Introduction to Urban Planning

Arba Minch University
Arba Minch Institute of Technology
Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning
Course Title: INTRODUCTION TO URBAN PLANNING
Course code: ARCH-3172
Credit hour: 6 ECTS
Target Group: G3-Arch,
Academic Year: 2022/23
LECTURE NOTE
Prepared by: Melese Becha (MSc.)
November, 2022
Arba Minch, Ethiopia

 The course aims to equip students with theoretical,
methodological and practical skills to deal with complex
urban planning and design problems.
Course Objective

I. Introduction
 Concept of urban planning
II. Theories of urban form:
 Group form, compositional form and mega structure.
III. Urban analysis:
 Morphology, typo-morphology and
 Urban tissues, Recent trends and consideration
IV. Regional planning:
 Space-economy theories, basic concepts and processes
V. Design of new urban entities:
 Urban Plan types
 Urban planning process
 Norms, Standards and guidelines
Course Content

 Planning
• planning is a practical activity assessing past trends, making
projections and setting out the constraints and opportunities for
the future development of our environment
• in its broadest sense, is also about visions, the imagination of what
the environment could (perhaps should) be like.
• scientific, aesthetic, and orderly disposition of land, resources,
facilities and services with a view to securing the physical,
economic and social efficiency, health and well-being of urban and
rural communities”
 Plan
• "any hierarchical process that can control the order in which a
sequence of operations is to be performed"
1. Introduction
Concept and Definition of Urban Planning

 Urban/Town/City
• An area whose major source of influence is the city and including
the city itself.
• The United Nations deﬁnes areas having settlements of over
20,000 as urban
 Urban area
• commonly refers to towns and cities—an urban landscape
 Town
• thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a ‘city’
• a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand
inhabitants;
• ‘town’ may be deﬁned as an area of having settlements between
20,000–100,000 (US)
1. Concept and Definition of Urban Planning

 Town
• thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a ‘city’

 City
• Generally deﬁned as a political unit, i.e., a place organized and
governed by an administrative body.
• The United States deﬁnes an urbanized area as a city and
surrounding area, with a minimum population of 50,000.

 Urban Planning;
• the discipline that deals with making decisions about how
space and place are to be transformed, and thus influencing
and being influenced by different aspects of development
listed as: Physical, Social, Economic and Environmental
• involves the arrangement of spatial patterns over time, but it is
not the spatial patterns which are planning: spatial planning s a
more particularized branch of a general discipline
 Town planning
• “a science, an art, and a movement of policy concerned with
the shaping and guiding of the physical growth and
arrangement of towns in harmony with their social and
economic needs” Thomas Adam

Town-planning:
 the art of laying out towns with due care for the health and
comfort of inhabitants, for industrial and commercial efficiency,
and for reasonable beauty of buildings.
Planning Professionals:
 Planner;
• Person who make a decision about how something will
be done in the future
 Urban/Town planner
• a person whose job is to decide how land in a particular
area is to be used, what is to be built on it and who
designs plans for it

2. Theories of urban form:
Group form, Compositional form and
Mega structure.

 Form;
• a form is a three-dimensional geometrical figure, as
opposed to a shape, which is two-dimensional or flat.
• form can be defined as the organization, arrangement or
relationship of its basic elements.
• the word 'form’- means shape, configuration, structure,
pattern, organization, and system of relations.
• form will represent the spatial pattern of elements
composing the city in terms of its networks, buildings,
spaces, defined through its geometry mainly,
• form means the totality of an artifact’s perceivable
elements and the way those elements are united
2. Urban Form - Definition

 Urban Form
• the spatial pattern formed by the objects of a city, such as its
buildings, public spaces, topography and waters.
• buildings and the spaces between them, street layouts and
open spaces, skylines and city boundaries.
• densities and distributions of people, spatial relations between
social groups, the spatial markings of legal boundaries and
entitlements, urban environments and the submerged or social
infrastructures that shape and segment them.
• the way cities can be observed and understood in terms of
their spatial pattern.
• Spatial form; external form or visible shape, and internal form –
structure
• the distinct pattern of a city
2. Urban Form - Definition

 Built environment
2.1. Urban form as a entities of built environment

 Streets, blocks, plots and buildings.
• the streets system of a city is the one that offers
greater resistance to a process of urban
transformation, attaining a great temporal stability.
• The plots system has a lesser durability than the streets
system, and
• the buildings system has a lower stability over time
than the street and plot systems.
I. Street system/Network/
 streets are the most stable element of urban form.
2.1. urban form:
Elements of urban form

I. Street system/Network/
 Streets deﬁne the different street blocks that constitute
a city and distinguish what is public, and is therefore
accessible to all citizens, from what is private or semi-
public. Streets are, in broad terms, the public and
democratic space of the city, the place where we all met,
with all our differences, and where we all interact in social
terms.
 There is a wide variety of streets, with different shapes
and sizes, with different ways of relating with the other
streets in the surroundings, and also with different urban
functions.
2.1. urban form:

I. Street system
2.1. urban form:

II. Street Block
 An important element in the description and explanation
of the physical form of the city is the dimension of its
street blocks
 the dimension of street blocks and of plots increases as
we move from the historical centre to the peripheral
parts of the city
 Contrarily to the dimension of the street blocks, in
general, the number of plots per street block decreases
as we move away from the historical centre to the
peripheral parts of the city.
Blocks are the field on which unfolds both the building
fabric and the public realm of the city.
2.1. urban form:

II. Street Block

2.1. urban form:

III. Plot System
 the plots system of a city is one of the most important elements of
urban form, separating the public domain and the private domain (or
the different private domains)
 The deﬁnition of the plots system in a given territory is an essential
element of its urbanization process and has a considerable stability
over time.
 The subsequent stage of this urbanization process usually involves
the precise deﬁnition of the different plots:
(i) How is each plot related with the street? (what is the dimension
of the plot frontage?
(ii) What is the orientation of the plot in relation to the orientation
of the street?);
(iii) what is the position of each plot within the plots system? (is it in
the middle or in the edge of the street block? is it located in a
long side or in a short side of the street block?);
(iv) what is the shape of the plot, and what are its dimensions and proportions?
2.1. urban form:

III. Plot System
 the plots system of a city
2.1. urban form:

IV. Building System
 buildings do not have the stability in time that streets and
plots
 one of the most important elements of urban form and the
most visible of these elements
 the city is made of two different types of buildings,
ordinary buildings
exceptional buildings
 the main characteristics that distinguish these two
types are related to the building form but also to the
building utilization.
2.1. urban form:

IV. Building System
 Ordinary buildings
• includes most of the buildings constituting the city
• mostly buildings of residential utilization but also
commerce and services buildings.
Exceptional buildings
• only a few buildings of the city: clearly distinguishable in
the urban landscape by their shape and utilization
2.1. urban form:

IV. Building System

2.1. urban form:

IV. Building System
 The position of each building within its plot is of fundamental
importance for the character of the urban landscape.
 the continuous alignment of different buildings deﬁned the street
form.
 the position of buildings within plots determines deﬁnition of the
‘street’ and of the ‘street block’
 Another important characteristic of buildings is their height
and particularly the relationship between their height and the
width of street where they are located.
 If the height of buildings is much less than the street width we will
have little sense of enclosure.
if the height of buildings is greater than the street width, the sense
of enclosure will increase.
2.1. urban form:

IV. Building System
Other important characteristics of buildings are;
 the façade design (important for the urban landscape),
the position of the staircase in the interior of the
building and
the organization of dwellings.
 other aspects of urban form
• District
• Neighborhood
2.1. urban form:

other aspects of urban form
• Corridors , Districts, Neighborhood
2.1. urban form:

 Linear, Grid, Radial, Circular and organic
2.1. urban form:
Shape and Geometry
Circular Town

 'regular planned' and 'irregular organic' forms of urban
settlement
 Organic: irregular in geometry
• weaving in and out of the landscape, closely following
the terrain and other natural features
• Linear form: irregular, non-geometric, 'organic', with
an incidence of winding/curved streets.
 Planned: regularity/ symmetrical
• planned towns display a geometry of straight lines and
smooth curves, built on a directness of movement
o Gridiron form: Miletus and Priene in present-day Asia Minor
o circular form: the Greeks and Romans planned towns,
o Radial form;
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form;

 The three main archetypal urban forms are;
I. The linear city;
II. the city set out in the form of a grid;
III. the highly centralized or inward-looking city
 The form of each archetypal plan may be modified by the
prevailing metaphor:
the city as a replica or model of the cosmos;
the city as a machine;
the city as an organism.
 The three main archetypal city forms have been converted into
an array of hybrid types of city structures to serve different
ends.
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form

 The particular form of a city may owe its shape to a number
of factors such as imperatives of;
• location, land values, or social structure.
 The choice of a structural concept for a new urban
foundation may have been influenced by attitudes to:
• density; the form and distribution of central area functions;
• the predominant means of transport;
• the location of social infrastructure or places of work
• ideas about ideal forms of lifestyle.

2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form

 Linear urban forms
• can be found in many unplanned developments of the Middle Ages
• However, they are more usually a product of the industrial revolution
• They are most closely associated with the metaphor of the city as a
machine.
 The main feature of the linear urban form;
 ability to deal with the rapid and efficient mass movement of
people and goods within and between cities
 ability to deal with infinite growth
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form

 Gird urban form
 Grid
 gridiron plans used for rapid development most obviously
associated with military camps, but also widely used for
colonization.
 the straight streets and routes which form the structure of the
grid, the blocks which represent the interstices within the grid
 The grid becomes a ‘grid-iron pattern’ when it is composed of
standard square
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form
Gird Iron pattern urban form

 Radial urban form
 ideal town forms
 need for regularly laid out city blocks
 routes radiating from central places and of well-
developed hierarchies of city systems
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form
Ideal Cities of the Renaissance
Palma radial urban form

 Circular urban form
 circular geometries
 Circular forms in a sense represent a natural bound for any city
which is based on some central focus around which the major
economic and political activity takes place.
 a circular and fortified town, divided by two axes into four
quarters where the pictures in each symbolize the usage of
these areas.
 the circle which invariably encloses and bounds development
as well as focusing upon the core
 most cities when examined in terms of their boundaries and
edges, unless heavily constrained by physical features, are
organized in some circular form,
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form
Circular Town

 Organic urban form
 most towns grew organically as the product of many
individual decisions made according to local rules and
circumstances.
 the organic or natural feeling and appearance of the
spatial composition
 The city appears to be the product of nature, growing in
accretive fashion apparently without the artifice of man.
2.1. urban form:
Types of urban form

 three different approaches to collective form
1. Group Form;
 a result of incremental accumulation of spatially interconnected
elements along an armature, for example a central road or topography
lines.
2. Compositional Form:
 two dimensional and static
3. Mega Form;
 a structural approach that provides large frameworks –
hierarchical, open-ended and interconnected systems –
encompassing different functions and elements
2.2. Group Form, Compositional Form and
Mega structure

 Group Form,
 Compositional Form,
 Mega structure,
2.2. Group Form, Compositional Form and
Mega structure

 urban form as the totality of relationships between material space and
social activities in the city.
 There are three major approaches to theories of urban
form:
1. Figure-ground,
2. Linkage, and
3. Place theories
2.3.Theories of urban Form

 There are three major approaches to theories of urban
form:
1. Figure-ground,
2. Linkage, and
3. Place theories
2.3.Theories of urban Form
the event of arriving at or leaving different “city rooms”
Street or Square

3. Urban Analysis:
• Morphology, typo-morphology
urban tissues, Recent trends and consideration
• Urban scape and historical analysis

• Morphology, typo-morphology
urban tissues, Recent trends and consideration
• Town scape and historical analysis

 Morphology
• The term morphology was first coined by Goethe in 1827 as
'the study of unity of type of organic form'
• the study of form and process, growth and form, form and
function
• cities in terms of the way they develop;
o Hamlets become villages, villages towns, towns cities and cities
urban regions, all involving a growth and compounding of spatial
forces which leave their mark on the evolution of form.
3. Urban Analysis:
3.1. Morphology, typo-morphology

 Urban Morphology
• The study of form and shape of human settlement and the
process of formation and transformation
• Seeks to understand the spatial structure and character of city,
town or village
• Examine the patterns of its component parts and their process
of development
Typo-morphology;
 Land use
 Parcel/plots
 Block
 Street
 Building
3. Urban Analysis:

Typo-morphology;
 Land use /pattern/
3. Urban Analysis:

Typo-morphology;
 Parcel/plots -subdivision
3. Urban Analysis:

Typo-morphology;
 Block pattern
3. Urban Analysis:

Typo-morphology;
 Street Pattern
3. Urban Analysis:

Typo-morphology;
 Building Structure
3. Urban Analysis:

 urban tissue
 defined as an organic whole that can be seen according to
different levels of resolution
• At a very low level, the urban tissue includes only the streets and
street blocks.
• At a high level of resolution the tissue might include a number of
details such as the construction materials of an open space or
building
• different types of tissues; streets, street blocks, plots and
building
• clearly identiﬁable and are able to offer their cities a unique
character
• some urban tissues that are clearly recognizable: road & blocks
3. Urban Analysis:
3.2 urban tissues, Recent trends and consideration

 The concept of urban tissue :
3. Urban Analysis:
Different urban tissues in New York city

 The concept of urban tissue :
 in a city streets, street blocks, plots and buildings are
combined in a speciﬁc way, originating different types of
tissues.
 Some of these tissues are clearly identiﬁable and are able
to offer their cities a unique character
 historical, cultural and religious
Symbolism or source of pride, identify
3. Urban Analysis:

 City streets, street block , plots and buildings
3. Urban Analysis:

 Recent trends and consideration :
3. Urban Analysis:

 Consideration in urban analysis
 GIS (Geographic Information System)
 3-D Modeling
3. Urban Analysis:

 Recent trends and consideration :
 Recent trends in urban analysis
 Consideration in urban analysis
3. Urban Analysis:

 Analysis
 the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into
smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it.
 Urban Analysis
 Analysis of urban form can highlight patterns ranging from the
general shape of development to the integration with the larger
natural environment.
 Urban Analysis can be classified as
Historical Analysis; a basis for conservation and for the
promotion of ideas compatible with a developing culture
Town Scape analysis; legibility, permeability and visual
analysis
3.Urban Analysis:
3.3. Historical and town scape analysis

 Historical Analysis;
 ‘how that which is came to be’ is a sound basis for future action
 The richness of the urban realm is the product of a long process of
historical development
 the examination of an early ordnance survey map in order to
determine the scale of urban grain
 involve the examination of the fundamental geographical
reasons for settlement formation
 topography, geology, soils and drainage;
 the dominant axes of development;
o lay lines and vistas of symbolic importance;
o dominant buildings of historic significance;
o focal points of activity
o movement patterns of ancient origin, including processional routes;
changing seats of power and influence;
3.Urban Analysis:

 Historical Analysis;
 involve the examination of … settlement formation
 changing economic patterns as evidenced by the trend and flow of land
values, the density of development, building conditions and their
occupation;
 the patterns of population intrusion, invasion and succession; and
finally,
 the developing patterns of functional areas in relation to changing
modes of transport.
3.Urban Analysis:

 Townscape Analysis;
 There are three main aspects of townscape analysis
1. legibility of the urban structure; ‘how easy to read’.
• the ways in which people perceive, understand and react to the environment
• It concerns those qualities of a place which give it an immediate identity, one
which is quickly perceived or grasped by its users.
2. permeability of the environment; the choice it presents to
the user
3. visual analysis;
 The visual analysis includes studies of urban space, the treatment of
façades, pavement, roofline, street sculpture and an analysis of the
complexity of visual detail which distinguishes one place from
another.
3.Urban Analysis:

 legibility of the urban structure; ‘easy to read’.
• Paths, nodes, landmarks, districts and edges all have a significant role in
determining the legibility of the city
• Mental mapping,’ capable of being structured by people into accurate images
• clear perceptual image of the city, the user can react to the environment more
effectively
 Legibility is one of the qualities of the traditional city
• The important public and religious buildings were the tallest and most
imposing in the city;
• the main public squares and streets for parade were embellished with
decoration, fountains, sculpture and ornamental lighting.
• Districts within the city were clearly apparent
3.Urban Analysis:

 Permeability of urban environment; Privacy And Accessibility
 the freedom with which citizens can walk the streets in safety
 the safe use of the public realm
• ‘Both physical and visual permeability depend on how the network of
public space divides the environment into blocks: areas of land entirely
surrounded by public routes’.
• The pattern of street blocks is therefore one measure of permeability
and accessibility; it is also an indication of the degree of flexibility
which the user has in moving round the area
• Examining the street layout to determine the level of choice and
variety of route for moving from place to place
3.Urban Analysis:

 Visual analysis;
 The visual analysis has three main parts: the study of
i. The three-dimensional public space,
ii. The two dimensional surfaces which enclose public space
and
iii. The architectural details which give to an area much of its
special character
 the main techniques used in the survey and analysis of external
public space; the aerial photograph, aerial perspective and the aerial
axonometric
3.Urban Analysis:

4. Regional Planning
• basic concepts and processes
• Space-economy theories

 Regional planning is a category of planning and
development that deals with designing and placing
infrastructure and other elements across a large
area.
 Planning zones may include several towns, cities or
even parts of different states or regions, each of
which could have its own "urban planning" office
4.1. basic concepts and processes

 deals with the efficient placement of land-use activities,
infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land
than an individual city or town.
 is related to urban planning as it relates land use practices on a
broader scale and includes formulating laws that will guide the
efficient planning and management of such said regions.
 can be comprehensive by covering various subjects, but it more often
specifies a particular subject, which requires region-wide
consideration.
 Regions require various land uses; protection of farmland, cities,
industrial space, transportation hubs and infrastructure, military
bases, and wilderness.
 Regional planning is the science of efficient placement of
infrastructure and zoning for the sustainable growth of a region.

 A ‘region’ in planning terms can be administrative or at least
partially functional, and is likely to include a network of
settlements and character areas.
 Regional planning basically covers an area broader than city,
but smaller than a country.
 There are two types of regional planning
• National Planning
• Local Planning
 National Planning: large scale, economic type of planning
because it relates the development of each region to the
progress of national economy
• It is called top-down planning because higher-level governments
are responsible.

 Local planning; small scale, physical type of planning because it
related the development of a whole urban region to each local
part of it
 It is called bottom-up planning because city government or
combined organization of local governments are in charge.

 Regional/National/Local Planning Process
 Approach
1. Top-dawn
 Expert or professional and technical planning
2. Bottom up
 Participatory planning
 Process: [perception, revelation, preparation and execution ]
1. Information – analysis phase
2. Planning – programing phase
3. Planning – operational phase

 Regional Planning Process

 Space _economies
 Regional economics – which incorporates the dimension ‘space’
into analysis of the working of the market
• Space influences the way an economic system works
 spatial proximity; e.g. the transportation costs of activities operating in
closely concentrated)
Source of economic advantage/disadvantage
 generates geographic advantage/disadvantage
 Regional economic theories
1. Locational theory
2. Growth / development theory
4.2. Space - economy theories

 Regional economic theories
1. Locational theory; microeconomic
• deals with the location choices of firms and households
• involves analysis of disparities in the spatial distribution of activities
• seeks to explain the distribution of activities in space
• uses the concepts of externalities and agglomeration economies to
shed light on such macro-territorial phenomena as disparities in the
spatial distribution of activities, thereby laying the territorial bases for
dynamic approaches
2. Growth / development theory ; macroeconomic
4.2. Space - economy theories

5. Design of New Urban Entities
• Urban Plan types
• Urban planning process

 Urban Plan;
 a plan that guides the future growth of a given urban center and its
surrounding areas with regard to land management for a specified
time horizon.
 Its contents cover land use of the urban area, transportation
networks, and socio- economic, historical, physical and other
aspects.
 The results of a plan are expressed using maps and detailed
written documents.
• legally binding document
• urban plan categories;
• Long term and short term or
• high level /detail plan
5. Urban Plans

• urban plan Hierarchies;
 Three major planning hierarchies, in a top-down hierarchy, are
distinguished:
i. a city-wide long term urban plan (master plan, development
plan, structure plan, etc),
ii. a city-wide medium term strategic/integrated development plan,
and
iii. a local development plan (plan that refers to a specific
geographic location)
•
5. Urban Plans

 Plan types and hierarchies
 Detail plan (implementation plan)
• Local development plan
• Neighborhood development Plan
• Site Plan/block/urban design plan
 Lower level plan
• Sketch Plan
• Basic Plan
• Middle level
• Structure Plan
• Strategic Plan
 Higher level
• Master Plan
• Comprehensive plan
5.1. Types of urban plan

Typologies of urban plan
 Sketch Plan
• a plan prepared at a scale of 1:5,000 for emerging urban centers
• to guide their physical growth in the short to medium term as some of them are
likely to grow into bigger urban centers
• to prevent residential and other structures from being demolished when higher-
level plans are prepared for them when they become big urban centers.
• a simple schematic map that gives general directions and will meet emerging urban
centers’ needs,
• may not require detailed socio-economic analysis or a detailed land use plan, focus
on major categories of land use
 Basic Plan
• prepared for small towns with limited personnel and within a short period of time
without conducting detailed socio-economic studies.
• detailed physical/spatial plan (indicating land use and infrastructural plans)
prepared at scale of 1:2,000
• Prepared to guide physical growth
• of small towns until they grow and become bigger urban centers

 Structure Plan
• prepared at the city level for metropolis at 1:2,000-1:20,000 scale and for
region-polis and category 1 urban centers at 1:2,000 - 1:10,000 scale.
• a long-term plan (up to 10 years)
• flexible and allow changes to be made during implementation.
• to be implemented taking into account the current situation and urban
planning capacity and by involving the population of every neighborhood,
 Strategic Plan
• city-wide plan which is suitable for medium sized towns and urban centers
• prepared at the scale of 1:2,000 or 1:5,000 for a planning period of 10 years.
• integrates the physical, economic, social and environmental aspects
• Portray the major land use categories, economic and physical infrastructures,
social services, issues concerning environmental conservation and the multi-
faceted linkages of the urban center with its rural hinterlands
• outline the financial and institutional requirements for realization of the
urban center’s future developmental needs and vision for growth.

 Master Plan
• Spatial or physical plans that depict on a map the state and
form of urban area at future points in time when the plan is
‘realized’.
• have also been called ‘end-state’ plans and ‘blue-print’ plans.
• physical oriented master plans with 20 years horizons
• not flexible which does not accommodate land use changes
during implementation in any part of urban center other than
the ones specified on the plan

 Comprehensive plan
• reflects the belief that the planning system should plan towns or large
parts of them as a whole and detail.
• The comprehensive plan is the adopted official statement of a local
government’s legislative body for future development and conservation.
• It sets forth goals; analyzes existing conditions and trends; describes and
illustrates a vision for the physical, social, and economic characteristics of
the community in the years ahead; and outlines policies and guidelines
intended to implement that vision.
• address a broad range of interrelated topics in a unified way.
• A comprehensive plan identifies and analyzes the important relationships
among the economy, transportation, community facilities and services,
housing, the environment, land use, human services, and other
community components.

• provide valuable
guidance to those in the
public and private sector
as decisions are made
affecting the future
quality of life of existing
and future residents and
the natural and built
environments in which
they live, work, and play.

 Master Plan

 Local development plan
• Local development plan (LDP):
• a detail development plan of a defined locality.
• a statutory instrument that zooms
• out the general and broader proposals of a structure plan of an
urban center.
• serves as a transition between a structure plan and projects in the
process of implementation of urban plans
 key elements of an LDP
 detail land-use plan of the area (2 & 3D);
 proposals of major infrastructure networks;
 proposals of key socio-economic measures;
 implementation strategies; regulations; standards & norms.

Local development plan (LDP):
 LDP is an element and integral part of an urban planning system
of an urban center.
 LDP of a given locality of a town should stem from the town
structure plan, and needs to fit into existing urban planning and
development policies, laws and regulations
 A local plan deals with local issues (physical, social, economic),
which refers to a definite spatial unit whose boundary may or
may not coincide with the formal administrative boundary.

 The size or geographical limit of an area to be covered in LDP can vary
from one case to another depending on the level and complexity of
the urban center.
 content of LDPs;
i. cover physical, economic and social fabrics of an urban area
ii. include a brief presentation of existing situation, development
proposals for the area in question
iii. implementation strategies for the proposed development actions,
iv. mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the implementation
process.

 Upgrading: intervention in slum areas by the introduction of
economic, social, and physical services and infrastructure and
the improvement of the housing physical conditions thereby
creating better environment.
 redevelopment: the process of demolishing and reconstructing
central urban slums for economic, social and scenic aims
 Conservation: ‘a process that focus on the quality of urban
environment by developing a program to protect cities and
urban areas from environmental & optical pollution’
• concerned with those parts of the built environment that are of
architectural or historic significance.

 Renewal: focus on the physical or spatial aspect of urban area
which might be decayed or deteriorated.
• a program or set of plans and activities to upgrade urban areas that
were in state of distress or decay
• a method of revitalizing urban areas of ‘blight’ economically
through public investments
 Land development: the conversion of land from one use to
another, the conversion of rural or vacant land to some sort of
residential use.
 Action areas: the area where concrete LDP implementation is
supposed to occur
 Planning area: The major physical, social, economic and
environmental links that exist between the LDP ‘action area’
and its surrounding influence areas

 Neighborhood development Plan
 third level of planning, done at project level, which is the next level of
planning to local development plan (LDP) with detail designs and action
plans.
 Contains urban design with the site work and landscape designs, detail
infrastructure layout and designs, building layouts and preliminary design
of buildings.
 requires an in depth study at the planning area level
 Principles of NDP;
 develop compact mixed use neighborhoods
 Create architectural forms and neighborhood spaces that promote
cultural diversity and positive social interactions
 Develop pedestrian oriented neighborhoods
 Develop ecologically friendly and economically sound neighborhoods

 Neighborhood development Plan
 Principles of NDP;
 Ensure and promote Participation in neighborhood planning and design
 Maintain and integrate important existing settlements, facilities and
natural site features
Distinction between LDPs and neighborhood plan:
 Area wise a neighborhood design is small scale where as LDP covers
large area
 Neighborhood design focus more on residential housing development
where as LDP covers a variety of land uses commercial, industrial,
residential …
 LDPs contain short as well as medium and long-term developments
where as the neighborhood design focuses on short-term actions,
which is to be implemented within 3-5 years.

 Group assignment
 Concept of Neighborhood Unit and neighborhood Design
 Case Studies on Neighborhood Units

 Site Plan/ [lock/urban design] plan
 urban design plans generally have a short time horizon
and are typically area or project specific.
 Key elements of an urban design plan include the
• plan itself,
• preparation of design guidelines for buildings, the design
of the public realm
• Open space, streets, sidewalks, and plazas between and
• around buildings—and
• “public interest” issues of buildings; massing, placement,
and sun, shadow, and wind issues.

 Site Plan/ [Block/urban design] plan
 Urban design plans are prepared for various areas, including
downtowns, waterfronts, campuses, corridors,
neighborhoods, mixed-use developments, and special
districts.
Issues to be considered include existing development,
proposed development, utility infrastructure, streets
framework, open space framework, environmental
framework, and sustainable development principles.
Urban design plans require interdisciplinary collaboration
among urban designers, architects, landscape architects,
planners, civil and environmental engineers, and market
analysts.

 Site Plan/ [Block/urban design] plan
On the neighborhood scale, urban design plans often address
the location and design of infill housing, new parks, and
community institutions; main street revitalization; housing
rehabilitation guidelines; and street reconfiguration.
 Sponsors of neighborhood plans include cities, community
development organizations, foundations, and private
developers.

 Planning process
It occurs through a process in which
1. Information is collected and analyzed;
2. logical alternative courses of action are developed consistent
with the goals of a constituency; and
3. a course of action is recommended.
 comprised of a number of stages or phases.
5.2. Planning process

 Planning process
 Data Collection
• Site inventory
• Site Survey
• Site visiting
 Analysis
• Spatial analysis
• Socio-Economic analysis
• SWOT analysis
 Plan preparation phase
 Plan implementation and evaluation

 Urban planning steps;
 The steps in the planning process may be described as follows:
1) Identification of problem or need
2) Data collection and analysis
3) Development of goals and objectives
4) Clarification and diagnosis of the problem or issues
5) Identification of alternative solutions
6) Analysis of alternatives
7) Evaluation and recommendation of actions
8) Development of implementation program
9) Surveillance and monitoring

 Urban planning steps;

 Data collection Phase;- site survey/inventory;
1. General Existing site Features
2. Physical features/Aspect/
3. Environmental Aspect
4. Social condition
5. Economic Condition
6. Cultural and heritage values
7. Housing condition
8. Infrastructures and utilities

 Data Analysis Phase;
1. Spatial data analysis
2. Socio-economic data analysis
1. Social livelihood
2. Economy /income
3. Scenario Analysis
1. Forecasting
2. Projection
4. SMOT Analysis
 Strength
 Weakness
 Opportunity
 threat

 Planning preparation Phase;
 Setting Vision and Goal
 Vision: (hope, wishes or desire)
• ‘Hoped to be accomplished in a particular planning effort’
 Goals: are general in nature.
• are "broad brush" definitions of conditions which are to be striven
for but may not be fully attainable.
 Objectives: are more specific, and appear to be attainable.
 have been carefully examined, and the plans will be developed to
achieve them

 Planning preparation Phase;
 Concept and alternative
 Plan preparation

6. Urban Planning
• Norms
• Standards
• Guidelines

 Norms
• Can be defined as guideline about what is considered normal (what
is correct or incorrect) social behavior in a particular group or social
unit.
• It is a principle of right action binding upon the members of a
group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and
acceptable behavior.
6. Norms, Standards and Guidelines
6.1 Planning norms

 Standards
• refers to those sites planning and zoning standards which are
applied to development proposals in an effort to achieve
conformity with established land use policy and other regulations
in order to ensure a better quality of life for citizens.
• Site planning standards
o are concerned with the planning and design of neighborhoods or
communities in terms of providing guidance for the provision, siting,
and spatial relationships of specific uses such as residential areas,
industrial development, and community facilities and amenities.
o Site zoning standards
o Regulations for implementing land use plan; regulating the use, density
of population, and intensity of building coverage
6.2. Planning Standards

 Norms and standards
• are provisions showing acceptable qualities and quantities of
provisions for housing, services, infrastructure and utilities.
• refer to levels of activities involved in plan preparation, revision,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Norms and standards for;
1. Land use
2. Road/transport
3. Utility
4. Social services
5. Hierarchy of urban areas

 Norms and standards
 Threshold population : 500- 100,0000
 Catchment radius: 0.5km – 5 km
Hierarchy Land use Roads/transport Utility Social service Recreational
Block
Neighborhood
Kebele
Woreda
Sub City
Town
City

 Guidelines;
• a general rule, principle, or piece of advice.
• It can be directions or regulation to be followed or respected
 a statement by which to determine a course of action.
 A guideline aims to streamline particular processes according to
a set routine or sound practice.
 Guidelines may be issued by and used by any organization
(governmental or private) to make the actions of its employees
or divisions more predictable, and presumably of higher quality.
 A guideline is similar to a rule.
6.3 Planning Guidelines

• Integrative: Integrating all the urban dimensions and impacts of
all governmental sectoral policies and strategies; integrating
different spatial dimensions from national to local.
• Participatory: With pro-active involvement of all segments of
society, including children, youth, women and minority and
vulnerable people, throughout the planning and decision-
making process.
• Decision-making process: The participatory process resulting in
formal decisions taken by competent public authorities aiming
at sustainable urban development.
• Shared vision: A future spatial outlook for a defined area that is
formulated by and decided upon through a multi-stakeholder
and participatory process.
6.3 Planning Guidelines

• Development strategy: A multi-stakeholder strategy to (re-)develop a
defined area, underpinned by a shared vision and a legally compatible
and financially resourced implementation strategy with strategic
measures and spatial interventions.
• National, regional and local urban policies: Multi-tier policies to define
a vision, guiding principles and set of linked actions by national,
regional and/or local governments to harness the potentials from the
concentrated growth of population and economic activity.
6.3. Planning Guidelines

 Urban Planning Guidelines;
1. Adequate Space for Street and road network
2. Mixed Land use and compatibility
3. Social Mix: cohesion and interaction between different social
classes
4. Connectivity: Provision of public transport, Emphasis on walking
distances and Clear connection building street
5. Adequate and well-designed Density
6.3. Planning Guidelines

1. Urban planning guide-ASCE (1986), Revised edition
2. Mathios Consult, Urban Planning and Implementation Manual, 2002
3. Kurt W. Bauer-City Planning for Civil Engineers, Environmental Engineers, and
Surveyors-CRC Press (2009)
4. Van Der Ryn, Sim& Carthorse peter. Sustainable communities New Design synthesis
for cities suburbs & Towns.
5. MoUDC (2012), Revised Standards for Structure Plan Preparation and
Implementation, UPSB bureau, Addis Ababa.
6. MoUDH (2016), Urban Plan preparation and Implementation Strategy, Revised
7. DoUDBC (2013), Planning Norms and Standards, Nepal
8. URDPFI (2015), Plans formulation and implementation guidelines, Vol-1 India
Bibliographies/ reading materials

Introduction to Urban Planning

Introduction to Urban Planning

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