What is Regional Planning?

Regional Planning can be defined as the integrated management of land use activities
(economic, social, and physical resources) and settlement across a spatially bounded area.
What is a Region?
A region can be explained as a part of a place or country that is divided by definable
characteristics and it involves the interaction of human and the environment.
Types of Region
There are three (3) major types of region, namely:
1. Formal region
2. Functionional region
3. Vernacular region

1. Formal region: also known as a uniform or homogeneous region, is an area in which

everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. This common
characteristic could be a cultural value such as language, an economic activity such as
production of a certain crop, or an environmental property such as climate and weather
patterns. Whatever the common characteristic is, it sis present throughout the selected
region. In certain formal regions, the characteristic may be predominant rather than
universal, such as the wheat belt in North America, it is an area in which the predominant
crop is wheat, but other crops are grown here as well.
2. Functional region: also known as a nodal region, is a region organized around a node or
focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central
focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. The region is tied to the central
point by transportation, communication systems or by economic or functional
associations. An example of a functional region is the circulation area of a newspaper.
That area is centered around the city in which the newspaper is published in. The farther
away from the city of circulation, the less people that read the newspaper(this
phenomenon is known as distance decay).
3. Vernacular region: also known as perceptual region, is a place that people exists as part
of their cultural identity. Perceptual regions vary from person to person. They emerge
from a person' s informal sense of place. An example of a vernacular region would be the
 South. My idea of the southern states may be different than my friend's idea of southern
states.

Importance of regional planning

1. To resolve serious problems: broadly speaking, the way the environmental conditions are
being depreciating and are posing a serious threat to the human welfare, Regional
Planning is becoming more and more of compulsory rather than a matter of choice.
2. To address the rapid increase in population: The rapidly increasing population,
particularly during the last 3-4 decades, has increased the pressure on world resources
tremendously. To ensure better habitability conditions as well as for the survival and
continued welfare of physical environment, the developmental processes should have to
be based upon the principles of Regional Planning.
3. Regional Planning for developing Countries: Most of the developing nations are poorly
endowed and have innumerable task in hand in the process of economic reconstruction
and transformation. Since Regional Planning addresses itself to the host of problems, it
has special significance for the less developed countries.
4. Regional Planning needs arises due to failing of all other types of Planning: It has already
been realized by the world community that all other types of planning such as; sectoral
planning, functional planning, area planning etc has failed to deliver the desired result.
Regional Planning has displayed its multi-purpose usefulness.
5. To identify the futuristic Regional Realities: Rapid development in the field of
information and communication technology all over the world resulted in;
● revolution in the field of transportation and communication.
● broken the rural isolation and has increased the interaction between rural-urban
communities
● increased the volume of traffic and trades
● increased the population mobility both inter regional and intra regional.
● finally given rise to new regional boundaries with intensified integration.
All these developments necessitate the futuristic planning efforts. We must recognize these
regional realities. The Principles of Regional Planning are becoming more and more critically
important to recognize these regional realities.
Regional Planning strategies
Regional planning strategies provide the framework around which policy and decisions should
be made once the counties determine upon the most feasible and sustainable economic
development pattern. A sustainable economic pattern should promote a socially, environmentally
and economic-balanced approach to rural development. It highlights;
● Regional plans offer the possibility of reconsidering the strategic development frame.
● Relates to the general and territorial plans.
● Examines the integration of land use and infrastructure in two different regional plans.
● These regional plans identify the existing problems, strengths and opportunities.
● Cases will expand a sustainable economic model based on regional plans’ strategies.

An example of a regional plan

References
Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Chapter 6 Regional Planning". American Planning
Association. American Planning Association Press. Retrieved 22 December 2017.

Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. pp. 561. ISBN 9780415252256.

Ziafati Bafarasat, A. and Oliveira, E., 2020. Disentangling three decades of strategic spatial
planning in England through participation, project promotion and policy integration. European
Planning Studies