THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY

GEOMATIC ENGINEERING

GE 271 – LAND-USE PLANNING

HANDOUT 1

INTRODUCTION
Outline

• Introduction
• Spatial Planning
• Principles of Landuse Planning
• Goals of Landuse Planning
• Types of Landuse Planning
Introduction

Spatial planning
Core element of spatial planning is to prepare
and make decisions about future land use:
 Regional planning: settling the spatial or
physical structure and development as an
integrated part of a formalised planning
system of a state.
 Sets a framework for decisions on land use
taken at the local level within land-use
planning of the municipalities. Scale from
1:50 000 to 1:100 000.
Introduction

Spatial planning
Core element of spatial planning is to prepare
and make decisions about future land use:
 Land-use planning: local/municipal level to
guide land and resource uses. The main
instrument of land-use planning is zoning.
 Normally consists of two stages: first, a
general or preparatory land-use plan (scale
from 1:5,000 to 1:50,000) for a whole
municipality and second, a detailed land-use
plan for small part of it, mostly legally binding
(scale 1:500 to 1:5000).
 Levels of Spatial planning
 Local municipal council
is responsible for all
the functions of land
use planning.

 Other bodies are

responsible for the
promotion of the
conservation and
sustainable use of
natural resources,
establishing policies,
criteria, tools and
procedures.
Introduction

Landuse planning
Defined as the process of regulating the use of
land in an effort to promote more desirable
social and environmental outcomes as well as a
more efficient use of resources.

Landuse planning is a systematic and iterative

procedure carried out in order to create an
enabling environment for sustainable
development of land resources which meets
people’s needs and demands.
Introduction

Landuse planning
 The objective is to influence, control or direct
changes in the use of land, so that it is
dedicated to the most beneficial use, while
maintaining the quality of the environment
and promoting conservation of the land
resources.
 Leads to landuse regulation, which typically
encompasses zoning. Zoning regulates the
types of activities that can be done on a given
piece of land, the amount of space devoted to
those activities, and the ways that buildings
may be situated and shaped.
Advantages of Landuse planning

 Positively impacts the development of urban

economy.
 Promotes conservation and sustainable use
of natural resources and biological diversity,
as well as orderly occupation of land.
 Promotes mechanisms to prevent the
settlement of populations and the
development of socio-economic activities in
areas with high potential for risks.
 Guides the actions of regional and local
governments for the efficient fulfilment of
their functions as regards landuse planning.
Disadvantages of Landuse planning

 The cost of land use planning is usually

high.

 Land use planning is often plagued by

bureaucracy and administrative bottlenecks.

 Land use planning takes a lot of time.

Principles of Landuse planning

 Based on sustainability that balances social,

economic and environmental needs.

 Communication process that allows all

stakeholders to express their interests and
enables them to agree on future land uses.

 Promote civic engagement. The population

should actively participate in the land use
planning. Planning is, therefore, not just a
matter for experts, but should be carried out
together with those affected by it.
Principles of Landuse planning

 Realistic and oriented to local conditions.

The methods have to fit the local technical,
economic and organizational capacities of
the population as well as administration.

 Integrate bottom-up aspects with top-down

aspects “vertical integration”. Land use
planning needs to combine local needs and
interests with provisions made by higher
levels.

 Based on inter-disciplinary cooperation and

sector coordination “horizontal integration”.
Principles of Landuse planning

 Transparency on decisions about future land

uses. Risks are high that some people will
be deprived of their rights and/or that future
land use will not be sustainable.

 An iterative process. Iteration is both the

principle and the method leading to the
revision of decisions and the repetition of
steps already taken.

 Linked to financial planning. Need to be

aware of the sector budgets as well as
influence the composition of sector budgets.
Goals of Landuse planning

 Public Health. Achieving a pattern of land

use that protects the public health is a well-
established planning goal.

 Provision of services and facilities.

Determining the location of facilities such as
parks, recreation areas, schools, social
services, hospitals. Public services like police
and fire protection, water, and sewers.

 Environmental protection. It might involve

restrictions on building in wetlands, steep
slopes, or ecologically valuable fragile lands.
Types of Landuse planning

1 -Integrated Participatory Land Use Planning:

 Aims to introduce or improve a complete
spatial planning approach at local level.

2 -Integrating Spatial Planning into Existing

Development Planning:
 There are situations in which local
institutions do not have the capacity to
introduce a complex land use planning. In
that case, an alternative is to simply include
some spatial aspects into their development
planning activities.
Types of Landuse planning

3 -Local Agreements:
 Local agreements on the utilization and
protection of natural resources which
regulate use and access are important tools
for the decentralized management of natural
resources.
 Government takes a hands-off approach. It
no longer influences matters directly. It
retains a supervisory role, however,
ensuring that the user associations comply
with certain basic conditions in order to be
viable.