City Planning
City Planning
City Planning, the unified development of cities and their environs. For most of its history, city planning dealt primarily with the regulation of land use and the physical arrangement of city structures, as guided by architectural, engineering, and land-development criteria. In the mid-20th century it broadened to include the comprehensive guidance of the physical, economic, and social environment of a community. Elements characteristic of city planning include (1) general plans that summarize the objectives of (and restraints on) land development; (2) zoning and subdivision controls that specify permissible land uses, densities, and requirements for streets, utility services, and other improvements; (3) plans for traffic flow and public transportation; (4) strategies for economic revitalization of depressed urban and rural areas; (5) strategies for supportive action to help disadvantaged social groups; and (6) guidelines for environmental protection and preservation of scarce resources.
City planning is conducted by governments on all levels-local, county, regional, state, and federal-and by private groups. It is also a subject of university-level study. Professional societies include the American Planning Association, the Canadian Institute of Planners, and in the United Kingdom, the Royal Town Planning Institute. (1)
In this Section: City Planning, City Planning History, City Planning in Greece and Rome, City Planning in the Renaissance and Beyond, City Planning in the 20th-Century, City Planning After 1945, Modern City Planning,
Comprehensive City Planning, City Planning Development Controls, City Planning Policies and City Planning Future.