Urban planning: local development plan defects- part 1

Urban planning: local development plan defects- part 1 is the first article of a series of articles. The local development plan is one of a set of plans required for a city. Built to guide the development in a city for a time length of 5 years. My article here is to define the defects in the plan-making process and to introduce an alternative approach for plan-making. The first two parts introduce plan-making in European contexts and its defects. while the other three introduce the new plan-making approach.

In analyzing several local development plans like the berlin urban development plan, planning for the future of London 1983, Havant Borough Core Strategy concentrates on 5 areas: housing, economy, city structure, environment, mobility.

The base for the local plan study is population growth. This considers new births and age structure of population adding to that the shifted population from other cities. The elderly and disabled people and their need for a special type of accommodation and recreation area as well as health care service. The increase in family size requires a new type of accommodation and an affordable one. The basic data output from population growth is the requirement for council housing, required health services, and infrastructure such as schools and health care facilities. Within the population growth study a detailed analysis of the skilled workers available in the city, the employed and unemployed, that is important to supply the other area of study of the local plan. I have studied many areas in the UK concerning population. Elderly people live with one of the family members in most cases, their homes are near a health care facility and public park where they are served properly as many areas of the city include a good network of health care services and open green space. Many housing whether it is publicly owned or private sector is designed as two-bedroom or more houses. Many families do not require a change of homes as growing people shift out of home when entering university to university housing or related housing units. Defining employed or unemployed from population study will not serve anything as there is no relevant accurate study of the cause of unemployment. Does that lead us to why we study population growth? It’s for the newly born kids or what?

The study of city housing focuses on several things. Types of housing available in the city in terms of private or public. The new constructed and the old ones. The size of these houses and their rental prices. The most important is the shortage of the required houses in the city. Planners look into the homeless, unfit, and derelict housing where they require special attention for repair and return into use. Within this study, the planners focus on defining areas in the city to supply the shortage and mark it for investment in housing projects. Not only defining housing shortage and supply but the study supply information about ethnic groups housing conditions and if they need another type of accommodation. Many authorities neglect multistory and high-rise housing because of the impact on children’s lives as it is considered risky for a family with children to live in. but the reality is most European multistory housing supplied by authorities is targeted for social housing meaning for low-income families. These housing projects failed in many areas in the European world because it causes social problems like crime, attracting prostitution, and drug dealers. On the contrary in most areas in the world like Asia and the Middle East multistory housing is welcomed and does not cause any social problems and is preferred. Many countries in the world like India, China, and some American countries have been building high-rise successful housing. As all world development is going towards a high rise and high-density development for the sake to achieve sustainable development. For example in India urban densities is near 30,000 per/kilometer in most cities, In china, densities are near 25,000per/kilometer in most cities, new York’s density is 1800 per/kilometer. The main purpose of the housing study is to define the amount of social housing the authority is obligated to supply and in which location. This leads to blocking any development of housing projects not in line with the city authority study to stop unnecessary funding and reserve budget for another sector. The housing problem continues from plan to plan and the shortage is always present in every plan.

The economic study focus on two factors types of businesses and related land use, as well as employment and workforce. This area of the local plan is studied in different ways. UK approach focuses on studying the relationship between the declining business and the increase in unemployment rates. The amount of unused land in the city and the number of vacant business spaces in the city. The plans identify the unemployment rates and relate this change to the change in economic activity. Adding to that studying types of employment sites that could be transformed into another economic development. This approach policy is to provide jobs, generate wealth, and produce economic output. In Germany, the economic area is studied differently. The local plan focus on the types of business that strengthen the regional economy accordingly increasing job opportunities and reducing unemployment. For example, berlin’s plan concentrates on knowledge sector business and relevant research to attract international business into the city and supply more jobs for the job market. In these two cases, we can identify that the two approaches are to increase business firms to supply more jobs into the market. Here it is not identified where these businesses are being funded or which organization is going to fund the creation of these businesses. Adding to that is the possibility of a decline in the short term of these businesses. So why businesses are declining and why people are losing their jobs?  Which of these leads to the other?

Losing a job does not mean that the business is not in a good condition. Many companies look for a better professional and opportunity to strengthen their operation by more experienced people if they are within the targeted budget. The reduction in marketing strength could lead to a reduction in revenue and sales and even new projects. Companies decide to reduce staff to keep the company performance in good condition. Change of function or expanding to another type of service could lead to change many staff. For example, an engineering consultant changing service to infrastructure projects where the market is heading could cause many architects, and engineers to lose their job.

If you would like to read about the market cycle and its influence on creating jobs, you can read my article click here.