will also be required to determine the
layout of every piece of land. The street network has to be designed;
sites have to be reserved for schools and parks, shops, public buildings
and religious institutions; provision has to be made for transit services
and utilities; and development standards have to be set and design
ideas have to be tested to ensure that the desired environmental quality
is achieved.
A second group of issues concerns those parts of the community that
are already developed. Planners will distinguish between areas where
change is not desired and those where change is either unavoidable or
judged to be needed. In the former case, the concern is for maintaining
the built environment at its existing quality, regardless of pressures for
change. This applies particularly to inner-city neighbourhoods which
face pressures for apartment redevelopment or for streets to be
widened to permit through traffic. In the latter case, the problem is to
facilitate the changes that are considered most desirable. In one
situation this may mean that a deteriorating area has to be upgraded; in
another it may mean that buildings have to be demolished to allow
their sites to be used in a new and different way. The problems of
rapidly changing downtowns, of outdated industrial and warehousing
districts, and of inner-city neighbourhoods experiencing a complex
mix of social and physical changes all have to be dealt with by
planners and public authorities. So, too, must special issues such as
HERITAGE CONSERVATION, the relocation of railway tracks, the
provision of rapid-transit facilities, and the special housing needs of
different groups of people.
Urban environments continue to change. As cities age, it becomes
more difficult and more expensive to maintain environmental quality.
People's needs and desires change as well, and the built environment
must be constantly adapted. Special restoration or revitalization
programs may be undertaken to try to draw business back to declining
shopping districts and stimulate the local economy. Yet investment
funds, both public and private, are in shorter supply than in times of
economic growth. The download of services from the higher levels of
governments to the municipal level also competes for municipal
funds.

Social and Political Foundations

Like all types of planning (eg, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING; NATIONAL CAPITAL COMMISSION; URBAN
DESIGN), planning cities and regions finds its rationale in the belief
that a controllable future offers more promise than an uncontrolled
one, and that a planned environment provides better opportunities for
all people to enjoy their community setting. Urban and regional
planning is but one of many approaches adopted by society for
achieving the security, comfort and long-term betterment of its
members. This does not mean that all plans are prepared by
governments, or that all planners are public servants, but it does mean
that planning systems are usually designed to ensure that the needs of
the entire community are properly considered. Plans come from many
sources - from individuals, private corporations and public agencies -
all of which have special ends or interests to pursue. In the "planned"
community a higher level of forethought and public control is
imposed, not to prevent these individual plans from being realized but
to ensure that they harmonize with one another and with the overall
needs of the community.
It is rarely possible to demonstrate that an action taken in anticipation
of the future will benefit an entire community. It is also difficult to
show that a single public interest can be served. More commonly,
planning is a matter of trying to decide which of many competing
interests is more deserving, while also trying to treat everyone in a fair
and lawful manner. Should a city council allow a shopping centre to
be built in a residential area? An issue like this raises questions about
personal rights and freedoms, and about the powers and obligations of
public authorities. Hence, the ultimate planning decisions are political
decisions, since politics is society's way of settling the conflicts that
arise within a community.
Planning, then, is a way by which communities determine how they
would like their environment to be. What kinds of benefits can they
then look forward to? Official definitions in Canada have generally
responded to this question by describing planning as a type of
CONSERVATION. It is aimed at the wise use and management of
community resources, a critical one being land. The idea that land is
both a private commodity and a community resource is controversial,
but Canadian law has established that there is a legitimate community
interest in the development of any land. Large amounts of public
money have to be spent on such things as transport facilities, water
treatment plants, schools and parks.
The community assumes most of the responsibility for ensuring that
land is developed in ways that will allow these public services to
function efficiently. This is taken to mean that the development of
land should yield the greatest possible public benefit for the lowest
possible public cost. Yet the measurement of benefits and costs is no
easy matter. For example, deciding upon the best use of land on the
outskirts of a city depends on estimating what values to attach to such
benefits as an increase in the supply of new houses or an attractive
residential environment, and how to weigh these benefits against a
different set of costs, such as long journeys to work or the loss of
prime agricultural land.

Origins of Planning in Canada

The close connection between conservation and urban and regional
planning began with the COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION in the
years before WWI. At this time, Canada was caught up in a wave of
reform enthusiasm that drew its inspiration from several international
sources: from British town planning, including the Garden City
movement; from the progressive reform movement in the US, with its
attacks on political corruption and public mismanagement of all kinds;
from the housing reform movements in both countries; and from the
CITY BEAUTIFUL movement, which offered the ideal of well-
ordered cities, with handsome buildings and public spaces, as symbols
of the progress of industrial civilization.
All across Canada, groups of citizens organized themselves into "city
planning commissions" and "civic improvement leagues" (see
URBAN REFORM). Yet it was not until the Commission of
Conservation developed an interest in PUBLIC HEALTH that these
concerns were given national prominence. The commission viewed
the health of the people as the greatest of all resources. Town
planning, as it was then called, was thought to be one way of ensuring
a healthy and productive population. The first British planning Act of
1909, and the Garden City ideals advanced in the UK by Ebenezer
Howard, were seen as the model for achieving the development of
healthy, attractive communities in Canada.
The person chiefly responsible for drawing out the importance of the
British example was Dr Charles HODGETTS, adviser to the
Commission of Conservation from 1910 to 1920. Hodgetts was keenly
aware of the unhealthiness of the houses in which many working-class
families lived in Toronto and other industrial cities. He believed that
better standards of city layout and housing design would eliminate
these problems. He organized an international city planning
conference in Toronto in 1914. That same year he secured the
appointment of Thomas ADAMS, one of the most eminent British
planners of the day, as the commission's town planning adviser.
Adams regarded planning as a combination of art and scientific
procedure, requiring the most rigorous analysis of human needs and
problems and the natural conditions of an area before a land
development plan could be drawn up. He agreed with Hodgetts about
the importance of healthy living conditions and better design
standards, but his conception of a well-planned environment went
beyond that. Adams represented the "city-efficient" or "city-
functional" school of planning. Different parts of the city should be
designed to suit their special functions: residential areas provided with
all the amenities and services that go with healthy community life;
industrial areas well served by railways and other transport facilities;
business areas and civic centres designed to satisfy all the commercial
and public needs of a modern community; and the whole city arranged
to allow communications to be carried out safely and conveniently. In
addition, land should always be allocated to its best use and never
wasted; the special characteristics of each site should be incorporated
into detailed development plans; public facilities, such as community
centres or hospitals, should always be accessibly located for the
people who had to use them; and private land development and public
works programs should be co-ordinated and scheduled to economize
on public expenditures and to prevent costly mistakes. These
principles persist in Canadian planning.
Adams repeatedly travelled across Canada, carrying out planning
studies and analysing land-use and settlement problems. He was also
instrumental in the redesign of the Richmond district of Halifax,
which had been destroyed in the HALIFAX EXPLOSION in 1917. He
enlisted the aid of Montréal architect George Ross (of ROSS AND
MACDONALD). In 1919 Adams founded the Town Planning
Institute of Canada. Interested persons from any profession were
admitted as members. Initially, they were mostly civil engineers or
land surveyors, along with some landscape architects and municipal
officials. The institute sought to promote research, to disseminate new
knowledge and the results of planning experiences, and generally to
advance planning ideas and set a high standard of planning practice. It
was also hoped that the subject of planning would be introduced into
university programs.
The GREAT DEPRESSION brought an end to most planning activity
in Canada. The Town Planning Institute was disbanded in 1932 and
not revived until some 20 years later. Among the notable planning
practitioners of this early period were Noulan Cauchon, Frederick
Todd, Horace SEYMOUR and Howard DUNINGTON-GRUBB.
Many towns and cities drew up master plans, among them Ottawa,
Vancouver, Calgary, Saint John and Halifax; and many interesting
garden suburbs and new towns were planned.

Planning Law and Administration

Another of Adams's contributions was his "model planning
legislation," which he spent much time urging provincial governments
to adopt. Planning law establishes rules and procedures by which
communities can act on matters affecting their physical environments.
He also believed that rural communities were as much in need of
planning as urban ones. Not only did they have grave environmental
and fiscal problems of their own, but town and country were so
closely dependent on each other that they could not be separated for
land-use planning purposes. This marked the beginning of regional
planning in Canada.
In 1914 only 3 provinces had planning statutes: Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick and Alberta. By 1925 every province except Québec had a
statute of some kind, although professional planners thought they were
all inadequate. For one thing, the Acts did not make it mandatory that
municipalities should prepare plans; for another, they did not provide
for provincial governments to take an active part in planning.
Municipal governments also tended to be critical, because they were
mainly interested in having stronger powers to regulate construction
and land development.
The new American technique of ZONING looked particularly
attractive, and the city of Kitchener adopted Canada's first zoning
bylaw in 1924. Not until 1925, when BC adopted its first planning
statute, was zoning recognized in planning law. Other provinces
followed suit, but the most complete statute of this early period was
Alberta's Town and Rural Planning Act of 1929. Canadian planning
law has evolved continually since then, and the modern administrative
systems of urban and regional planning are far larger and more
complex than anyone could have foreseen in 1929.
The essential purposes of all provincial and territorial planning Acts
are to secure the orderly, coherent growth and development of
municipalities, based on sound forethought and considerations of
public interest; to bring about and conserve physical environments,
including buildings and other works, which are satisfying to human
needs and community concerns; to regulate how private and public
lands may be used; and to allow for public participation in planning
decisions.
In addition to their planning Acts, all provinces provide for other types
of planning and environmental or land-use regulation not conferred
specifically on the municipalities - in statutes dealing with energy,
environment, forestry, heritage protection and parks. The province of
Québec, for example, has an Act to protect agricultural lands (La Loi
sur la protection du territoire agricole et des activités agricoles);
Alberta has a Special Areas Board to plan for and administer over one
million hectares of public lands in agricultural use; the PEI
Development Corporation undertakes comprehensive land planning
with powers to acquire, sell and lease lands for several kinds of
purposes; Manitoba operates an Interdepartmental Planning Board for
the planning and management of the province's crown lands. The
federal government performs planning functions for Canadian crown
lands through many statutes and a number of Cabinet policies, such as
the Federal Policy on Land Use and the Federal Environmental
Assessment and Review Process.
Thus, in an overall sense, regional land use plans in Canada come
about through the co-ordinated administration of many laws within a
province, through co-ordination between provincial and federal laws,
and by co-ordinative policies among neighbouring jurisdictions. These
and municipal planning activities are all supported by modern
information systems, such as GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
SYSTEMS and STATISTICS CANADA's census data on population,
housing and business activity.
All municipalities maintain some kind of data monitoring system to
aid both long-range forecasting and planning policy decisions. The
larger cities in Canada use computerized information systems for the
planning of TRANSPORTATION systems and for monitoring certain
environmental changes such as AIR POLLUTION, and for conducting
studies or forecasts on land use, population, building construction, etc.
Provincial planning Acts spell out what municipalities or regional
authorities must and may do.
Generally speaking, an Act provides for 5 basic measures. First the
municipality is to prepare a "general plan," sometimes called the
"official plan" or the "plan d'urbanisme." This plan sets down the
policies that will govern where and when developments on land can
take place. It usually includes statements on the community's social,
economic and quality-of-life goals, and the fiscal requirements of the
public works (eg, sewers, roads) that will be required. The plan
describes by maps, drawings and written texts the various
communities and land use districts, and the guidelines for building
developments. A second set of plans, in more detail, may also be
prepared for special areas, such as plans for heritage conservation or
redevelopment of inner-city neighbourhoods, or for industrial parks.
The remaining 3 measures in a planning Act are legal and
administrative instruments for implementing a general plan: a "land
use" or "zoning" bylaw, subdivision controls, and a building permit
process. Before a building permit is issued, the plot of land must first
be part of an approved subdivision of land, while specified rules for
the type and amount of building space allowed and the requirements
of architectural features must be adhered to. Subdivision control
governs the process of converting raw land into building plots of
adequate size and shape, while zoning establishes the detailed range
and limitations of use to which a plot can be put.
Planning laws limit an owner's rights in private property in order to
secure benefits for the community as a whole. These benefits include
such things as the safety and health of persons; convenience, amenities
and agreeable environments for the public; acceptable standards of
private and public living and work places; and reasonable burdens of
public expenditures that have to be incurred when land is developed.
Planning law in some provinces also allows municipalities or the
provincial government to prevent the destruction of heritage properties
and natural environments, or to force property owners to undertake
measures that enhance the architectural, aesthetic, landscaping
features, or convenience to users, of any buildings proposed for
construction. The balance struck between freedom to use one's land
and requirements imposed by public authority depends on the
prevailing social values of the community of the day. Moreover, all
planning Acts in Canada now require that citizens be heard before
major land planning decisions are made, and there is always a right of
appeal by the property owners affected.
The province confers responsibility upon urban municipalities to carry
out planning in their areas. Rural areas and towns are frequently
organized for regional planning around a "regional district" created by
decree of the provincial government. In some jurisdictions, the
municipalities of selected metropolitan areas have been grouped
together in order to create a special, "second tier" planning
administration (for example, Québec City and Montréal, Toronto,
Greater Vancouver, Winnipeg). In the latter cases, the metropolitan
administration performs broad policy planning and the co-ordination
of major public services and works; detailed plans and development
regulation are left to the constituent municipalities.
The foregoing planning arrangements apply to Canada's privately
owned lands. The planning and environmental management of
provincial and federal crown lands falls to the various departments
and agencies of the governments. In most instances, special
"integrative" administrative mechanisms have been established to
further a comprehensive approach to planning the use of crown lands
and the wise development and conservation of resources underneath or
upon them.

New Towns
New towns are a specialized aspect of planning. The term refers to the
comprehensive planning, zoning and land subdivision of a
community, executed before the arrival of any residents. Typically
one-industry resource-development towns of small size (fewer than
5000 people), Canada's new towns are mainly located in remote areas
(eg, KITIMAT, BC, Matagami, Qué, THOMPSON, Man, and
TUMBLER RIDGE, BC).
Most of the early examples (1900-20) were not laid out by planners
and did not benefit from imaginative site planning. Adams and others
began applying the ideas of Garden City, master plans and zoning to
new resource towns in the 1920s (eg, TÉMISCAMING, Qué,
KAPUSKASING, Ont, Arvida, Qué, CORNER BROOK, NL, Port
Alice, BC). In the post-WWII period, planners of RESOURCE
TOWNS began to pay attention to the acute social and leisure activity
problems associated with small, isolated and "closed" communities.
Further advancements were made in devising new forms for town
layout and housing, making these fundamental components of a new
town plan more adapted to the rugged site conditions and cold climate
environments. A notable recent example of progressive new town
planning is Fermont, Qué, designed by Norbert SCHOENAUER and
built by the Québec-Cartier Mining Co. The overall plan is compact,
and both the street layout and housing construction serve as screens
against the harsh winter winds. Many of the single-family houses are
oriented for passive solar heating. The town's commercial and
entertainment centre is fully enclosed within an extensive building
complex that also includes apartment dwellings.

Community Planning and Social Policy

Arguments persist about the appropriate role and purposes of planning
as an instrument for social betterment. It is not that the basic goals of
efficiency and orderly urban development are under challenge; the real
question is whether order and efficiency should be the only goals. In
its beginnings in Canada, and in the early American and European
reform movements, town planning had offered the promise of
something altogether more radical. It was to be part of the antidote to
the enormous social costs of the Industrial Revolution, a sweeping
movement of social reform in which the building of better cities would
contribute to the building of a better civilization. At a more practical,
humanitarian level, this meant that each community should assume
some obligation to care for the victims of economic development and
of the progress of urban industrial areas.
The main impact of these ideas in Canada began to be felt in the
1950s, although there were earlier signs of concern. Prominent social
reformers, such as J.S. WOODSWORTH in Winnipeg and Claire
Casgrain in Montréal, made no small contribution to the progressive
advancement of the Canadian planning movement. It took the Great
Depression of the 1930s, followed by the desire for national
reconstruction after WWII, however, for housing reform and physical
planning to be linked effectively as instruments of social policy.
One of the first indications of this trend appeared in 1935, in the
chapter on housing in Social Planning for Canada compiled by the
LEAGUE FOR SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION. The author was a
young British-born architect, Humphrey CARVER, who was to
become one of the most distinguished Canadian planners. Carver
argued that all Canadians had a right to live in safe, healthful,
comfortable houses and neighbourhoods, even if they could not afford
them, and that the state had a responsibility to ensure that good
housing conditions were available to everyone. He argued, as
Hodgetts and Adams had done, that it was necessary to build better
communities to create a physical and social environment conducive to
a decent way of life. Carver's argument was developed further in
"Housing and Community Planning," a study released in 1944 as part
of the final report of the Committee on Post-War Reconstruction, set
up by the federal government in 1941.
This study was largely the work of 2 men, C.A. Curtis, an economist
who chaired the housing subcommittee, and Leonard MARSH, the
committee's research adviser. In a manner reminiscent of Adams's
most famous report, Rural Planning and Development (1917), Curtis
and Marsh described the ills of uncontrolled urbanization and slum
conditions. They drew attention to the extensive occurrence of
wasteful and unsightly suburban developments. They urged the
government of Canada to embark upon a comprehensive national
program for social betterment and community development, in which
housing, planning and public education would figure prominently.
Consequently, in 1944 the federal government made sweeping
changes to the National Housing Act to promote the construction of
new houses, the repair and modernization of existing houses, and the
general improvement of community environments.
In 1946 the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (now
CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION) was
created to implement the new national housing policy. This policy was
subjected to further refinement over the next 20 years or so, through a
series of amendments to the National Housing Act (NHA), which
provided a major spur to urban planning activity in the postwar period.
For the first time there was a national planning agency with strong
regulatory and financial power. Through its role as an insurer of
residential mortgages CMHC exerted a great deal of control over the
design of Canadian suburbs (seeDEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY).
Through its direct grants for housing for low-income families and
other disadvantaged groups, CMHC has influenced the social
geography of Canadian cities. And through its various urban renewal
programs, from the slum clearance and redevelopment schemes of the
1950s and 1960s to the neighbourhood rehabilitation projects of the
1970s, CMHC has been a major force for environmental change in
inner-city areas. Since 2009, social housing projects across Canada
have been able to access funding for renovation and retrofit projects.
CMHC's policies and programs have generated their own share of
controversy over the years, but the NHA has always held a clear social
objective: all Canadians should have access to a decent standard of
housing. The "decent standard" must be defined by society, while the
community at large assumes part of the cost of raising everyone's
environment to an acceptable condition. This principle is well
accepted in Canada today and underlies numerous social programs of
federal and provincial governments alike. Yet the question arises: Is
physical planning (and land use regulation) a proper instrument for
redistributive purposes? On the one hand, the provincial planning
statutes largely ignore the issue; their statements of purpose are
usually limited to "the economical and orderly development of land,"
or some such phrase. On the other hand, in the actual planning
decisions that are taken, day in and day out, questions of rights and
justice are constantly in the forefront, and many Canadian
communities have adopted physical planning policies that indeed
serve redistributive ends. In general, though, Canadian planners are
still struggling to reconcile the social reform ideals that were such a
powerful force at the turn of the century with the simpler notion of
"proper" use of land.

Planning Profession and Education

With the growth of cities after 1945, the Canadian planning profession
was revitalized and developed quickly. It is not just that planners were
needed in greater numbers than before; the specialized tasks
performed in modern planning agencies became far more diverse. In
addition to the traditional principles of city layout, land subdivision
and architectural arts, planners had to learn about urban sociology and
human behaviour, management sciences, data analysis and
forecasting, municipal and planning law, and environmental sciences.
Educational programs were established after 1947, for which the
federal government and CMHC provided invaluable assistance. In
1944, Marsh and others suggested to the deputy minister of finance,
W.C. Clark, that provision be made in NHA to fund research,
professional training and public education. Clark inserted a Part V into
the Act, entitled "Housing Research and Community Planning."
NHA funds were also used to help introduce degree-granting planning
programs in the universities, partly by grants to the first planning
schools: McGill (1947), Manitoba (1949), British Columbia (1950)
and Toronto (1951). A French-language program was commenced at
Université de Montréal in 1961. Several other universities introduced
planning programs in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 2009, 15
universities offered major programs in urban planning.
Initially, when urban or civic design was emphasized in the planning
curriculum, architects and engineers made up the majority of planning
students. This pattern changed as planning programs underwent
transformations in social outlook and professional scope. By the late
1950s training in one of the social sciences (eg, geography, sociology
or economics) became an equally common route into planning, and
this background was further expanded to include the managerial and
environmental sciences in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1949, 45 persons practised planning in Canada. In 1998 the
Canadian Institute of Planners counted over 4600 members. In 2009
there were approximately 7000. They serve in many roles
encompassed by private consultancies, various departments of the
provincial and federal governments, municipal and regional
authorities, crown corporations, resource industries, and the land
development industry. Two years of supervised work experience after
obtaining a planning degree are required for admission into the
profession. The CIP is a national affiliation of institutes, 1
representing the Atlantic provinces and 1 in each of the remaining
provinces. Besides regulating the professional conduct of its members
and supervising standards of practice, the institute carries out
programs of public education, and occasionally advises governments
on legislation and environmental issues. Approximately one-third of
the institute's financial resources go to support a professional journal,
Plan Canada. Many of the provincial affiliates of the CIP publish a
journal on current planning matters (eg, the Ontario Planning
Journal).
WILLIAM T. PERKS Revised: GEOFFREY SIMMINS

Urban Planning, 1980s to the Present

Urban planning since the 1980s has been characterized by increasingly
diverse theoretical perspectives. In contrast to modernist urban theory,
which sought universal applications, contemporary urban planning
embraces particularity, individuality and regional diversity.
Two seemingly intractable and contrasting issues dominate recent
urban planning theory and practice in Canada. The first is how to
modify existing cities, particularly downtowns, so that they are
serviced more effectively by public transportation and offer both
cultural amenities and accommodation. The second is how to plan
suburbs so as to be more livable. With respect to downtowns, many
Canadian cities have worked diligently since the 1980s to improve
both public transportation as well as cultural amenities. While
Montréal and Toronto both deserve mention, and even spread-out
Calgary has taken steps to improve its downtown amenities, perhaps
the most successful of Canadian cities is Vancouver, which has not
only built an elevated public transportation network (Skytrain) but
increased density in its downtown while reclaiming disused waterfront
areas in both False Creek and Burrard Inlet. The Coal Harbour district
of Vancouver, criticized by some for its expensive condominiums,
nonetheless has become a vital and popular area, competing with
Granville Island for tourists.
"New Urbanism" is perhaps the single largest trend in planning since
the 1980s. Originally developed in the US in such communities as
Seaside, Fla, new urbanism asserts traditional town-planning values
such as walking, small-scale buildings, and facades and materials
subject to strict design controls. Although such communities are often
livable, some scholars criticize them for their artificiality and the
extent to which they are controlled. Some critics, notably the
American writer and futurist James Howard Kunstler, go even further
and decry any efforts to improve suburbs, writing that doing so means
committing "the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of
the world." New urbanist communities in Canada include the Cornell
Park district of Markham, Ont, and McKenzie Towne in Calgary,
Alta. In such communities, cul-de-sacs preferred by early 20th-century
suburban planners have largely been replaced by traditional grid plans
strategically punctuated by public amenities and shopping. Other
characteristics of new urbanist communities include the reintroduction
of back lanes (so that garages are removed from the front), pathways
for pedestrians, and town amenities within walkable distances. The
extent to which such communities become isolated from the larger
communities that they are peripheral to remains an issue.
Scholars continue to be interested in the practice and theory of urban
planning and the issues are very relevant, given the number of
Canadians who live and work in cities and their suburbs. As Larry S.
Bourne noted in a 2007 research report, "At present, more than 80
percent of Canadians live in urban areas, occupying a mere 5 percent
of the nation's vast land surface, and over 57 percent live in the five
largest urban regions."
Scholars such as Jill L. Grant of Dalhousie University examine
questions such as theory and practice in planning the suburbs,
including issues relating to public versus private realms, with the
overall goal of exploring what constitutes a "good community."
University of BC planning professor Leonie Sandercock invites even
broader perspectives including feminism, multiculturalism and what
Sandercock terms "mongrel cities," signifying trends that are
pluralistic, vital, yet democratic.
Urban planning is taught as a major field of study at 15 different
Canadian universities. Many Canadian urban planners - 7000
professionals in the field at present - are members of the Canadian
Institute of Planners.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban-and-regional-planning/
PLN 3 - URBAN AND
REGIONAL PLANNING
- PLANNING THEORY
WHAT IS PLANNING
John Dyckman - a litrerature of controversy.
Henry Hightower - the square one.

-Basic Human Activity

-Rationale Choice
-Control of Future Actions
-Special Kind of Problem Solving
-What Planners Do

THEORY
Standard of reference or a model of planning process.
GROUPS OF ISSUES IN PLANNING THEORY
1. Definitional
-what is planning
2. Substantive
-what we are planning and who we are planning for
3. Normative
-how to plan and what is the rationale

PLANNING THEORY
-Cannot ignore ideology.
-Must include some theory of society in which planning is institutionalized. (John
Dyckman)
-Examines the component of planning process: nature, sequence and relationship to the
context.

DEFINING PLANNING
-Not purely individual activity.
-Not present-oriented.
-Cannot be routinized.
-Deliberately conceived strategy.
-Power to carry and implement the strategies.

PLANNING
-A physical representation of something.
-Orderly sequence of action that will lead to the achievement of a stated goal or goals.

FEATURES OF PLANNING PROCESS

1. Rationality
-central feature of planning.
-choosing the best means to attain a given end.
2. Standards of Rationality
-simplify the complexities of situations and values.
-ensures logical consistency.
3. Aggregation of Choices
-different individuals with different values and interests.
-reflect the individual preferences.
-done through a political process.

MODEL OF PLANNING PROCESS

1. Problem Identification
-dissatisfaction of the status quo.
-diagnosis of the problem.
2. Goal Articulation
-translation of vague, incoherent, and general goals into operational objectives.
3. Prediction and Projection
-forecasting the outcome based.
4. Alternative Development
-range of options
5. Feasibility Analysis
-can it be done, constraints, available materials and resources
6. Evaluation
-evaluation methods with criteria
7. Implementation
-committment
PLANNING AS AN ACTIVITY
Classic Sequence
-survey-analysis-plan

1. Survey
-collects all the relevant information.
2. Analysis
-how the area is changing and developing
3. Plans
-makes a plan based on the derived analysis from survey.

New Planning Sequence

1. Formulation of goals and objectives
2. Produce various alternative projections
3. Compared and evaluated for producing policy controls.
TRADITIONAL PLANNING
(KINDS OF PLANNING)
-Kind of planning
-Prescribes both the goals and the means
-Derived from the standards
-Advocated policies of upper classes
DEMOCRATIC PLANNING
(KINDS OF PLANNING)
-Kind of planning
-Participatory process
-Cooperative venture (David R. Godschalk)
-Community networks (Forester)
-Generally side with the underdog
-Both ends and means
EQUITY PLANNING
(KINDS OF PLANNING)
-Kind of planning
-Explicit recognition of a multitude conflicting social interest.
-Advocacy Planning
-Promote wider range of choices for those... who have few.
-Favor redistributional goals even in the absence of supportive public.
-Advance the interests of the poor and racial or ethnic majorities.
INCREMENTAL PLANNING
(KINDS OF PLANNING)
-Kind of planning
-Rather than long-range, it is through approximations or increments
-Organizing center (Lindblom)
-Compromise
-Adherence to procedural rules
-Mutual Adjustment
POLITICAL THEORY
1. Technocratic Theory and Traditional Planning
2. Democratic Theory and Democratic Planning
3. Socialist Theory and Equity Planning
4. Liberal Theory or Incrementalism
TECHNOCRATIC THEORY AND TRADITIONAL PLANNING
-Restore order
-Order and progress
DEMOCRATIC THEORY AND DEMOCRATIC PLANNING
-Sanctity of the individual and the primacy of his / her interests
-Equal right to advance his or her cause
-Planner to act as delegate of the citizenry
-Responds, educate and shows alternatives

THREE MAJOR CRITICISMS:

1. Short-term relative ignorance and selfishness of the citizenry
2. Difficult to explain why citizenry should bother to participate in public policy (APATHY)
3. Rule of majority leads to mediocrity and even to fascist authoritarianism
SOCIALIST THEORY AND EQUITY PLANNING
-Obtaining power and benefit for the poor
-Begins with conflict analysis
-Highlights divergence of interest
LIBERAL THEORY AND INCREMENTALISM
-Human beings as rational actors who are best judges of their own private interest.
-Obligation to guarantee the rule of the law
-Impartial judge / umpire
-Maximizing individual freedom.
RATIONALE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING
1. Avoid unnecessary implementation expenditures
2. Rational and sound basis for land uses
3. Basis for zoning ordinance
4. Introduction of new trends in planning
5. Sustainable path
6. Facilitate source of funds for implementation
RATIONALE OF TOWN PLANNING
1. To respond to problems
2. Deal with the use of spaces
3. Balance private and communal needs
4. Interplay of Physical and Cultural elements
5. Control and direct society and the built enviroment
3 EVILS OF DEVELOPMENT
1. Poverty
2. Inequality
3. Unemployment
BASIC FEATURE OF MODERN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
1. Deliberate, self-conscious activity by trained persons
2. Goals and objectives and means
3. Seldom lay out major alternatives and recommendations
4. Employ variety of specialized tools
5. Discernible only after 5 to 20 years
CATEGORIES AND CONCEPTS OF PLANNING
1. Physical Planning
2. Economic Planning
3. Allocative Planning
4. Innovative Planning
5. Indicative Planning
6. Imperative Planning
7. Normative Planning
8. Behavioral Planning
PHYSICAL PLANNING
Spatial qualities and relationships of development
ECONOMIC PLANNING
Working of the market
ALLOCATIVE PLANNING
Regulatory
INNOVATIVE PLANNING
Development
INDICATIVE PLANNING
General guidelines, advisory
IMPERATIVE PLANNING
Command planning, specific directives
NORMATIVE PLANNING
Utopian planning
BEHAVIORAL PLANNING
Reformist planning
SCOPE AND NATURE OF TOWN PLANNING
-Depends on what one wants to achieve
-Answers the question "How do you want to live?"
-Ideal urban communities for the future.
TOWN PLANNING
Art and science of land uses and sitting the building, communication routes to secure the maximum level
of economy, convenience and beauty. (Keeble)
MIXED ECONOMY
Combination of state control and free enterprise which means a free for all property market.
SCOPE OF TOWN PLANNING
1. Law and enforcement
2. Incorporate existing buildings into the new scheme and flexible in applying the standards.
3. Planning law and details of site development from developer's perspective
4. All types of land use aspect and development of rural and urban area.
5. Production of city development plans.
6. Client is "society" - wider context
7. Details of site layout
ROLE OF THE PLANNER
1. Umpire / Mediator
2. Technocrat / Technician / Administrator
3. Economic Planner
4. Environmental Watchdog
5. Social Engineer
6. Corporate Manager
7. Mobilizer
8. Entrepreneur
9. Advocate and Guerilla
10. Other Roles
UMPIRE / MEDIATOR
-Broker, combine diverse and conflicting interests.
-Enforce rules
TECHNOCRAT / TECHNICIAN / ADMINISTRATOR
-Technical expert to serve the officials
ECONOMIC PLANNER
-Allocation of scarce resources
ENVIRONMENTAL WATCHDOG
-Green movement
-Sustainable
SOCIAL ENGINEER
-Solve deep social problems through physical planning
CORPORATE MANAGER
-Coordinator
-Team leaders coordinating specialist
MOBILIZER
-Political Role
ENTREPRENEUR
-Gathers resources, funds, gets approvals and political support to implement plans.
ADVOCATE AND GUERILLA
-Represent special interest groups which may conflict with government.
OTHER ROLES
-Advisers, interpreters, communicators, corporate managers, etc.
https://www.scribd.com/document/270553188/Overview-of-Urban-and-Regional-Planning-Theories-and-
Issues-Implication-to-Architectural-Practices
https://docslide.us/documents/overview-of-urban-and-regional-planning-theories-and-issues-implication-
to.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_urban_planning
https://docslide.us/download/link/overview-of-urban-and-regional-planning-theories-and-issues-
implication-to
https://quizlet.com/92229915/pln-3-urban-and-regional-planning-planning-theory-flash-cards/
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban-and-regional-planning/
http://www.pnu.ac.ir/portal/File/ShowFile.aspx?ID=66559f80-6bb9-4498-b821-aff9faf455e9
https://caribbeansocieties.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/lecture-1.pdf
https://www.slideshare.net/EnPRageneAndreaPalma/history-theories-principles-of-urban-and-regional-
planning