Town Planning and Infrastructure Development

The art and science of planning land use, building placement, and communication lines to achieve the highest possible degree of economy, convenience, and beauty. An attempt to articulate the principles that should lead us in developing a civilised physical environment for human life, with the major motivation being to anticipate and guide change. An art of moulding and guiding the physical development of a community by constructing structures and environs to fulfil diverse demands such as social, cultural, economic, and recreational. And to create a healthy living, working, playing, and relaxing environment for both the rich and the poor, resulting in the majority of humanity’s social and economic well-being. Planning is a method of assisting a community in identifying its challenges and core values, creating goals and alternate approaches to accomplishing its goals, and preventing unfavourable changes. This planning process yields frameworks for dealing with change. Streets, roads, and sewer lines are examples of physical elements. Some notions, such as the objective of becoming a major distribution centre or stimulating investment in the city’s core, serve as action guides. Some are regulated, reflecting the community’s goal to promote good growth while discouraging harmful development. Planners have to deal with the fact that human communities are always evolving. The results of this transformation can be chaotic and disastrous, or they can be beneficial. The planner’s job is to assist communities in dealing with this constant expansion, change, and renewal in ways that preserve and improve the community’s quality of life. The intricacy of communities is recognised by planners. Human communities, like natural environments, benefit from diversity. One task is to help communities become even more diverse, broadening the variety of employment, educational, cultural, entertainment, shopping, and housing opportunities and promoting a broad range of land uses, income levels, and types of people. Another task is to help communities deal with the clashes of interest produced by such variety and turn these differences into a positive force for constructive change. Planners share a concern about the future, a belief that something can be done about bettering our human-made and natural environments, and the recognition that planning, with relevant implementing tools, is the best method available for communities to achieve this.

The various fields that are encountered in town planning are:

TOWN PLANNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

The four primary aims of town planning can be summarised as follows:

1. Health: To develop and encourage healthy living, working, playing, and relaxing conditions and settings for all individuals, rich and poor. To make proper use of land for proper purposes by zoning, such as residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and recreational, in order to avoid encroachment of one zone onto another and to ensure the smooth and orderly development of the town or city without future problems.
2. Convenience: The term “convenience” refers to a variety of community demands such as social, economic, cultural, and recreational advantages. Water supply, sanitation, electricity, post, telegraph, and gas, as well as adequate sites for industrial, commercial, and business enterprises to stimulate them in trade with inexpensive power, transportation services, and drainage, are all public amenities essential for the proper upkeep of the population. Open spaces, parks, gardens, and playgrounds for children, as well as town halls, community centres, cinema houses, and theatres for adults, are examples of recreational amenities.
3. Beauty: To preserve the town’s uniqueness by developing it in the most natural setting possible. To maintain aesthetics in the design of all elements of a town or city plan, including the preservation of trees, natural greenery, improved types of domestic buildings and civic dignity and beauty, architectural control on public and semi-public buildings, ancient architectural buildings, temples, churches, mosques, and cultural and historical buildings.
4. Environment: the environment is significant in the sense that it should be shaped in such a way that man can go about his daily activities with the least amount of effort. The complicated problems of modern society, such as exhausting commutes to work, lengthy work hours, restricted time spent within the community, and so on, have progressively led to major misalignments between the human being and the type of life he had to live.

LITERATURE SURVEY:

Gelan, E has conducted study on “GIS-based multi‐criteria analysis for sustainable town green spaces planning in emerging towns of Ethiopia: the case of Sulultan town.”The use of GIS-based multi-criteria analysis to help the site selection process for the creation of town green spaces was investigated in this study. The study’s findings are critical in determining the feasibility of using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis to build town green space. Because it is vital to evaluate town green space using appropriate analytical methods in order to recognise their potential and better select the most appropriate land uses in order to improve their integrity and sustain the advantages acquired from them. The sub-criteria for site suitability for town green spaces in the current study were area with high population density (22 percent), proximity to settlement area (21 percent), slop (13 percent), proximity to the road (10 percent), elevation (5.9%), vegetation cover (4.8 percent), proximity to water sources, visibility and existing land (3.2 percent), and food prone area (3.2 percent) in order of importance (4 percent ). According to the findings of this study’s GIS-based multi-criteria analysis, the town’s bigger land mass (47 percent) is suitable for creating town green spaces in its existing state. As a result, the town has a lot of potential for developing suitable green spaces. Finally, future study should concentrate on evaluating the appropriate site selection for each town green space component, such as a park, playground, or sports field, on its own.

Innocent Chirisa,has conducted study on “Ecological planning as an inner-city revitalisation agenda for Harare, Zimbabwe.” This essay looks at how to incorporate ecological thinking into inner-city revitalization, with a particular focus on Harare. It is an inquiry and possible (re-)framing of the garden suburb method, which is deeply entrenched in the garden city concept, with the goal of helping the city leaders and management to achieve the City of Harare Vision 2025. Human and environmental processes are intertwined in city ecosystems. This necessitates the recognition of the city as an ecosystem with a diverse spectrum of processes and species. Previous attempts to revitalise Harare’s inner city have been found to have numerous problems, as they are antiquated and fail to handle inner-city revitalization in a comprehensive manner. Despite the formation of revitalisation programmes, pockets of town deterioration persist in this case. Previous approaches have been more flexible in that they do not treat the city as an ecosystem and ignore ecological planning difficulties; instead, they focus more on socio-economic issues, and the number of parties involved has been reduced, resulting in less favourable outcomes.

Diamantinihas conducted study on “Peri-urban agriculture as key driver to sustainability. A planning project in an Alpine city.” Metropolitan functions in the Alps should coexist with the physical and cultural characteristics of the region. In other words, even when performing sophisticated functions, the Alpine city should retain its own identity, which stems from its position as an integral component of an entirely unique setting and a natural and human landscape that local residents strongly identify with. In this context, peri-urban agriculture must play a critical role. Contrary to what has happened in lowland cities, peri-urban regions in Alpine environments do not appear to have been harmed by the rapid urbanisation of the last several decades. These areas, in reality, contain large agricultural surfaces that, in addition to serving a vital productive purpose, also serve as an eco-system and contribute to the landscape composition. Settlements in these locations are nevertheless well-organized and serve functions dictated by their proximity to both the city and the countryside.

TOWN PLANNING PRINCIPLES:

The primary goal of town planning is to meet the demands of future generations while also preventing the unplanned growth of a town or metropolis. The following are some of the town planning principles:

1. Zoning: Towns are split into appropriate zones such as commercial, industrial, and residential zones, with certain rules and regulations in place for each zone.
2. Green-belt: This is a non-developmental zone located on the outskirts of town. It usually keeps the settlement from spreading out of control, limiting its size. A green belt is an invisible boundary that surrounds a certain area, preventing development and allowing animals to return and thrive.
3. Housing: It should be carefully built to meet the needs of the local people, with special attention paid to ensuring that all amenities are available within the housing complex.
4. Public structures: They should be well-organized and dispersed around the city. It is preferable to avoid overcrowding of public buildings. When assigning space for public buildings, factors such as parking facilities and road widths should be considered.
5. Recreation centres are necessary while planning a town. They are required for the public’s recreational activities. Parks for strolling, cycling, and amusement parks are among them.
6. Road systems: When constructing a town or city, the hierarchy of the road network is critical. The layout of a town’s roads is a good indicator of its efficiency. The supply of a defective road system during the early stages of town formation proves too complex and expensive to repair and reconfigure in the future.
7. Transportation facilities: The community should be equipped with adequate transportation facilities so that commuting between work and home takes as little time as possible. Both public and private transportation networks are considered efficient. Buses, trains, trams, and trolleybuses are all part of the public transit system. Today, town planning is really important. New towns and cities are being built on a regular basis, and it is becoming increasingly important for city planners to focus on both old and new growth. For sustainable living and development, every town planner and town designer should strive for energy efficiency in planning.

TEAM FOR TOWN PLANNING:

Town planning necessitates the collaboration of a group of professionals from many professions. A squad like this is made by of

Engineer: Buildings, roads, bridges, water supply and drainage systems, and other structures must all be designed.

Architect: A town’s aesthetics, such as buildings and architectural characteristics, will be advised by an architect.

Landscape Architect: It is required to arrange the sites in accordance with the country’s landscape, as well as to layout parks, gardens, trees and shrubs, and other features to create a pleasant environment.

Sociologist: serves two key functions in town planning: first, he assists in the impartial, objective, and truthful analysis and explanation of social reality. This is due to the fact that they have the necessary technical knowledge and methodological tools to comprehend such a work. They are also capable of comprehending and establishing the processes and mechanisms of the town centre’s social reality in unambiguous terms. Second, they collaborate with the town planner and administrator to generate logically sound and significant town development alternatives (ideas).

Geographer: A report on the natural configuration and natural resources, for example, is required.

Ecologist: Ecologists are responsible for studying the overall ecology of the environment and how it affects people’s lives, work, and recreation.

Administrator: Coordinating, supervising, and managing planning within the district in question, as well as leading the integrated development of new and existing zones to assure city planning and public works implementation. All street blocks’ construction management is overseen by you.

ELEMENTS OF MODERN TOWN PLANNING:

Buildings: The most prominent features of town design are buildings, which shape and articulate space by establishing the city’s street walls. Buildings and groupings of buildings that are well-designed work together to generate a feeling of the place.

Public Space: Great public spaces serve as the city’s living room, bringing people together to enjoy the city and each other. Public spaces enable high-quality city living; they serve as the stage and backdrop for life’s drama. From magnificent central plazas and squares to small, local neighbourhood parks, public spaces come in different shapes and sizes.

Streets: Streets connect spaces and places as well as being spaces in and of themselves. They are defined by the size, scale, and character of the buildings that line them, as well as their physical dimensions and character. The street network structure is part of what defines a city and distinguishes each one.

Transportation: Transportation networks connect and shape cities, as well as allowing movement within them. They include the city’s complete movement system, which includes road, rail, bicycle, and pedestrian networks. The interplay of these many modes of transportation serves to establish the quality and character of cities, determining whether they are welcoming or hostile to pedestrians. The best cities are those that have a strong sense of community.

Landscape: The landscape is the city’s green space, which can be found in the form of town parks, street trees, plants, flowers, and water in various forms. The landscape contributes to a city’s identity and beauty by creating soft, contrasting places and components. Green spaces in cities range from large parks like Central Park in New York City and the Mall in Washington, DC, to small, intimate pocket parks.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN PLANNING A TOWN:

1. Planners must consider the environment in the location.
2. City planners must take into account the needs of the city people.
3. Plans should be long-term in nature.
4. Particular attention should be paid to areas in need of renewal.
5. Town planners require the appropriate instruments to carry out their duties.

Conclusion:

As a result, the current debate brings us to the following realities.

1. Town expansion can be spontaneous or planned, depending on the authorities’ wishes.
2. The principle of planning is to create a vision for the future well before people actually settle in settlements, and planning may also be appropriate enough to make the process of housing the poor in the city more efficient.
3. The fundamental planning principle is that contradictory land uses should not be permitted or coexist.
4. The basic planning tools for guiding the city’s growth and change are circulation, transportation, infrastructure, and land use management.
5. Suburban expansion is defined as the progression of a given location through a succession of phases, or as the transformation of an open area into a mature town.
6. The goal of good planning should be to create a set of clear rules or principles that are both comprehensive and flexible to changing future conditions.