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Topic: Trends in Urban Growth & Objectives of Sound Planning
Topic: Trends in Urban Growth & Objectives of Sound Planning
Topic: Trends in Urban Growth & Objectives of Sound Planning
1. Introduction:
The current discussion is based on the concept of urban growth trends and objectives behind sound
planning. According to, “Harold MacLean Lewis”[1] the trends in urban growth can be visualized
through population estimates. He classified the towns with relation to their population sizes. According
to his classification the town population begins from 2500 to 5000 persons. He further classified town in
nine categories.
i) 2500 to 5000 persons may be termed as Infantile (small/ basic) Municipality Town
ii) 5000 to 10000 persons may be termed as Juvenile (emerging/ young) Town
iii) 10000 to 25000 persons may be termed as Mature Trade/Industrial Town
iv) 25000 to 50000 persons may be termed as Metropolis (city) or Medium Size City
v) 50000 to 100000 persons may be termed as Megalopolis Intermediate City
vi) 100000 to 250000 persons may be termed as Trade/Industry/Service Sector City
vii) 250000 to 500000 persons may be termed as Primate City
viii) 500000 to 1000000 persons may be termed as a Metropolitan City
ix) 1000000 or more persons may be termed as Mega City
The trends in urban growth can be seen from two major perspectives. One is the trends of emerging
urban centers or cities over the period of time and other is the trends of urban growth within urban
centers. Considering the first perspective in mind there are three different trends of urban growth
evident in the world i.e. Development of Mega Cities, Development of Metropolitan Cities and
Development of Small and Intermediate Cities or Secondary Cities.
i) Development of Metropolitan Cities:
These are cities with population between one million and above up to less than 10 millions. After the
First World War up to Second World War the development trends was of metropolitan cities as a hub of
economic activities and centers of administration and power.
This development trend continued up to Second World War. In this era small manufacturing towns also
developed as industrial cities. After the devastating effects of 2nd world war the redevelopment of
cites toll place & large cities emerged as primate cities with large economic base. Due to both push
and pull factors the urban areas transformed their morphology to greater extent.
ii) Development of Mega Cities:
These are the cities with population of Ten million & above. There are total 25 mega cities in the
world. The background of mega city development is that, “The population explosions and mass
migration towards primate cities caused the phenomenal growth & development in metropolitan cities
and they become the economic base for the countries at national level and played their respective role
in the country’s economic development.
The change in these metropolitan cities not only remains at population level but in addition their
physical nature and morphology has increase to greater extent. These are termed as mega cities.
Mega cities are those which have mega economics and mega problems and issues. Such as its
administration setup and physical maintenance and management issues. The devastating effects of
Second World War also give birth to importance of small, secondary and intermediate level cities
whose economic base also effect and serve the neighboring rural areas.
iii) Development of Small and Intermediate Cities:
These are the cities with population range from 2500 to less than one million. The development trend
of these cities occurred in two different times in the history. At first this trends of cities was evident
immediately after Industrial Revolution up to 1st world war and then after Second World War up till
now.
The current trend is development of small and intermediate cites which has to play an important role
in national economics due to security reasons and maintenance and management. The basic reason
behind development of such cities is to reduce the pressure of population from primate cities. Secondly
such cities are having small size can be better managed and plays a pivotal role in national economics
by supporting rural hinter land.
2. What is Urban Growth?
It is basically the growth and development of urban areas, over a period of time. It can also be
understood by the term urban sprawl.
3. What is Urban Sprawl?
Urban sprawl is the term to describe development pattern in cities. However it can be understood
through visualizing the on-going process of growth in cities. The urban sprawl can refer to at least
three different patterns.
i) Low density continuous development.
ii) Ribbon development.
iii) Leapfrog development
i) Low – Density Continuous Development Pattern:
This is the development pattern on housing and related land uses in all direction of city. It is also
termed as the horizontal growth, which occupy large amount of land and expand the boundary of the
city. This development pattern is manly measure for at least 50 years.
The effects of low density continuous development pattern are as follows:
Waste of land resources. It increase the cost of development i.e. utilities, transport. It increases the
travel time and energy consumption.
ii) Leapfrog Development Pattern:
It is a process of skipping over of parcels of land. This pattern occurs due to various reasons such as
property value increase, deteriorating law and order, opportunities of better life & upward mobility.
The effects of leapfrog development are as follows:
It is unplanned growth that occurs spontaneously. It creates incompatible land uses.
iii) Ribbon Development Pattern:
It is the development that follows street, car lines roads. Subways, and commuter railroads, by leaving
the interstices undeveloped. Mainly the highways promote ribbon development. Interstices mean space
between things / objects. According to Encyclopedia of Urban Planning by Whittick Arnold, “It is an
urban development along main roads leading to cites”. According to Mr. G.K. Hiraskar, in this growth
pattern, the development takes place in the form of Ribbon or line. It is a single row of house, shops,
market, commercial buildings along the bust routes railway lines, and highways. The ribbon
development mostly occurs in newly developing towns where zoning rules and regulations have not
been strictly enforced.
The affects of Ribbon growth are as follows:
It has only one advantage that resident have access to transport. Its disadvantages are traffic noise,
danger for children, stretch of services, and
4. Cellular Growth:
As evident from the term itself the cellular growth is the growth and expansion of cells.
What is cell? Cell is basically a unit of planning. Just like different biological organisms grow and
expand, or a cell reproduce itself. Like wise in planning when a planned settlement is developed in a
city; the city expands with it. For example KDA announces housing schemes in Karachi. Each settlement
which is developed in a scheme can be termed as cell. Therefore, in planning cellular growth means
repetition of existing cells in city structure or it is a planned addition of new neighborhoods to existing
towns.
5. Linear City:
The linear city concept can also be termed as more refined version of ribbon development. The
concept of linear city was developed by Mr. Don Arturo Soria Y. Mata in 1882, in Madrid. According to
his concept, “A city should be designed on the principal that transport rout will be the main
determinant to develop physical shape / form / morphology of the city.” In linear city the
development is arranged in a long narrow belt along the both sides of road. There may be a series of
linear towns along the route to link existing towns. In Pakistan one can find many examples of this
nature such as along Indus Highway many towns and villages developed in this pattern.
6. Suburbs and Suburban Growth:
Suburbs are the compactly developed / developing areas in the surrounding of a city. There is no
identifiable boundary between city and suburban. However they are distinguished by their
socio-economic and physical characteristics.
6.1 Character of Suburbs:
Suburbs can be of different form and function depends on their age, location and circumstances and
context within which they are developed. In case of America and Europe (West) they are of three
kind’s i.e. old suburbs, new suburbs and former independent communities.
7. Objectives of Sound Planning:
According to Harold MacLean Lewis;
Whatever the plan may be, but it should have reasonable foresight to be adapted to new conditions
with little disturbance and destruction in making improvements. The work of planning should be
assigned to people who have a vision, technical training and experience. A reasonable plan once
decide, should be implemented with its essential features without any demand and opposition and that
is sound planning. However the objectives of sound planning are to have flexibility in plans to adopt
change. For instance if informal development is more than formal development, then it should be
regulated. The efforts & investments of people shall not be destroyed so as resources shall not go
waste & that is the objective of sound planning. The logic behind regulation of informal sector is the
failure of formal sector in provision of services and infrastructure for example, will it be possible for a
poor person to have concrete house? Or can they get the services of an engineer or hire an architect
who can provide low cost solutions? The answer is definitely no. So if a poor person made his house
without standards he must be regulated not bulldozed. Another thing that must be kept in mind that,
who made the great cities? Princes; Kings; some Powerful People or an Institution of Government. So
what is their objective to make a new city? Mainly their objective is to develop capital cities as a place
of their importance at national and international level to get praise for them from generations to
come.
8. Conclusions:
Thus conclusively the current discussion leads us to following realities.
i) Urban growth can be spontaneous on its own or planned growth as directed by the authorities.
ii) The concept of planning is to provide a vision for future well before the people actually settle in the
settlements and planning may also be appropriate enough to facilitate the process of housing the poor
in the city.
iii) The basic planning component is that incompatible land uses should not be allowed.
iv) Circulation, transport, infrastructure and land use management are the basic tools of planning to
guide the urban growth and transformation in the city.
v) Suburban growth shall be seen as the series of phases through which a particular location passes or it
is the development which proceed from an open land to mature urban development.
vi) The objectives of sound planning should be to develop a set of simple guidelines, or principles
which should be comprehensive and adaptable to changing conditions of the future.
References:
[1] Harold MacLean Lewis is the author of book “Planning the Modern City”, 1978, New York, USA.
MODERN PLANNING IN PAKISTAN AND ABROAD
Introduction:
Before beginning of description about, “Modern Planning in Pakistan and Abroad” it is
important to understand the term ‘Modern’ and the phrase ‘Modern Planning’. The
understanding of these two concepts would lead us to make the beginning of this topic.
Secondly it would be interesting to develop a historical perspective of planning attempts
made abroad in western world and then in Pakistan.
Modernity and Modern:
Modernity is a term that refers to the modern era. The term "modern" can refer to many
different things.[1]
Modernism and Modern Planning:
Modernism describes an array of cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The term covers a series of reforming
movements in art, architecture, music, literature and the applied arts which emerged during
this period. At its most basic level, Modernism could be described as the experimentation and
fragmentation of the human experience, characterized by deviations from the norms of
society.[2]
Modern Planning Abroad:
In order to understand the modern planning abroad one may refer to encyclopedia of urban
planning by Whittick Arnold and read the contemporary theories and practices in the western
world. It narrates that since 16th century the mode of planning cities is divided in seven main
categories.
i. The Authoritarian Planning
ii. The Utilitarian Planning
iii. The Utopian Planning
iv. The Technocratic Utopia
v. The Technocratic Planning
vi. The Organic Planning
Following is the detailed description of these planning types.
Authoritarian Planning:
It is basically a geometric planning which emerged in 16th century onwards under priestly
dictators & absolute monarchs who wanted to create an urban setting which can emphasize
their power structure in society. The principles of this kind of planning include a long street,
uniform blank front and a monument.
The Utilitarian Planning:
With the continuation geometric planning there emerges the utilitarian planning which are
basically the repercussions of geometric extension of the town. It is also termed as
commercial utilitarian planning because its major objective is to maximize the returns from
sale & rent. Since last three centuries large number of new towns or town extensions
developed on this theory that the ideal municipal facilities should be provided on open land
where the large population to be housed with maximum use of available space for built
structures & minimum space availability for parks, play ground & open public spaces. The
other aspect of utilitarian planning is the encouragement of private sector investments in the
development.
Technocratic Planning:
The technocratic planning describes a process which is going on from last one century; where
mechanical services are increasing with huge costs for providing water from distant sources,
disposal system of sewerage & garbage, paved streets, rapid transportation systems, tunnels,
bridges, multilane highways & large parking lots. The aim of technocratic planning & ideas is
to make every urban activity, a function of a machine. In theory technocratic planning
assumes that all human problems are open to a technological solution and all human needs
can be met by invention of a mechanical or electronic device that can stimulate them &
satisfy them or divert them to other channels.
Modern Planning in Pakistan:
The issue of modern planning in Pakistan is a little bit complex because there is no book
available on this issue till date that describes modern planning in Pakistan. There are
different authors/ researchers of urban planning in Pakistan who have generated different
research papers that are not directly related to this topic but contain some relevant data or
allied information. In the following the description of such endeavors is outlined in a logical
manner so as the reader may understand the complexity of this issue.
Master Planning in Pakistan – A Historical Perspective[4]
Legal Framework:
There has been no town or Country Planning law at national level in Pakistan. In the
beginning, the only legislation with provision for the preparation of master plans by local
councils was the Municipal Administration Ordinance (MAO) 1960. However, this Ordinance did
not say anything about plan sanctioning and implementing authorities. Nor it contained any
provisions requiring the revision of the plans as and when needed. The MAO 1960 was
replaced by Provincial Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) 1979. It simply carried forward
the provisions of MAO 1960 about master planning in almost the same words. Like the MAO
1960, only the urban local councils were required to prepare master plans for their
jurisdiction under the PLGO 1979 and it was also not mandatory to do so. Thus rural areas of
the country received no planning attention even under this Ordinance.
Recently, the Local Government Ordinance 2001 has replaced the PLGO 1979 as part of the
devolution plan of the current military regime. Under the 2001 Ordinance, a new system of
Local Government has been established, creating three tiers of local government
administration. Each province has been divided into Districts by eliminating the previous
rural-urban divide. Each district comprises a few Tehsils/Towns which are again divided into
areas of Union Councils. Staff at each administrative level has been appointed by abolition
and merger of different existing institutions functioning at provincial and local levels, for
better governance at the local level. Thus the Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMA) has
replaced the urban (e.g. Municipal/Town Committees) and rural (e.g. Zila Councils) local
councils. All the TMAs in a district are administratively linked with District Government.
However, in case of provincial capitals, a City District Government (CDG) has been established
by dividing the city into different Town Municipal Administrations. Under the 2001 Ordinance,
all the TMAs are required to prepare a master plan for their respective areas and get it
approved from their respective Councils.
Provisions for master planning can also be found as one of the function of various
development authorities or planning agencies in their respective Acts / Ordinances under
which these authorities or agencies were created primarily in large cities. For example, these
include Karachi Development (KDA) Authority Order 1957, Lahore Development Authority
(LDA) Act 1975, and Quetta Development Authority Ordinance 1978. Until recently these
development authorities have been working in parallel with local government institutions
often with overlapping jurisdictions and duplication of planning powers. Since the
reorganization of local government in 2001, these development authorities have been made
part of the District Government but as a separate entity.
Preparation and Implementation of Master Plans
Recognizing the need to arrest the ugliness and haphazard growth of big cities of Pakistan and
to guide the future development in a planned manner, the Government of Pakistan envisaged
in the second five year plan (1960-65) the need of preparation of master plans for eleven
major cities in the then West Pakistan. Lahore being the provincial metropolis of the biggest
province topped the list of selected cities. Hence, the preparation of Master Plan for Greater
Lahore marked the beginning of master planning in Pakistan in 1961. The second Master plan
was prepared for Karachi during 1970 to 1974.[5] Afterwards a number of master plans have
also been produced for various cities of the country including, for instance, Quetta,
Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan. A brief review of some of these master plans
suggests that these have adopted the most conventional notion of planning process by Patrick
Geddes,[6]that is:
Conduct a SURVEY,
Do an ANALYSIS and then
Make a PLAN
References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernity
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism
Gates, Henry Louis 2004. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. W.W. Norton
& Company, Inc.
[3] For details please log on to the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning
[4] Rizwan Hameed and Obaidullah Nadeem (2006) “Challenges of Implementing Urban Master
Plans: The Lahore Experience” Published in PROCEEDINGS OF WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCE,
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 17 DECEMBER 2006 ISSN 1307-6884 PWASET VOLUME
17 DECEMBER 2006 ISSN 1307-6884 336 ©
2006 www.waset.org From: http://www.waset.org/pwaset/v17/v17-65.pdf
[5] M. I. Mirza, “A Review of the Master Plan for Karachi Metropolitan Region,” in Proc.
National Seminar on Planning for Urban Development in the Developing Countries with Special
Reference to Pakistan, Lahore, 1978
[6] B. Philip, The Worlds of Patrick Geddes: Biologist, Town Planner, Re-educator,
Peace-warrior, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1978
[7] HP & EPD., “Feasibility Studies and Urban Master Planning of Ten Cities of Punjab,”
Lahore, Housing and Physical Planning Department, Government of the Punjab, 1994
[8] W. A. Butt, “An Evaluation of Outline Development Plan with Special Reference to
Gujranwala Division,” M.Sc. Thesis, Dept. of City & Regional Planning, University of
Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, 1991