Comprehensive

Planning &
Urban Planning
Concepts
NAEEM AKHTAR
LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
SINDH MADRESSATUL ISLAM UNIVERSITY
Comprehensive Planning
Comprehensive planning follows a typical Planning Process which consists of
EIGHT different steps. By following this process, planners are able to
determine a wide range of interconnecting issues that effect an Urban Area.
Each step can be seen as interdependent and many times planners will
revise the order to best fit their needs.
I- Identifying Issues
The planner must address the issue they are investigating. To be relevant,
the planning processes must identify and address not only contemporary
issues of concern to residents, workers, property owners, and business
people, but also the emerging issues that will be important in the future.
Comprehensive Planning
II- Setting Goals
Once issues have been identified by a community. Goals can then be established.
Goals are community visions. They establish priorities for communities and help
community leaders make future decisions which will affect the city. Stating goals is not
always an easy process and it requires the active participation of all people in the
community.
III- Collecting Data
Data is needed in the planning process in order to evaluate current city conditions as
well as to predict future conditions. Data is almost easily collected from the census
bureaus, however many communities actively collect their own data. The most typical
data collected for a comprehensive plan include data about the Environment, Traffic
Conditions, Economic Conditions, Social Conditions (such as population and income),
public services & utilities, and land use conditions (such as housing & zoning). Once
this data is collected it is analyzed and studied. Outcomes of the data collection
process include population projections, economic conditions forecasts, and future
housing needs.
Comprehensive Planning
IV- Preparing the Plan
The Plan is prepared using the information gathered during the data collection
and goal setting stages. A typical comprehensive plan begins by giving a brief
background of the current and future conditions found in the data collection
step. Following the background information are the community goals and the
plans that will be used in order to implement those goals into the community.
Plans may also contain separate sections for important issues such as
transportation or housing which follow the same standard format.
V- Creating Implementation Plans
During this stage of the process different programs are thought of in order to
implement the Goals of the Plan. These plans focus on issues such as Cost and
Effectiveness. It is possible that a variety of plans will result from this process in
order to realize one goal. These different plans are known as alternatives.
Comprehensive Planning
VI- Evaluating Alternatives
Each alternative should be evaluated by community leaders to ensure the most efficient and cost
effective way to realize the communitys goals. During this stage each alternative should be
weighed given its potential positive and negative effects, impacts on the community, and
impacts on the city government. One alternative should be chosen that best meets the needs
and desires of the community.
VII- Adopting a Plan
The community needs to adopt the plan as an official statement of policy in order for it to take
effect. This is usually done by the city council through public hearings. Once the plan is
accepted by city officials it is then a legal statement of community policy in regards to future
development.
VIII-Implementation and Monitoring the Plan
Using the implementation plans defined in the earlier stages, the city will carry out the goals in
the comprehensive plans. City Planning staff monitors the outcome of the plan and may
propose future changes if the results are not desired.
A comprehensive plan is not a permanent document. It can be changed and rewritten over time.
It is necessary to revise or update the Comprehensive Plan every five to ten years.
 Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is outward spreading of a city and its
suburbs to exurbs, to low-density and often auto-
dependent development on rural land.
The rapid urbanization is usually caused by the
increase in population in an area.
The extent of urbanization or its growth drives the
change in land use/cover pattern.
Land use and landcover changes may have adverse
impacts on ecology of the area, especially the
greenness
Precise information on the extent of urban growth is of
great interest for the municipalities of growing urban
and suburban areas for diverse purposes such as
urban planning, water and land resource management,
marketing analysis, service allocation, etc.
Development authorities are required to give more
time, attention and effort to manage the use of land
and other resources to accommodate the expanding
population.
Urban Sprawl Taking Over Agriculture
Cellular growth
o As evident from the term itself the cellular
growth is the growth and expansion of cells.
o Cell is basically a unit of planning.
o Just like different biological organisms grow
and expand, or a cell reproduce itself. Like
wise in planning when a planned settlement is
developed in a city; the city expands with it.
o For example KDA announces housing schemes
in Karachi. Each settlement which is
developed in a scheme can be termed as cell.
o Therefore, in planning cellular growth means
repetition of existing cells in city structure or
it is a planned addition of new neighborhoods
to existing towns.
 Squatter Settlements
The Oxford English Dictionary explains that A squatter settlements is defined as the
occupied land by a group of settlers having no formal or legal title to the land occupied by
them, especially one thus occupying land in a district not yet surveyed by the government.
The term squatter settlement if analyzed into some details one can easily find that the word
Squatter means an unauthorized occupant of the land where as settlement means
the placing of person & things in a fixed or permanent position.
Therefore one can also conclude that, when an unauthorized occupation of land occurs in
any district or area then the people or things fixed or placed themselves on permanent
basis to their occupied land.

However such occupied land often removed or bulldozed by authorities in the name of slum
clearance or slum upgrading. As a repercussion large number of people becomes displaced
& millions of rupees invested in one such occupied land go waste. Thus the issue of
squatter settlements has a human and financial value attached to it.
 Slum Area
According to Mr. G.K. Hiraskarthere are three different definitions of slum
areas. These are as follows:
A slum is predominantly an over crowded area which is in advanced state of
decay where dwellings are unfit for human habitation.
It is an area which lacks the basic amenities like water supply & drainage for
standard living and where an unsanitary condition prevails & diseases flourish.
Slum is a poverty-stricken area where there is high birth rate, infant morality,
illegitimacy, juvenile crime, delinquency & death, thus represent the state of
hell on the surface of earth.
Thus these definitions clearly spell out that; slum is menace to health, safety,
morality and general welfare of the inhabitants.
 Urban Ecology
Urban Ecology is the study of therelationships between organisms,
including humans, and the particular opportunities for, and
challenges to, their survival presented by cities.[5]
Urban Ecology is the study ofbiodiversity in areas that are densely
populated by humans.[6]
Urban Ecology is the subfield of ecology which deals with theinteraction of
plants, animals and humans with each other and with their
environment in urban or urbanizing settings.[7]