Post 11

Ann-Margaret Esnard, Nancy Sappington and Miltion R, Ospina

The reading this week was about using the Geographical Information System (GIS) as a tool to aid planners with land usage and allocation. GIS is made up of hardware, software, data, metadata, vector data and raster data. These components combined are used to overlay images of maps. 

The importance of the GIS to planners is to understand the land usage and all the variables affecting that piece of land. The GIS is just a tool which has to be manipulated by the planner to obtain the data results specific to the task. For example, a high risk fire zone when added as a layer on the map will highlight all the areas which cannot be built on due to the fire risk. The GIS distinguishes the overlays with different colours and patterns so the planner is able to differentiate between the particular zone(s).

The use of GIS saves planners considerable time and money as they do not have to continuously compare hard copies and sometimes outdated maps. Although this is not to say that hard copy maps have become a useless tool for the planning profession, but nowadays they are used in conjunction with GIS.

GIS has become an important device for the modern day planner, although it is important to note that the GIS does not solve planning problems but is merely a tool. It is the planner and their ability to navigate the GIS which determines how the information and conclusions are extracted.

Post 10

Planning Metropolitan Regions

Gary Hack

With new development happening consistently within cities it is becoming increasingly hard to distinguish where one city starts and ends such as Osaka-Tokyo. Combined with this issue of defining the metropolitan region is mixing the new and established development to have a dynamic flow through the region of community, transportation, access, housing, and industry to create a mixed use centre.

The Greater City of Sydney is an Australian example of a Metropolitan region which does have processes of urban consolidation taking place but also is continuing to sprawl outwards. With telecommunications becoming increasingly accessible it is evident that people in the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and South Coast are able to work in the week partly from home and partly in the city as they have become increasingly connected to Sydney. The map below indicates what is classified as the Greater City of Sydney. Penrith was once considered to be the most Western region of Sydney being on the peri urban fringe. As Sydney’s pressures increase, so will the demand on the Greater City of Sydney as it expands. Pressures on the Greater Western City of Sydney are shown through Penrith, Katoomba and Lithgow in this link. http://www.crlra.utas.edu.au/files/rolevet2/Penrith.PDF

The map indicates the growth of Sydney and it needs and resources ever expanding.

http://www.sydney-australia.biz/maps/greater-sydney-map.php

The challenge for the present and into the future is to combine the land-usage, and utilise the space in a way that creates highly functional regions. With Sydney continuing to sprawl this means sub-centres which need to flow on from established centres on that region. Planning for Metropolitan regions has great potential if we start planning now and not tomorrow!

Post 9

How to make a Town

Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck

The reading this week focused on the interactions within a community. When understanding all these elements of mixed- use development, regional considerations, connectivity, site utilisation, the discipline of the neighbourhood, transit, streets, buildings, and parking an informed decision can be then made in planning for that community.

I found the reading this week to be highly practical and useful in the real world. In comparison previous reading have been highly theoretical based and not as focused on the practical aspect of planning. With a lack of understanding of these elements as well as at a local level planners cannot possible produce the best outcome for that community.

 So far as students we have been thinking of solutions to problems in an ideal world. This chapter forces more thought of constraints and real world problems that we will face in the industry. I think this chapter is one of the most important readings so far as it is an outline of what is expected of planners to consider and act on accordingly.

The concepts of this chapter are taken place in an Australian context. Although it is not only the planning attitudes and implementation which need to change but the communities attitude towards a more compact community of high density, mixed use, smart design and less automobile use. To achieve a more ‘sustainable’ community the society has a whole has to change.

Post 8

Master Planning

Charles M. Haar

For a good master plan to implemented it must follow the frameworks in order for it to be useful for community and city. Good master planning is not left up to a planner deciding what they think is the best for the community, but must involve all stakeholders to participate in the process. A workable master plan is one that can be adapted and easily changed as the city changes and so does its needs.

When looking at the University of Canberra Master plan there is a clear focus on the future of the campus. It includes educated assumptions as to population increase as to cater for the extra students. Planners have to have intuitive and research skills to plan ahead for such changes. An example of this can be seen by Sir Walter Burley Griffin in his plans for Canberra as he understood that the city would grow and designed the city for approximately 250 000-300 000 people. Clearly in 1911 there was not a need for this number of people but Griffin understood that it was crucial to plan for the future.

Master planning is not a perfect system of planning but is the closest we have as it is a workable framework that can be implemented and made into policy. It is a tool used to better a city. Without a Master planning how can a city really develop, if the community is not being consulted and there is not interaction between stakeholders?

Post 7

Pluralistic Planning for Multicultural Cities

Mohammad A. Qadeer

We see in this week the reading focuses on Vancouver, Canada as the case study of multiculturalism as it is an example that confirms how different peoples can coexist harmoniously. In observing Vancouver it can be compared to an Australian context of Sydney and Melbourne. Although from the reading it highlights what the Australian society could improve on in terms of its attitudes towards multiculturalism.

 I thought that the city of Vancouver must have a larger population than Sydney to have the facilities that it provides for its citizens. I was surprised to find that Vancouver has a population of approximately 600 000 which is smaller than Sydney of 4.5 million. My initial thought was how can Sydney cater to all peoples as it is a small city relative to the world scale? As shown Vancouver is able to provide for cultural diversity with a smaller population. Although Vancouver is smaller than Sydney the overall population of Canada is approximately 35 million and Australia is approximately 22 million. Therefore Canada has greater resources overall to allocate towards a more inclusive society. I think that as Canada has developed this multicultural society over time it has become more effortless to maintain than it is for the Australian society to make a real start towards this issue.

As an Australian society we the general public are consistently hearing that we are a multicultural society, but are we really that inclusive? The word is used frequently by politicians as no one wants to be politically correct, but is it just used to for the sake of political correctness?

Planning for a multicultural society is a fantastic concept in an ideal world, but as we do not live in an ideal world we cannot possibly cater to all in society. I guess the difference between a narrow minded planner and a well rounded planner is the one who attempts to serve all members of the society as best they can.   

Post 6

Downtown is for People

Jane Jacobs

I found the reading this week was very easy to read and straight to the point. I think the text this week is a great example of a good writing, in the sense that it is very easy to read and simplistic. Jacobs writing style allows her to get her point across without the pretentious wording and jargon of the industry which I felt was the reading last week of Susan Fainstein.

For me Jane Jacobs brought back the idea of planning to its simple form, to service the community. The way in which she draws upon her rationale was by simple observation. I think as a Planner it’s easy to forget with the ticking of boxes and the approval ratings when sometimes things just do not translate from paper to the real world. I think also we get caught up in the politics and red tape and forget once again what planners are really meant to be doing.... who do they service?

 I think because Jacobs did not come from a ‘planning background’ she was able to make the most logical judgments using common sense and not what people should use if when the planner implements this etc. I think her ideas of the street are mostly with smaller spaces attracting more people with acceptations e.g. Darling Harbour wide walk space-still attract masses of people.

Post 5

New Directions In Planning Theory

Susan Fainstein

This week the reading explored the ideas of the Communicative model, New Urbanism and a Just City. 

These three models are fantastic to theorise, but to what extent are they implemented?  In my understanding and I’m sure somewhat naivety I think Communicative Planning and New Urbanism are much easier to address than a Just City.

Although community consultation is not an easy thing to negotiate it is easy to gauge the result obtained from the communication that has taken place. In reference to New Urbanism it is a way of thinking which can also be easily gauged through the design orientation that is practiced. When looking at a Just City how do you really measure it? There is always going to be someone or a group of people that are underrepresented. I think it is a great concept and theory but I do not think it is a guide line which should be studied alone. This is not to say that a Just City and therefore Society are not important, but I do not think that it can just be set aside as an ideology and not integrated with other ideologies and thinking. When looking at a Just City in isolation it almost looks unachievable as a concept to be improved on. The flow-on effect from this is a build up of the problem which is then too great to be tackled. It is then just bypassed completely as it has become too hard and complex. When you think about it how many times has this happened in your community project? Was it achievable when the plan was simplistic?   

A question to think about!

Okay so maybe you have/haven't put much thought into this or even noticed?
Why do we walk, drive, or ride one way, but then take a different route back?

Post 4

The focus of study this week was Anglo-American Town Planning Theory since 1945: Three Significant Developments but no Paradigm Shifts- Nigel Taylor

The focal point for this week was to understand the ideological changes in planning post 1945. From this text I understood that planners looked at towns from just a physical/morphological view which then extends to a more broad perspective of towns in their physical, aesthetic and a focus on the interrelated activities in a state of constant change/flux.

The point that most interested me about this text was that most planning theorists have openly acknowledged the value-laden and political nature of planning. I find this idea creative in the sense that town planning gives the general public the opportunity to have an opinion and be valued for their judgment. In some industries the professional appears to know all, and the general populous are considered inferior because they are excluded from the process. In this regard, I have found planning to be the antithesis of this approach.

From this reading I got the impression that planning as we know it is constantly changing so why should a paradigm shift have taken place since 1945 as there have been multiple changes in planning over the past 90 years. I would be ignorant not to say that it will continue to change exponentially in the future. I think this is the radical nature of planning.

Post 3

Modernism was the focus for this week. I found a definite correlation between one concept of movement to the next. An example of this correlation is The Parks movement shifting towards the Garden City movement and then to the City Beautiful movement. Elements of the Parks City movement can be seen in the City Beautiful movement. The point is that it is much easier and in fact makes more sense to start off with an idea than to build from no idea at all. Once an idea is formed or a plan is established, this gives some sort of foundation to build and rebuild. We can see this follow-on effect over the movements and is still true today. Although we as planners may find multiple faults with many plans that have been established they have been planned based on a certain mind set, context, culture and knowledge available.

For me this week I thought it was important to recognise that past plans were innovative for the time and important for development and change in the future. Although innovation is great sometimes the best ideas are those with the most simplistic idea behind them. I think sometimes in our society we want to be better than the last, unique and have the best idea... and yes we do need new ideas but not lose the original/old ideas that have been working. If we look at ancient cities such as Rome, Greece and Egypt we can see still learn from their ideas and innovations even today in a modern context. It is important to research and understand planning as a profession but I don’t think we as students should solely focus on these aspects but also go back to the basics and study the natural and built environment like planners have in the past. Forming our own ideas and concepts of what we really think and not directly what planners in the profession think. 

Post 2

Reading How Plans Work, Lewis D. Hopkins

This week I found the reading to show a plan as being something that can be followed through with great structure and precision. I think this week has really reminded me of the responsibility of planners. The question what is a good plan? After going through all the criteria of agenda, policies, vision, design and strategy, is that enough to be a plan?

I think after reading this chapter it becomes clear that although there needs to be a basic framework it is not enough to ‘tick the boxes’. The plan may look grand on paper but how does it actually translate in the real world? Is it Cost? Was the outcome achieved ethically? When talking about ethical planning this presents a broad range of issues in relation to governments, clients, public/community interests, employers, professional integrity, intra-generational and intergenerational. The plan must be lawful and fit in to daily decision making and strategic planning.

From my understanding and observation, plans have to go through multiple legalities and bureaucracy to have one plan which may never be used. Even for the plans are used it is a lengthy process. Is the plan going to be effective by the time it goes through this process and actually becomes policy or will it become dated?

This framework is used to form the plan for developed countries such as the United States and Australia. This system works as it has shown in these countries at a relatively slow rate. Therefore I do not think this would be the best system implemented for developing countries as they need polices that are implemented and practiced in the now, which means cutting out much of the policy time.  

Post 1

From the reading this week I understood Planning to be equal in art and science. To truly understand planning it cannot be viewed with one perspective in mind and not the other.  

In the last 90 years there have been vast changes in the industry from what is expected of Planners and what society expects from the Planning profession. This is due to the rapid rate at which technological advancements have been implemented into the industry.  As the literature says Planning was not a straight degree it was mixed with Architecture or Landscape Architecture. I think this is a really important point to consider as it gives context as to how Planning originated and the ideologies at that time. I don’t think the planning profession was taken seriously in the past as it was newly forming in its most basic element. Planning started out as drawing and graphs. We see today that Planning has become a broad and specific profession. Today this industry cannot be ignored with pressing issues e.g. population growth and limited resources. I think that the government and society expects planners and the industry to clean up the mess of the past due to a lack of planning.

Planning has become a profession on its own separate from degrees such as Architecture and Design. Although this is true in theory I do believe that society does not recognise fully Planning as a profession in its own right.