Urban Planning

Urban planning is a technical and political process concerned with the development and use of land, protection and use of the environment, public welfare, and the design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks.

Infrastructure refers to structures, systems, and facilities serving the economy of a business, industry, country, city, town, or area, including the services and facilities necessary for its economy to function.

Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of well-being and social support for citizens without current means to support basic needs, sometimes referred to as public aid.

An electric power distribution system is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers.

Making urban planning urban: Gregor Wiltschko at TEDxVienna by TEDx Talks

Urban planning is also referred to as urban and regional planning, regional planning, town planning, city planning, rural planning or some combination in various areas worldwide.

Urban Sprawl and Urban Planning by UCD - University College Dublin

It takes many forms and it can share perspectives and practices with urban design.

Urban design is the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages.

Urban planning guides orderly development in urban, suburban and rural areas.

A suburb is a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city.

In general, a rural area or countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities.

Although predominantly concerned with the planning of settlements and communities, urban planning is also responsible for the planning and development of water use and resources, rural and agricultural land, parks and conserving areas of natural environmental significance.

Water use can mean the amount of water used by a household or a country, or the amount used for a given task or for the production of a given quantity of some product or crop, or the amount allocated for a particular purpose.

Practitioners of urban planning are concerned with research and analysis, strategic thinking, architecture, urban design, public consultation, policy recommendations, implementation and management.

Public consultation, or simply consultation, is a regulatory process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought.

Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures.

Urban planners work with the cognate fields of architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and public administration to achieve strategic, policy and sustainability goals.

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.

Public administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service.

Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor public areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes.

Early urban planners were often members of these cognate fields.

Today urban planning is a separate, independent professional discipline.

The discipline is the broader category that includes different sub-fields such as land-use planning, zoning, economic development, environmental planning, and transportation planning.

Environmental planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out land development with the consideration given to the natural environment, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic framework to achieve sustainable outcomes.

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.

Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals, investments and designs to prepare for future needs to move people and goods to destinations.