Do you know which the earliest city in the world was and where? The city of Çatalhöyük (catalhoyuk) was a settlement in southern Anatolia, with about 10,000 people living in the villages and was termed the urban civilization between 7100 BC and 5700 BC. But with civilizations after civilizations, things developed and became more planned and organized. Now cities and towns are developed according to town planning. Do you know what is town planning? Come on, today you will get to know about the town planning department, green urban planning, and smart city planning too.
1. What is a Town?
Human settlements that are larger than villages but smaller than cities are termed towns. Different parts of the world have different criteria to measure the distinction between towns, cities, and villages. A body of local government governs this locally populated area with fixed boundaries. However, in some places, cities are considered large and important towns. (See What’s the Difference between Urban Suburban and Rural Regions?)
2. What is Town Planning?
It is both an art and science that includes ordering the use of lands, construction of buildings, along with communication routes. It is done in such a manner that secures the degree of the economy without surpassing the expenses but provides the town with beauty and convenience for its inhabitants. (See How many city blocks is a mile?)
3. What is meant by the Town Planning Department?
What is town planning department? It is the physical planning and development control department involved in the process of town planning. It has a statutory-cum-advisory role in terms of the nature of all the development activities under the relevant Acts framed by the authorities. (See What is the Importance of Demography?)
4. What are the Benefits of Town Planning?
This art of shaping and guiding the physical growth of a town helps to provide the following benefits.
- Meet the needs (social, economic, cultural, and recreational) of the inhabitants.
- Provide healthy living conditions for both the poor and rich.
- Provide places to work, play, relax, and stay to all the people of the town along with visitors.
5. What are the Roles of Planners in the Town Planning Department?
The planners need to understand the following things before beginning to plan.
- Future Concern – Good town planning must be planned by keeping in mind the concerns about the future. Planning must not be old and not capable of changes with modern technology and infrastructure patterns. All this comprises what is town planning and its scope.
- Consider – A planner has to consider all the facts related to the ever-changing process of human communities. The needs and preferences of people change and so do their housing requirements.
- Recognize – He should recognize that human communities are complex. The people residing in the town may prefer and favor the planning but an outsider who wishes to settle, there may have some other thoughts. The planner has to understand and recognize the necessary changes as and when required.
6. What are the Aims and Objectives of Town Planning?
A town must be prepared to provide all necessary requirements of the community and must fulfill the following objectives. To get a complete idea of what is town planning, take a look.
- The individuality of the town must be preserved.
- The aesthetics of the designs of all the elements of the town must be preserved.
- Land must be divided properly into zones.
- Land should not be misused.
- Development must take place in an orderly manner.
- Encroachment of one zone over another should be prevented.
- Create a healthy environment for the citizens.
- Construction of recreational amenities like gardens, playgrounds, parks, etc.
- Construction of social, economic, cultural, and recreational amenities.
7. What are the Processes Involved in Town Planning?
Building a town is not a piece of cake and requires solid objectives and aims that are to be achieved. And further in what is town planning, here is the list of processes for accurate town planning that the department must follow.
- The objectives must be defined and cleared for a combined effort and productivity
- Relevant data must be collected and surveys must be done for planning accurately
- Data analysis must be done prior to any construction work.
- Forecasting is done to take an idea about the potential migration, employment, and level of urbanization.
- Designs are prepared as per the forecasted data.
- Priorities are fixed keeping in mind the necessity of most important construction work.
- Implementation of the plan in accordance with the relevant authorities, laws, and regulations.
- Regular monitoring through inspection, feedback from residents, and review reports.
8. What is a Smart City?
A city equipped with modern technology that uses different types of sensors and electronic methods to collect data is termed a smart city. The collection is used to improvise the operations carried out in the city. This data is collected from citizens, buildings, assets, and devices. (See How has Technology changed Work?)
9. What is Smart City Planning?
To plan a city with modern technological amenities can be termed smart city planning. However, the planning is not confined to just technologies but also to maximize the benefits of the citizens from these technologies. Governments around the world are implementing the concept of smart cities during the redevelopment of urban areas. It includes leveraging the IT infrastructure (by ICT Information and communication technology) and to incorporate innovative solutions to urban planning. Another important aspect of the topic is town planning. (See How do Toll Roads Work?)
10. What is the Goal of a Smart City?
A smart city has the following goals:
- Increase and incorporate the use of technology in society.
- Achieve sustainable development for the long run through the data collected from the city.
- Overall improve the standards of living of the people by providing better job facilities.
11. What are the Features of a Smart City?
In a smart city you can find the following facilities easily:
- Assured supply of electricity
- Clean and adequate drinking water supply
- Proper sanitation including solid waste management
- Affordable housing, for poor people too
- Good governance and guidance
- Strong and sturdy connectivity and digitalization of IT
- Improvised and efficient public transport and mobility facilities
12. What is Green Urban Planning?
Urban designing means the designing of buildings, infrastructure, and other public places in a town or city. Green urban planning or green urbanism means sustainable urban designs to create eco-friendly cities. It puts efforts into minimizing the use of energy, material, and water at different stages of the life cycle of the city. It also prevents the wastage of resources and adopts ways to minimize pollution. (See What is Sustainability and Why is it Important?)
13. What are the 3 Pillars of a Green Urban City?
Green urbanism stands tall on the three pillars that are meant to interact with each other, namely,
- Energy and materials,
- Urban planning and transportation.
- Water and biodiversity.
14. What are the Key Elements of a Green Urban Planned City?
Further, while discussing what is town planning, the key elements of a green urban planned city are as follows:
- The city design and infrastructure must be environmentally friendly.
- Public transport should be electrified.
- Buildings must be energy efficient.
- Renewable energy solutions must be prepared to meet the needs.
So, now you know what is town planning and how it works. The aims and objectives that are required to be fulfilled by the town planning department are remarkable. However, smart city planning and green urban planning are going to improve the way people live and hopefully will minimize the wastage of various valuable and non-renewable resources. (Also read 16 Best Luxury Manufactured Homes)
