urban planning topic (transportation planning vs. housing planning

Running head: REGIONAL PLANNING

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THE URBAN CENTRES CANNOT BE ISOLATED ON ITS OWN

Any urban centre that has a hope of being successful must be attached to balanced social, economic and environmental requirement. It cannot exist on its own. Most of the urban centers are the places where investments take place. This means that, the security must be very strict to ensure that these investors are attracted to invest in them. Infrastructure is the most important aspect of any city (Motto, 2008). This means there must be availability of safe transport and communication systems. Before any city is built, therefore, the planners must ensure that the needs of their citizens are taken care of. This is where urban planning comes in. Poor urban planning can destroy the economy completely since most economies are built by the activities carried out in urban centers. Planning also helps in taking care of the environment and protecting the society from adverse effects those come as a result of poor urban planning.

Local government plays a very vital role in ensuring that, urban centers are competitive and attractive to investors and other people living around them. Any time an urban centre is neglected, the health and the wealth of those people living in and around it is highly affected. Poor urban centers bring about growing of slums and indigent ability to expand.

For urban cities to sustain development right from the word goes, they must consider the environment in the early stages of their planning (Motto, 2008). It is imperative to note that, a better urban environment will result into a better and sustainable social, economic development. There are various factors that can influence urban cities. Starting from the high rate of poverty that affects most cities, economic and political changes, pollution, resettlement and health issues. What Motto, 2008 argues is that, these factors don’t affect one city; this are common problems affecting almost if not all, urban environments.

Good urban centers are also able to pass the necessary information to the general public as a part of their environment. Whichever method they use, this means that, if the planning was poor, then this cannot be possible. More than forty percent of the people today live in urban areas (Motto, 2008). This means that, cities can bring together the best entrepreneurs, innovators and other great academicians. When these people come to the city, they expect to get a good life for themselves and their families. If the urban centers cannot provide that, and they become a source of environmental hazards, diseases, insecurity and discrimination, then they don’t meet their purpose of why they are there and this results into crimes (Motto, 2008).

Every successful city must, therefore, be able to offer a balanced life. This means that, socially, economically and even environmental wise, no matter how much pressure the local government is experiencing, they should be able to provide these basics (Motto, 2008). Again, if an urban area is to be successful, then it should offer security and infrastructure to the investors and to the citizens around it. The citizens should come first during the planning of these urban centers. If the planners can put enough value to the environment as well as its natural resources, no doubt it will grow and get profits from what it is doing (Motto, 2008).

In short, the city cannot be able to function in isolation, if it has to succeed; then it will have to attach a great value to all the above-discussed factors.

ARTICLE 2

URBAN CENTRES AND TRANSPORTATION

There is no way an urban centre will do without good transportation. What many people who dwell there do mainly is transport based. People are moving from one point to another. By this Litman, 2013 means that, transport planning takes care of the evaluation, assessment, sitting and designing transportation facilities. In all urban centers, we come across streets, bike lanes, public transportation lines, pedestrian lines and highways (Litman, 2013). This means that, when urban centers are being planned, all this must be put into consideration. Planners are expected to adopt a multidisciplinary approach. This is because; the environmentalists have become very sensitive as far the effect of environment by various factors is concerned.

There is also need for wisdom when dealing with people, especially those who use their personal automobiles. Good psychologists can do this well and convince them. Their private vehicles cause a lot of jam and they can be persuaded to leave them behind and use public transport. The role of these transport planners is to ensure that there is sustainability through integrating different transport policies (Litman, 2013). When traffic is moving so slow, there is a lot of delay in the economic activities, as most of the time is used along the way in the urban traffic. Another reason these vehicles and motorcycles should be reduced is because of the pollution and the damage they cause. If all of us inhale the gases they emit, at the end of the day our health will be weak, leaving no one else to develop this urban centers (Litman, 2013).

Many people don’t just adhere to the rules, sometimes they want to be convinced through gifts and other incentives. It is, therefore, good for these planners to be able to come up with these attractive methods that can help grow these cities by reducing traffic (Litman, 2013).. There are various things that are encompassed within transport planning in urban planning. They include the, environmental integration, integrating land use planning, including other social needs such as health, wealth and pollution management policies as well as the integration of different modes of transport (Litman, 2013). It is also crucial to have in mind that; it is the work of the urban transport planners to ensure that they work within the set rules and regulations. This adherence will make cities be less chaotic and be more stable, not only now but also in the future. There is also an aspect of commerce in operating these transport systems. If all activities done as far as transportation is concerned bring in losses and have no commercial benefits, then the plans might be forced to change and be made more profitable. Lastly on that, every activity that is to be carried out by these transport urban planners must be economical. It is good to take care of the resources and maximize on the areas they see fit for this projects. They must also be good managers, with good communication skills and be excellent in their personal skills. This will make it easy for them to fit among the people they are working with (Litman, 2013).

To conclude on this, transport is a paramount factor in every developing urban area. It however comes with its advantages and disadvantages which need to be taken care of especially at this crucial stage of planning.

References

Litman, T. (2013), The New Transportation Planning Paradigm. Journal of Institute of Transportation Engineers, 83(6), 20-28.

Motto, J. L. (2008). State action Immunity, Municipalities, and the Unique Case of Eminent Domain. Journal of Corporation Law, 33(3), 797-818.