An urban planner or an urban planning engineer is a professional who practices in the field of urban

planning.

An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town
planner, regional planner, long-range planner, transportation planner, infrastructure planner,
environmental planner, parks planner, physical planner, health planner, planning analyst, urban
designer, community development director, economic development specialist or other similar
combinations.

Responsibilities

See also: Planning permission

The responsibilities of an urban planner vary between jurisdictions, and sometimes within
jurisdictions. The following is therefore a general description of the responsibilities of an urban
planner, of which an urban planner may well typically practise two or more of. An urban planner
may also specialize in one responsibility only.

Land use planning

Urban planners specializing in land use planning are predominantly concerned with the regulation of
land use, development and subdivision, with the intent of achieving the desired urban planning
outcome.

Regulation of land use and development is achieved via the drafting and adoption of planning
instruments designed to influence the land use and built form goals of the jurisdiction. The planning
instruments take the form of legislation and policy, and have a wide variety of terms across
jurisdictions including acts and regulations, rules, codes, schemes, plans, policies, and manuals; and
often a combination of some of these. The planning instruments often spatially zone land or reserve
the land for certain purposes, presented in the form of a zoning map or plan. The urban planner is
tasked with preparing planning instruments and zoning plans. Further, given urban development is
rarely static and the goals of urban planning change from time to time, the urban planner will be
responsible for continuously maintaining planning instruments and zoning plans to ensure they are
kept up-to-date.

Consultation with the community and other stakeholders is generally desired by urban planners in
most jurisdictions when planning instruments are prepared and updated. The level of consultation
will vary depending on the project.
The urban planner will also be responsible for implementing the planning instruments. This is
achieved through a permit process, where the proponent of a proposed development, a change in
land use, or the proposed subdivision of an allotment will be required to obtain a permit, approval,
licence, or consent for the proposed development or change of use. An urban planner will be tasked
with considering the proposal and determining whether it complies with the intent and the specific
provisions of the applicable planning instruments and zoning plans. Depending on the jurisdiction,
the urban planner may have authority to determine the proposal; otherwise the planner will present
a recommendation to the decision-maker, often a panel of non-planners (for example, the elected
council of a local government).

While concerned with future development, an urban planner will occasionally be responsible for
investigating development or land use which had been undertaken without authorization. In many
jurisdictions urban planners can require that unauthorized land use cease and unauthorized
development is returned to its predevelopment condition; or alternatively retrospectively approve
the unauthorized development or land use.

Strategic urban planning

In order to plan effectively for long term development and growth, an urban planner will be
responsible for the preparation of a strategic plan (also known in different jurisdictions by names
such as development plan, core strategy, comprehensive plan, planning strategy, structure plan,
etc.). Strategic urban planning sets the high-level goals and growth principles for a jurisdiction, which
will in turn inform the preparation and amendment of the legal planning instruments within that
jurisdiction.

Regional planning

Main article: Regional planning

Regional planning deals with the planning of land use, infrastructure and settlement growth over a
geographical area which extends to a whole city or beyond. In this sense, the urban planner's role is
to consider urban planning at a macro scale. Regional planning is not concerned with planning at the
local (neighborhood) level.

Heritage and conservation

An urban planner may be responsible for identifying, protecting and conserving / restoring buildings
and places which are identified by a community as having cultural heritage significance. This may
include the task of compiling and maintaining a heritage register, finding and making available
incentives for encouraging conservation works, and the consideration of proposals to redevelop or
use a heritage-listed place.

Urban Revitalization

As urban areas decline, an urban planner may be tasked with preparing a plan for the
redevelopment of an urban area. Such plans are not limited to an individual development site, but
rather encompass a locality or district over which an urban redevelopment plan is prepared.

Urban revitalization often relies on obtaining funding from government sources to assist in the
regeneration of an area; the funding may be used for a variety of purposes such as improvement of
public roads, parks and other public spaces, development of infrastructure, and acquisition of land.
The urban planner will be responsible for costing an urban revitalization plan and obtaining funding
for infrastructure works necessary to implement the urban renewal plan.

The urban planner for an urban revitalization project will need to liaise closely with stakeholders
during the preparation and implementation of the plan, including government agencies, landowners
and community groups.

Master planning

A master plan will be prepared for many greenfield development projects. The purpose of a master
plan is to plan for the ultimate spatial layout of the land uses for a future development area. A
master plan will consider the required infrastructure to service the development and determine the
need and location of urban amenities including commercial and industrial land, community facilities,
schools, parks, public transport, major roads, and land uses, both within and outside the master plan
area, and consider the staging of development of a master planned area.

The urban planner will be responsible for coordinating the various professional consultant inputs,
and to lay out the master plan infrastructure and land uses. It will often be necessary for the urban
planner to consult with landowners and government agencies affected by the master plan.

Transportation planning

An urban planner may be responsible for planning for transport facilities and infrastructure in urban
and inter-regional areas.

Economic development
An urban planner's responsibility may extend to economic development. In this sense, an urban
planner may be responsible for identifying opportunities for economic growth, and encourage
investment in an area.

Environmental planning

An urban planner may be concerned with the impact of land use, development and subdivision on
the natural environment including land, water, flora, and fauna, to achieve sustainable outcomes.

Urban design

An urban planner will develop the design of public spaces (streets, squares, parks, etc.) and the
relationship between built form and public spaces. Depending on the country and planner's training
they may work with other design professionals such as civil engineers, architects or landscape
architects to complete and construct the design.

Infrastructure planning

An urban planner may be required to plan for the future provision of public works infrastructure
such as water supply, sewerage, electricity, telecommunications, and transport infrastructure, and
community infrastructure including schools, hospitals and parks.

The duties of a planner center around how land is used in a particular city, county or region. The goal
is to improve the community as a whole with consideration to things such as the environmental
impact, economic development and social issues. Some urban planners work in a general planning
role while others specialize in certain issues, such as historic preservation or transportation planning.

What does an urban planner do all day? It can vary, but often, it includes gathering and analyzing
data, looking at site plans from developers, figuring out changes that need to be made to proposals
and going into the field to look at factors that affect development. It's important to understand all of
the regulations and codes regarding building and environmental protection.

You'll spend a lot of your time meeting with different stakeholders and also working with community
members. Likely, you will interact with public officials and developers on a regular basis to make
decisions on land use and on potential development projects. Part of your job may be to present
details of new projects to different groups. Expect to interact with the city council, planning
commissions, businesses, the general public, neighborhood associations, developers and any other
groups or individuals who have a stake in the way land is used and developed.

Your work covers a variety of projects and goals. You might be involved in developing new parks and
recreation areas or making the city look more attractive. You might find yourself figuring out how to
provide shelter for the homeless population in your city. If you work in a historic city, you might
work to revitalize the area while maintaining the historical integrity. In an urban area that's growing
faster than expected, you may focus on how to accommodate that growth.
QUALITIES OF GOOD ARCHITECTURE

We will discuss here some qualities that good architects usually possess. Discover if you have what it
takes to become an architect and if you can indeed score one of the most prestigious architecture
jobs in the market.

Excellent sense of design – a good architect has great eye for design and details that they can
easily translate ideas onto papers to present to the clients and builders. A good architect can create
design just by listening and thinking of ideas.

Good communication skills – they are good with communicating their ideas, thoughts, and plans.
Architects deal with clients and builders so it is important for them to convey the message well and
accurately.

Great listening skills – and to have great communication skills they also need to be good listeners.
They must be willing to listen to the ideas of the clients and other people around them. By listening
carefully, they are able to come up with great design based on those ideas that was pitched to them.

Strong drawing skills – a great architect must also have strong drawing or sketching skills to
provide accurate plan and design. They should be able to draw by hand or using computer.

Solid technical abilities – architecture can be very technical too so a great architect must have
solid technical abilities to incorporate structural, mechanical, and electrical elements into their
design for it to be functional and successful.

Problem-solver – another quality of a good architect is the ability to solve problems quickly. They
know immediately how to address the problem and come up with a possible solution. They are
equipped with plans A-Z in case something wrong happens. Sometimes, they even sense the
problem before it happens. That’s how good and prepared they are.

Good collaborator – architects usually work with different people from other architects to
engineers, builders, investors, and clients. They need to communicate well and collaborate well for
the success of their project.

A visionary – a good architect can visualize well the outcome of a project starting with the plan.

Great passion in their works –the work of an architect is not simple. They embody their work and
they have strong passion about coming up with great projects.

Competitive – of course they are competitive as well. This is important to be able to stay in the
game. Architecture is a very competitive field. This is not for those with weak heart and character.

Many people want to become an architect. It offers great pay but more than the financial side, it is
the passion and love for your work that should matter all the time.
If you are dreaming to become an architect someday then be sure to hone your skills while you are
still young.

So, do you think you have the skills and qualities to become a good architect?
Characteristics of Good Architecture
It is difficult to define what the characteristics of good architecture are when there is still
vigorous and lasting debate about what the term 'architecture' actually means in the context of
enterprise systems in the twenty first century. The Roman architect Vitruvius defined three
characteristics of good architecture in his treatise De Architectura more than 2,000 years ago.
Interestingly it is the only surviving text from antiquity describing architecture. These
principles are:

 Durability (Firmatis) – It should stand up robustly and remain in good condition

 Utility (Utilitas) – It should be useful and function well for the people using it
 Beauty (Venustatis) – It should delight people and raise their spirits

These ancient characteristics can be elaborated on and expanded to apply to the Enterprise
Architectures that are developed in the twenty first century.

Qualities of Good Architecture

To be effective, an architecture must have a number of qualities or characteristics. Enterprise
Architect provides an extensive set of features and tools for helping the Architect produce
architectures that are of high quality. This table contains some of the most important
qualities, with a description of how Enterprise Architect can be used to ensure the qualities
are built into Architecture created and maintained in the tool.

Quality Description See also

An architecture should be strong and not be vulnerable to minor
changes in the business, information, application and technology
systems. Enterprise Architect can assist in ensuring that the
Robust architectures are well integrated and related to each other and
provides a number of tools such as the Traceability window, the
Relationship Matrix and the Insert Related Elements feature that can
be used for this purpose
An architecture that cannot be implemented will mean that the goals
and objectives of the enterprise will not be met. It is best to identify
these requirements as quickly as possible so as not to disappoint the
party who requisitioned the architecture work. Enterprise Architect
Feasible
can assist by allowing architects, designers and developers to
discuss the architecture and determine its feasibility using the
Collaborate window and by mapping the Enterprise Architecture to
Capability or Solution Architectures.
Utilitarian An architecture must have utility which, in turn, when implemented Relationship
will result in practical outcomes. Architectures that are elegant but Matrix
do not provide demonstrable and measurable value to the
stakeholders or the parties that requisitioned them will ultimately
 not be successful. Enterprise Architect has tools that allow an
architecture to be visualized and understood by a diverse group of
stakeholders, allowing any problems with utility to be discovered
early in the architecture process.
An architecture is a living entity that describes a target state and -
once implemented - will become the new baseline state. The
architectures should prove to be durable with the passage of time
Durable and be resilient to changes in the business and technical
environments that might occur over the lifetime of the architectures.
This implies that they must - as much as possible - preempt the
future conditions and environments.
The architectures must be flexible and be able to adapt to changing
conditions and also provide enough guidance for implementation
teams that have the knowledge of their discipline to make the
important and necessary decisions about technical problems and
opportunities. Architectures that are created with too much detail
will often result in brittle and inflexible designs and
Flexible
implementations resulting in systems that cannot adapt to changing
circumstances and environments. Enterprise Architect has a wide
range of features that can assist with change including the Change
element a powerful Baseline facility and the Kanban diagrams that
allow Requirements Features, User Stories and more to be
visualized and prioritized.
It should be possible to verify that the architecture will perform as
designed and that there would not be side effects that result from the
architecture and the parts of the enterprise that it impacts. The
Verifiable ultimate test of this is whether it delivers the business value that was
promised in the Vision Statement. Enterprise Architect can be used
to model the measures that are defined to verify that the Business
Objectives (and therefore the Goals) have been attained.
Architectures must have both form and function and it is a good test
of an architecture to measure its elegance. An architecture that is
well designed will tend to be elegant and have a simplicity of form
that will be obvious to those that take the time study it. Enterprise
Elegant
Architect has powerful features that allow the elegance of an
architecture to be visualized including the ability to create
professional publications that can be generated automatically from
the tool using a series of built-in or user defined templates.
An architecture is a description of the an enterprise at a particular
level of detail and does not exist in isolation but is typically related
to business drivers and goals and other architectures at the same
level or higher or lower and to implementation programs and
projects. Enterprise Architect allows elements to be traced in any
Traceable
direction and provides a number of powerful tools to visualize the
traces including the Relationship Matrix, the Traceability Window
and diagrams. The Insert Related Elements facility can be used to
automatically construct a diagram of traces almost magically
creating expressive and never before seen views of the repository.
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To
practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and
the space within the site surrounding the buildings that have human occupancy or use as their
principal purpose. Etymologically, the term architect derives from the Latin architectus,
which derives from the Greek (arkhi-, chief + tekton, builder), i.e., chief builder.

Professionally, an architect's decisions affect public safety, and thus the architect must
undergo specialized training consisting of advanced education and a practicum (or internship)
for practical experience to earn a license to practice architecture. Practical, technical, and
academic requirements for becoming an architect vary by jurisdiction.

Urban planners decide how spaces will be used, considering the impact of development for
an entire area or region. They evaluate long-term factors, such as demographics and
economic trends, and make recommendations for the level of development in an area, what
types of buildings can go where, and what infrastructure elements are needed to support
growth.

Urban planners look beyond issues that would impact building owners, playing an important
role in developing and implementing public policy. Their work involves coordinating closely
with a variety of stakeholders, including developers, government officials, policy influencers,
permitting bodies, and even architects.

Urban planners decide what can be built where and how outdoor areas will be used;
architects create the actual design. Urban planners focus on the big picture of community
needs and the impact on surrounding areas, while architects are primarily concerned with
their client’s needs. Both urban planners and architects must ensure that their projects
comply with building codes, land use limitations, and other regulations.

Architects design buildings; landscape architects design the surrounding physical spaces.
While architects draw up the plans for new construction, they may also create designs for
renovations or repurposing of space within an existing building. Architectural designs focus
on the aesthetics or appearance of the building, as well as ensuring functionality, safety, and
code compliance.
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What is the difference between urban planning and architecture?

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4 Answers

Shashikant Nishant Sharma

, Expert in Urban and Regional Planning, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (2015)
Answered September 28, 2018 · Author has 350 answers and 462.9K answer views

Urban Planner

Urban planners determine how land will be developed in urban areas to accommodate the
city's needs based on population growth. Urban planners typically work regular daytime
hours, although they may need to attend some evening or weekend meetings, and they do
need to travel to the locations they are considering for development projects. The majority of
urban planners work for local governments, although they may also find work with
architectural or engineering firms.
Job responsibilities of an urban planner include:

 Meeting with community members to discuss development proposals

 Addressing concerns from the community
 Assessing development proposals
 Reviewing relevant bylaws and regulations that may affect how land is
developed
 Assessing the long-term needs of an area and prioritizing development
needs

Architect

Some architects are self-employed, but the majority work for architectural or engineering
firms. They are responsible for designing structures that will be constructed. Architects spend
a lot of time working regular daytime hours in offices, although they do need to travel to the
location where a structure they designed is being built to ensure that their design plan is
followed. They need to have a bachelor's degree in architecture, and must also complete an
internship and pass a national exam to work as an architect. Architects use their creative
talents when developing design plans but they also need strong analytical skills, because they
must consider building codes, clients' needs and budgets when working on their designs.
Job responsibilities of an architect include:

 Meeting with potential clients to discuss their projects and needs

 Developing a proposed budget for the project
 Drafting sketches of what the building would look like
 Preparing blueprints
 Checking on the construction crew's progress
 Finalizing contracts with construction crews

Urban Planning is comprised of various fields of study/practice which include urban design
(e.g. corridor/multimodal corridor design), neighborhood planning, master planning, regional
planning, transportation planning, integrated planning, and so on. Each of these fields of
study is derived from one of four basic common cores - real estate, urban policy & practice,
transportation & connectivity, and spatial analytics.
Architecture is also very multifaceted, with fields of study/practice which include residential
design/development, historic preservation, and commercial design/development. Notab

David Cardew
, MA Architecture & Interior Design, University of Greenwich (1990)
Answered June 21, 2018 · Author has 2.6K answers and 256.8K answer views
It is just a diffrent aspect of architecture as interior design is. Generally architecture deals
with new design so the first house in a street is architecture all the houses that copy that
design are buildings the hole street is a new bit of architecture.
Hard landscape and Soft Landscape are the elements of Landscape design. But,
Hardscape or Hard Landscape refers to the heavy elements of a Landscape
design like stone, rocks or driveways. On the other hand, Softscape or Soft
landscape refers to the lighter elements of a Landscape design like soil, plants,
flower or even color combination of a garden.

Hard Landscape – Hard Landscape consist the hard elements of a landscape

design. This is generally like the hardware of a computer. The larger pieces of
hard material of the landscape structure make up the bulk of the landscape
design. They consist of materials like rocks, stones or masonry. They are
essentially required to create a sense of space and to give a complete look to a
home. A hard Landscape not only gives an ideal look to a building but also
helps in solving many basic problems like diverting of water and drainage,
figuring out outdoor living spaces, preventing erosion and bringing the long-
lasting effect to your home.

Soft Landscape – The Softscape or the Soft Landscape is the living part of your
landscape structure. The plants, the lawns, the trees and the shrubs make up
the components of Soft Landscape. For example, materials required to build a
pond in a garden area are components of Hard Landscape; however, the Pond
itself is a part of Soft Landscape.