PLANNING I
SITE ANALYSIS
• The preliminary site analysis aims to gather
data for preliminary planning and evaluate
the site for compatibility with the proposed
project.
• The value of a site analysis is its clear and
complete identification of issues and the
character of the site relating to the
proposed project.
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
• A more detailed site investigation is usually
undertaken after some degree of
preliminary site planning.
• It includes a geotechnical analysis of
subsurface conditions such as depth to
bedrock, depth to groundwater, seasonal
high-water table, and soil makeup.
LOCATION
• It refers to the project’s relationship to the
community.
• Concerned with visibility, site access, and
traffic.
• Problem to consider
o Street infrastructure adequate for the
anticipated traffic?
o Is the site accessible from the street?
o On-site improvements
o Zoning classification
o Utilities nearby
o How far from other facilities such as
school, hospitals, etc.
LANDFORM
• Topography – the topography of the land
can greatly affect the urban pattern’s
circulation system, building form and
texture, utility systems, size and shape, etc.
(hilly; flat)
• Relationship with Nature – landscaping,
bodies of water, nature in general, and its
relationship with the urban fabric are
significant features of a city. (Cities within
Nature; Cities in hand with Nature; Nature
within Cities)
TOPOGRAPHY AND SLOPES
• Slope Form – or slope profile or a silhouette
of a slope drawn to known proportions with
distance on the horizontal axis and elevation
on the vertical axis. The vertical axis is often
exaggerated to ease construction and
accentuate topographic details.
• Four basic slope forms are detectable on
contour maps:
o Straight
o S-shape
o Concave
o Convex
• Knowing what material comprises the slope
interpret accurately the meaning of different
inclinations. For any earth material, there is
the maximum angle, called the angle of
repose, at which it can be safely inclined and
beyond which it will fail.
o Lose clay (saturated) - 15°-25°
o Sand (well drained) - 33°
o Boulders and cobbles - 35°45°
o Bedrock - 65°-90°
o Loam - 35°-45°
o Loess (well drained) - 50°-90°
GROUND FORMS
TOPOGRAPHY
• The art or practice of graphic or exact
delineation in minute detail, usually on maps
or charts of the physical features of any
place or region especially in relation to their
exact position and elevation.
• Topographic elevations are indicated along
given contour lines.
• Topographic maps are printed in 5 colors:
o Black – cultural features such as roads,
railroads, and civil boundaries
o Blue - water bodies
o Green – woodlands
o Red – developed urban areas
o Brown – contour lines
• Topographic map labels:
o Summit – closed concentric rings
o Valley – contours pointing uphill
o Ridge - contours pointing downhill
o Gradual slope
o Steep slope
o Spot – elevation of a depression
SLOPE ANALYSIS
• Useful for making decisions about the
distribution of land use
• Different angles of slope have different
implications for development
o Bldg. cost (structural)
o Land development cost (earth
shifting)
SLOPE
𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑳 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬
PERCENTAGE OF SLOPE =
𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑰𝒁𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑳 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬
SLOPE MAP THE ESSENCE OF LAND PLANNING FOR ANY 7. Keep the fronts even (this looks neat)
PROJECT: 8. Hold to a minimum side yard
• The algorithm is based on the formula: slope
9. Throw on some lawn seed
equals rise over run 1. Seek the most suitable site
• GIS – Geographic Information System
2. Let the site suggest plan forms
SLOPE & LAND USE
3. Extract the full site potential
• <1% - do not drain well
• <4% - usable for all kinds of activities
• 4% - 10% - suitable for movement and
informal activity
• >10% - can be actively used only for hill
sports or free play
• 17% - approaches the limit that an ordinary
loaded vehicle can climb, for any sustained
period AESTHETIC ULITARIAN FUNCTIONS
• 20% -25% - normal limit of climb for
pedestrians without resorting to stairs
• > 50% - may require terracing or cribbing

LAYING OUT BLDGS. RELATIVE TO CONTOUR

Difficult street patter: a mixture of meandering
and curvilinear could be used.
FUNDAMENTALS

1. Clear the land

2. Strip the topsoil
3. Provide a “workable” land profile (that is, as
flat as possible)
4. Conduct all water to storm sewers (or else to
the edge of the lot)
5. Build a good wide road – inexpensive but
wide
6. Set the house well back for a big front yard
SLOPE STABILIZATION METHODS
• > 50% slope – cannot be protected from
erosion in a humid climate, except by
terracing, cribbing or other slope
stabilization methods
THE NAME OF SLOPE STABILIZATION
• Mulch – knitting the soil surface by seeding
or the application of a mulch such as wood
chips on shredded bark. The prior cross-
raking of the slope face is recommended
procedure
• Planting – selected trees, shrubs, and vines
(indigenous preferred). Plant roots and
detritus knit and hold the surface soil layers.
• Mortar bags – treated bags filled with dry
sand-cement mortar
• Rip-rap – facing of dry grouted units of
stone or cast concrete.
• Piling – interlocking sections of steel or pre-
cast concrete
• Dry-stone wall – cut or un-cut stone laid up
with open joints
• Cribbing – a laid-up “crib” of interlocking
wood, metal, or concrete member filled
with rock ballast
• require some pitch for discharging water
•
LEVEL SITE
• It offers the planner the best and easiest
solution to site development.
• Advantages:
o Economical in site development
o Adaptable to a great variety of planning
forms (grouping of bldgs.)
o Adequate to all types of street patterns
• Disadvantages:
o Grouping of bldgs. Should be carefully
studied to create a satisfactory system of
drainage.
o Surfaces or recreation area and yards
to surface inlets
SLOPING TERRAIN
• This provides planner with a variety of
building types and grouping. Different street
patterns can be employed.
• Advantages:
o Variety of bldg. types and bldg.
groupings
 o Drainage problems are simpler. Water
flows to lowest level
o Adaptable to a great variety of street
patterns
ROLLING TERRAIN
• More difficult to manage but creates a far
more interesting land development
• Advantages:
o More interesting land development
could attract high-end buyers
o Economies of first cost in sewer and
drainage lines
o The practice of bldg. parallel to contours
will reduce costly construction, grading,
and filling
o On very steep sites, the bldg. itself could
serve as the retaining wall
• Disadvantages:
o Very steep sites could cost excessive
development cost
o Adaptability to terrain is imperative
o Drainage problems though posing
difficulties may require a workable
system of channeling from one area to
another
o Less variety of street patter
o Less variety of bldg. type
SOIL CLASSIFICATION
• Series – each one has an identifying place
name and further divided according to
texture of the surface soil, i.e., Marikina cay
loam
o Texture of surface soil – refers to
relative percentage of sand, silt and clay
on the surface layers
o Series Name – groups soils of similar
history, constituents, depth, and
structure, therefore, exhibit similar
characteristics as to:
• Bearing capacity
• Drainage
• Agricultural value
GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
2 Main Ways in which geology influences the
site planning decision-making process:
1. The soil bearing capacity limiting what
can be built on the site
2. The presence of geological features
which restrict the options of
development because of varying
degrees of hazard to life.
FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES
• Engineering characteristics – soil stability,
drainage, bearing capacity
• Determine the exact composition of a
particular soil body through laboratory tests
on field specimens
LANDSCAPING
• Topsoil – critical medium for plants
• Features:
o Drainage
o Content of humus
o Relative acidity (pH)
o Presence of available nutrients,
particularly potassium, phosphorus, and
nitrogen
GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS
• Made to determine the geologic conditions
that affect the design, safety, effectiveness
and cost of a proposed project
• Maps – topographic maps, geologic maps,
mineral resources maps, soil maps
GEOPHYSICAL METHODS
• Geophysical exploration methods – seismic,
electrical resistivity, sonic, electrical logging,
magnetic and gravity methods
• Subsurface borings – probing, wash borings,
core drilling, calyx drilling, borehole
photography, churn drilling, jack and
hammer drilling
• Test pits, trenches, tunnels
SOIL SURVEYS
• Soil samples – taken from small pits or by
earth augers or boring tubes at many points
where construction is to occur.
• Systematic borings must be taken for heavy
construction, and the soil and rock samples
must be tested in specialized laboratories
• Borings: 15 m. (50ft.) interval to depths at
least 6 m. (20ft.) below the bottom of the
proposed foundation, or to bedrock.
• Others: Aerial photographs, geological
reports, studying old reports, examining
previous structures and excavations, etc.
SOIL BEARING LOAD TEST
Test should be made and interpreted so as to
take into account all significant factors, such as:
• The presence of soft underlying strata
• Variations in size of footings
• Compressibility of the soil encountered
GROUNDWATER OBSERVATIONS o 50-year floodplain
o 100-year
• Springs
• Existing wells
• Boreholes
• Observation wells

SIMPLE DIAGRAM OF AQUIFERS

• Aquifers – are underground “reservoir” of

water. The water is not usually held in ponds
of water but in the pores between individual
particles which make up the rock, or in the
fissures of the rock.
WATER TABLE

• Low water table – problem for water supply

and for vegetation
• Fluctuating water table – will cause heavy
clay soil alternatively to shrink and swell
• High water table – difficulties in excavation,
cause flooding in basements, flood utilities
and unstable foundations
• Underground water course – critical and no
structure should be sited over them.
• Floodplains – soil is likely to be deep and
uniform perhaps with alternating layers of
fine and coarse material
o 10-year floodplain