ARC709 URBAN DESIGN I

URBAN DESIGN I:
AS COMPONENT OF Urban Planning & Development. Major challenges facing Urban &
Regional Planning in Nigeria appear to be:
i. People in Power View and Investors, seeing physical planning as a matter of opinion.
That Urban & Regional Planning depends on who is fortunate to voice his opinion and
manipulate the various instruments of development to effect implementation. Result
not only disastrous to investors, but to general public and future policy options.
Therefore, the principles of Space organization have been ignored.

ii. For planning intervention to succeed, there is societal discipline required. This
discipline in lacking in various Urban environment. The physical plans don’t get
implemented under the design guides.

Dilemma of Physical Planning:

a. The concern of physical planning includes: Taste; societal values; human desires;
economic variables; and a variety of environmental settings which are constantly
changing & creating different circumstances which limit production of universal
solutions.
b. For this reason, planning issue is addressed to its own merit to ensure relevance &
prudence in resource application. Operational concepts & principles remain
constant.
iii. Policy initiatives translate into social, economic and physical elements manifest at
different socio-economic and political levels. At intervention level they call for
different approaches. Problem at physical level are addressed with solutions meant for
economic and political matters.

To synthesize all these challenges a decision has to be taken, the quality of that decision
depend on rationality base and scientific approach that is involved.

Characteristics of Urban and Regional Planning:

Principles of Urban & Regional planning provide solid rationality with scientific
analysis for shaping and controlling the use of land according to societal desires,
resources and technology. The character manifest in the physical realm as economic,
political and security concerns.
As it relates to State (Regional), LGAs, District, Settlement and Street level, the
nature and characteristics of planning becomes technical and site design concerns. This
is when urban design input become relevant.
 Nature of Urban Development Activities:
Urban planning & Development is taken by corporate efforts of trained and qualified
professionals, then Town planners on the other hand.
This process requires specified logical sequence; design of the built environment consist
three parts:
i. Planning;
ii. Urban Design;
iii. Building Design.
Planning: Disposition of land areas for various uses. Location of buildings and
open spaces.
Urban Design: Relationship between man – made and natural elements by striking
a rhythmic aesthetic balance of scale.
Building Design: Involve detail design i.e. constructional materials and methods,
individual group of buildings, structures as civil engineering works.
A holistic view of the system reveals the Theoretical Framework process of physical
planning activities in Fig. 3.1
Reference to Fig 3.1 Reekie (1972)
This process of activities contributes in making the built environment as occurred
in these three stages:
Stage 1: Planning Stage:
Analysis to determine what should be done in three dimensional space
accessible to the owners; when, where, how and for whom and with what resources.
The planned framework of activities that create built environment to avoid misuse
of scarce resource.
To articulate this framework these elements must be employed:
 Social and economic realities of the area in question
 Government policies
 Physical setting of the area
 Physical planning standards and target recognized by law, relevant to problems
in context.
 Available technology, accessible and purchasable by the people in the area.
 Influences of other design factors and consideration in the area of study.
The actors in this are: Politicians/Administrators; investors; community to be
affected by the project(s).
Stage 2: Urban Design Stage:
Site requirements for various components of the plan transform into architectural
site plans and detail engineering drawings. In this stage: Functionality; Material
consideration; Relationship between Mass and Void; Color code and User needs with
action plans.
Team here: Developer, Urban designers, architects, landscape specialist, town
planners and engineers depending on nature of project.
Elements employed here are:
 Site characteristics details
 Target requirements of project
 Infrastructure needs of specification
 Technology available & ability to apply
 Financial and social limitations
 Existing laws & space standards applicable etc.
End product is set of drawings, and financial statements.
Stage 3: Construction Stage:
Plans are translated into structures on the ground. Concern for precision and
discipline to specifications and requirements stipulated in the early stages.
Developers’ dream, Town planner’s prescriptive models, architectural & civil
works translated into three dimensions.
All stakeholders are involved in this stage. Prominent role by: Architect;
Developer; Building engineers, site planners and construction team managers (Contractor).