UNIT V URBAN RENEWAL AND RGIONAL PLANNING

Urban Renewal Plan Meaning, Redevelopment, Rehabilitation and

Conservation
Regional Plan Area delineation, Land utilization plan, hierarchical
system of settlements, their sizes and functions
URBAN RENEWAL
A continuous process of remodelling older parts of urban areas, including their central business
areas by means of rehabilitation and conservation as well as redevelopment.
The displacement of an existing low-income population, creating space for more profitable office,
commercial and luxury residential development or the provision of transport facilities.

Importance of Urban Renewal

Urban Renewal is of growing importance because of: urban areas are becoming larger and older, so
more and more renewal of urban fabric has to take place.
Constant expansion of urban areas into agricultural hinterland, while large quantities of urban land
and buildings are abandoned and left dilapidated.
The emphasis is on those parts which have fallen below current standards of public acceptability.
These are commonly to be found in: the residential parts of the inner city, in the central business
district itself.
Indicators for residential parts of inner cities are: inadequate housing, environmental degradation,
presence of non-conforming uses.
Indicators for central business district are: traffic problems, dilapidated buildings

Policies/ Approaches
Slum Clearance: Demolition of dilapidated dwellings located in a slum (an area of sub-standard,
overcrowded housing occupied by the poor immigrants)
Redevelopment: The demolition of an existing building and its replacement by a new building
Rehabilitation: The repair and improvement of existing structurally sound property
Housing Improvement: Improvements of dwellings by provision of essential basic amenities
Conservation: To retain intact or unchanged. Also meant as Preservation
Environmental Improvements: Main emphasis is to improve environmental conditions
Economic Renewal : Improvement of economic conditions of dwellers

REDEVELOPMENT
Redevelopment is to improve an area that is in bad condition by destroying or improving old
buildings and building new ones.
Variations on redevelopment include:
Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, such as
the redevelopment of an industrial site into a mixed-use development.
Constructing with a denser land usage, such as the redevelopment of a block of townhouses into a
large apartment building.
Adaptive reuse, where older structures are converted for improved current market use, such as an
industrial mill into housing lofts.
Redevelopment projects can be small or large ranging from a single building to entire new
neighborhoods or "new town in town" projects.
Redevelopment would mean the development of an area with prior usage, which might be unused
now.
REHABILITATION
The repair and improvement of existing structurally sound property.
Rehabilitation will extend the useful life of buildings to slow down the pace of urban decay and
offers speedy improvement to the living conditions of people in-situ.
By the use of materials that are durable and easily maintained, and those which provide longer
defects liability warranty were adopted in Hong Kong during its urban renewal process.
rehabilitation can include all of the traditional elements of building alterations and additions, as well
as repairs, maintenance, and other improvements.
Urban renewal by rehabilitation seeks to eliminate environmental and structural deficiencies which,
if not adequately and timely dealt with, will create within the area each degree of blight that the
only alternative is clearance and redevelopment.
Generally, environmental deficiencies include
poor land utilization,
incompatible land uses,
lack of adequate public facilities, and
unsafe congested street patterns and
traffic hazards.
Rehabilitation prevent deterioration of the urban area along with the protection of the public
health, safety, and welfare.

CONSERVATION
Architectural conservation describes the process through which the material, historical, and design
integrity of humanity's built heritage are prolonged through carefully planned interventions.
Architectural conservation is the process by which individuals or groups attempt to protect valued
buildings from unwanted change.
Preservation/Conservation were used interchangeably to refer to the encouraged measures that
would protect and maintain buildings in their current state, or would prevent further damage and
deterioration to them.

NEED
Rapid urbanization threatening the sense of place and identity of communities.
Uncontrolled, poorly conceived and/or badly implemented urban development
Intensity and speed of changes, including global warming
Unsustainable consumption of resources.

BENEFITS
Heritage conservation can improve standards of living, increase income- earning opportunities, and
generate wealth for the poor.
Combining the conservation of heritage assets and improving infrastructure services provides more
liveable and dynamic environments that directly impact the ability of poor communities to take
advantage of the opportunities for a better life, while at the same time supporting city
competitiveness.

REGIONAL PLANNING
Regional planning deals with the efficient placement of land-use activities, infrastructure, and
settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town.
Regional planning is a sub-field of urban planning as it relates land use practices on a broader scale.
Overview
Regional planning is the science of efficient placement of infrastructure and zoning for the
sustainable growth of a region.
It can address region-wide environmental, social, and economic issues which may necessarily
require a regional focus.
 Regional and national plans are spatial directing certain levels of development to specific cities and
towns in order to support and manage the region depending on specific needs.

Principles
Specific interventions and solutions will depend entirely on the needs of each region in each country, but
generally speaking, regional planning at the macro level will seek to:

Resist development in flood plains or along earthquake faults. These areas may be utilised as parks, or
unimproved farmland.
Designate transportation corridors using hubs and spokes and considering major new infrastructure
Some thought into the various roles settlements in the region may play, for example some may be
administrative, with others based upon manufacturing or transport.
Consider designating essential nuisance land uses locations, including waste disposal.
Designate Green belt land or similar to resist settlement amalgamation and protect the environment.
Set regional level policy and zoning which encourages a mix of housing values and communities.
Consider building codes, zoning laws and policies that encourage the best use of the land.

AREA DELINEATION
Regional delineation is the first step in the preparation of any regional development plan to ensure
tentative operational area of planning.
Delineation of formal regions involves the grouping together of local units which have similar
characteristics according to certain clearly defined criteria and which differ significantly from the units
outside the region on the basis of certain chosen criteria.
The criteria can be
unemployment rates,
activity rate,
migration trends,
per capita income etc.
The characteristics should differ significantly from units outside the region.

Variables for delineation of formal region (homogeneous):

Land use characteristics

Demographic characteristics

Transport infrastructure

Social service and public utilities

Socio-economic structure
Methods for Delineation of formal regions
Weighted index number methods
Factor analysis

A. The Weighted Index Number Method

The study area is divided into several localities varying according to unemployment rates and per capita
income levels.
The aim is to isolate the main problem region; i.e. the area of economic malaise.
Weights are assigned to each criteria and when taken together and weighted, one of the region can be
isolated.
The Factor Analysis method
Used for delineating economic health regions.
Industrial change and industrial structure are what is called as major industrial factors, and
population change and social structure as major socio-economic factors. These factors help in
delineating economic health regions.

LAND-USE PLANNING
Land-use planning is the general term used for a branch of urban planning encompassing various
disciplines which seek to order and regulate land use in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing
land-use conflicts.
Governments use land-use planning to manage the development of land within their jurisdictions.
In doing so, the governmental unit can plan for the needs of the community while safeguarding natural
resources.
To this end, it is the systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternatives for land use, and
economic and social conditions in order to select and adopt the best land-use options.

GOALS
Land-use planning means the scientific, aesthetic, and orderly disposition of land, resources, facilities
and services with a view to securing the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well-being
of urban and rural communities.
To further the welfare of people and their communities by creating convenient, equitable, healthful,
efficient, and attractive environments for present and future generations.

Types of planning
Various types of planning have emerged over the course of the 20th century. Below are the six main
typologies of planning, as defined by David Walters in his book, Designing Communities (2007):

Traditional or comprehensive planning: Common in the US after WWII, characterized by politically

neutral experts with a rational view of the new urban development. Focused on producing clear
statements about the form and content of new development.

Systems planning: 1950s1970s, resulting from the failure of comprehensive planning to deal with the
unforeseen growth of post WWII America. More analytical view of the planning area as a set of
complex processes, less interested in a physical plan.

Democratic planning: 1960s. Result of societal loosening of class and race barriers. Gave more citizens
a voice in planning for future of community.

Advocacy and equity planning: 1960s & 70s. Strands of democratic planning that sought specifically to
address social issues of inequality and injustice in community planning.

Strategic planning: 1960s-present. Recognizes small-scale objectives and pragmatic real-world

constraints.

Environmental planning: 1960s-present. Developed as many of the ecological and social implications of
global development were first widely understood.

Today, successful planning involves a balanced mix of analysis of the existing conditions and
constraints; extensive public engagement; practical planning and design; and financially and politically
feasible strategies for implementation.
SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY
A settlement hierarchy is a way of arranging settlements into a hierarchy based upon their population
or some other criteria.
In this example, an isolated building is at the lowest point, and the ecumenopolis is at the top with the
greatest number of people:
Ecumenopolis - a theoretical construction in which the entire area of Earth that is taken up by human
settlements, or at least, that those are linked so that to create urban areas so big that they can shape
an urban continuum through thousands of kilometres which cannot be considered as a megalopolis.
As of the year 2009, the United Nations estimated that for the first time more than 50% of the world's
populations lived in cities, so if these were linked, the total population of this area would be about
3,400,000,000 people as of 2010.
Megalopolis - a group of conurbations, consisting of more than ten million people each.
Conurbation - a group of large cities and their suburbs, consisting of three to ten million people.
Metropolis a large city and its suburbs consisting of multiple cities and towns. The population is
usually one to three million.
Large city a city with a large population and many services. The population is <1 million people but
over 300,000 people.
City a city would have abundant services, but not as many as a large city. The population of a city is
over 100,000 people up to 300,000.
Large town a large town has a population of 20,000 to 100,000.
Town a town has a population of 1,000 to 20,000.
Village a village generally does not have many services, possibly only a small corner shop or post
office. A village has a population of 100 to 1,000.
Hamlet a hamlet has a tiny population (<100) and very few (if any) services, and few buildings.
Isolated dwelling an isolated dwelling would only have 1 or 2 buildings or families in it. It would have
negligible services, if any.

SIZE
If we group and classify a number of settlements according to their size and shape the result is
settlement hierarchy.
The greater the population in a settlement, the larger geographic area, the higher the status and the
greater the availability of services.
As you move up the hierarchy, the size of the settlement and the distance between similar sized
settlements increases.
The number of services that a settlement provides increases with the settlement size.
The larger settlement serve large area and small settlement serve small areas Hamlet, village, town,
city, conurbation, metropolis, metropolitan.
Hierarchy of shopping centres within a single urban area. Local centre, district centre, regional centre,
metropolis centre.

FUNCTIONS
The larger settlements are having greater
number of functions while the smaller
settlements are within smaller number of
functions provided for local people.
If there are two towns of different sizes
but equal in importance as central places,
the smaller town may be regarded as
having a higher central place status
Resort town has a higher status than
residential town.
Improvement in transport There are fewer smaller settlement especially hamlets because of
accessibility and each settlement on the same level of the hierarchy will not necessarily with the same
range of services.