Urban Planning 3

Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and

Tools

Summary of Planning and its Importance

➔ Urban and Regional Planning is the unified development of towns/cities,

regions and their environments
➔ For most of its history, planning dealt with the regulations of land use and
the physical arrangement of settlement structures, the built environment

Definition of Terms (comparison)

1. Urban and Regional Planning refers to the scientific, orderly and aesthetic disposition
of land, buildings, resources facilities and communication routes, in use and in
development, with view too obviating congestion and securing the maximum
practicable degree of economy, efficiency, convenience, sound environment, beauty,
health and well-being in urban and rural communities
From: Canadian Institute of Planners, 1919
2. Urban and Regional Planning is the unfilled development of urban communities and their
environments and of states, regions, and the nation as a whole,a s expressed through
determination of the comprehensive arrangement of land uses and land occupancy and
the irregulation
From: American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)

Brief Summary of Planning and its Importance

➔ Urban and Regional Planning is now guided by a multidisciplinary approach and

interventions which involves coordination among all sectors, actors, stakeholders
➔ It is used in formulating regulations on land use, physical arrangements of
developments, etc., with the goal of providing harmony and balance between
man, nature, society and the build environment.
➔ Planning hopes to eradicate the modern-day problems that man face today.
➔ Looking at history, its success and failures to develop sustainable and viable
solutions to human settlement issues
➔ Poor planning of urban centers, cities, towns leads to sprawls and all the problems
associated with it. (Examples: Overcrowding, high demand of basic resources,
etc)
➔ Sensitivity to land utilization
➔ Land + People + Government = Nation
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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
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Urban and Regional Planning Tools, Methods, Techniques
➔ Planners have always sought tools to enhance their analytical, problem-
solving and decision-making capability
➔ Planning tools simplify complex planning and urban management
processes by providing data and methods for comprehensive
assessment, communication, coordination and decision making
processes
➔ Decisions based on evidence facilitate the connection and facilitation of
information between planners, decision makers and stakeholders
➔ Planning tools provide insights to help simplify the assessment of
evidence and communication of potential future scenarios to aid the
decision-making process
➔ Evidence-based tools in planning helps reduce biases]
➔ Planning techniques are those methods or processes followed by planners in
preparing or evaluating their plans, programs and policies
➔ Planners have a considerable array of analytic techniques at their disposal.
Cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, environmental assessment, program
evaluation, participatory methods, and many others may be included in this
regard.
➔ These techniques may aid a planner in deciding a course of action to
follow or in assessing the effects of particular actions or different
publics.
➔ Most of these techniques, and perhaps especially cost-benefit analysis, have
been

connected conceptually and methodologically to utilitarianism, as follows.

Urban Planning 3
Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
Tools
Urban Planning 3
Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
Tools

Definition of Terms (Philippine Context):

1. Region - refers to sub-national administrative unit composing of several provinces

having more or less homogeneous character such as ethnic origin of inhabitants,
dialect spoken, agri produce, etc.
- The Philippines has 17 regions
2. Province - The largest unit in the political structure of the Philippines. It consists
of varying numbers of municipalities and in some cases, component cities. Its
functions and duties in relation to its component city and municipalities are
generally coordinative and supervisory.
3. City - In the Philippines, there are 3 classes:
- Highly urbanized - minimum population of 200,000 inhabitants (as per PSA)
- Independent Component - Independent from the province.
Examples are: Naga, Cotabato, Dagupan, Ormoc, Santiago)
- Component - Part of a province and subject to administrative supervision.
4. Municipality - a political corporate body which is endowed with the facilities of a
municipal corporation, exercised by and through the municipal government in
conformity with the law. It is a subsidiary of the province which consists of a
number of barangays within its territorial boundaries.
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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
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Attributes of the Planning Process

1. Scientific - Quantifiable and objectives
2. Multi-disciplinary - expertise of various disciplines
3. Comprehensive - covers all aspects/sectors of development
4. Dynamic - responsible to changes in time
5. Iterative - continuous, cynical
6. Participatory - Values engagement of multiple stakeholders
7. Time-bound - specified time perspective

Urban Planning Tooling and Techniques

1. SWOT ANALYSIS
2. Surveying (foot survey, windshield survey, etc.)
3. Surveying (Data gathering, profiling, scoping)
4. Global positioning survey (GPS)
5. Cause and effect diagram
6. Stakeholder Matrix
7. Risk profiling/mapping
8. Venn diagram
9. Power-interest grid
10. Scalar Rating
11. Inter-cross sectional analysis
12. Sieve mapping & suitability analysis
13. Risk & suitability analysis
14. ision -reality gap analysis
15. Cost-benefit analysis

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Identify the Stakeholders
★ An important initial part of the planning process which
aims to identity who will be affected by the final output
(the plan)

➔ Identify stakeholders based on sector/s

➔ Prepare an action plan to determine how to approach each stakeholder
(either as a group/individual)
➔ Communicate with the stakeholders

A stakeholder is any person, group or institution that has an interest in a development

activity, project or program. Stakeholders include intended beneficiaries and
intermediaries, winners and losers, and those involved or excluded from the decision
making process.

Basic Types of Stakeholders divided into two groups:

Primary Stakeholders - are those who are directly affected or ultimately affected.
For example: those who are expected to benefit from or be adversely affected by
the planned activity/program/intervention/project .

Secondary Stakeholder - those who are indirectly affected by the impacts of the
activity/program/intervention/project but may have particular knowledge and/or
significant roles related to its formulation, implementation and/or evaluation.

Venn Diagram

➔ Is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets,
popularized by John Venn in the 1880s.
➔ An illustration of the relationships between and among sets, groups of
objects that share something in common
➔ Usually, venn diagrams are used to depict set intersections
➔ This type of diagram is used in scientific and engineering presentations, in
theoretical mathematics, in computer applications, and in statistics.
➔ Identifies commonalities
➔ Identifies a set’s importance and vice versa
➔ Identifies connections between groups/sets
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Power-Interest Grid Matrix

➔ After identifying your stakeholders, this tool

can help you segregating/prioritizing. It helps
in identifying stakeholders based on their
power and interest in the project
➔ When you plot your stakeholders on a
power/interest grid, you can determine who
has high or lower to affect your project, and
who has high or low interest.
➔ People with high power need to be kept
satisfied, while people with high interest
need to be kept informed.
➔ When a stakeholder has both, make sure you
manage their expectations very closely.

Stakeholder Matrix
➔ This simple chart/matrix can be employed to
identify key concerns of each stakeholder
group.
➔ It is very easy to do and straightforward. It
can be customized depending on the need.
➔ Has its limitations. This is purely for documentation and does not show
relationships or linkages between groups.

Vision - gap analysis

➔ Sometimes also referred to as Needs-Gap Analysis
➔ Its result will provide an approximate description of the current situation
as a form of leveling-off for the participants/community/stakeholder’s
perception of their city/municipality/province
➔ It generates ideas on the future or the desired state of the city/municipality/provinde
➔ Answers the question - “what do you want your city/municipality to become in the next
10-20 years?”
- Qualities of the people as individuals
- Qualities of the people as society
- Nature of the local economy
- State of the natural environment
- Capacity of local leaders
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PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE CONSULTATION (with stakeholders)
1. Clearly define the purpose and scope of the consultation process.
2. Involve all those likely to be affected, recognizing: The diversity of the community,
including the minority groups; Opportunities to link into existing networks.
3. Involve the community as early as possible and in all stages of the project.
4. Provide information about the topic under discussion as well as a consultation process
that is: accurate and unbiased; clear and free of jargon; appropriate to the reader’s level
of interest, literacy and cultural background.
5. Use a range of techniques to inform and involve the community recognizing: the
different levels of interest and awareness on the topic and allow adequate time and
resources insuring
6. Treat people with respect: Actively listening and valuing all ideas and opinions; Providing
information in a non-defensive manner; Accurately recording what people have said.
7. Ensure that decision making processes are open and accountable.
8. Continue to improve the consultation process by: Evaluating the consultation process
both during and at the end of the process; Learning from these experiences.

SWOT analysis

➔ By identifying and tabulating the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and

threats in a project provides planners the ability to look at the information as hard
data.
➔ Allow planners to analyze and provide clearer solutions to threats and weaknesses.
Surveying
➔ Urban planning has a strong tradition rooted in surveying methods in collecting data.
➔ Primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative, spatial and non-spatial information
is collected in order to analyze and understand the structure, character, problems, and
possibilities of a study area.
➔ This information primarily concerns urban land uses, but also extends to ecological,
social, economic, and traffic dimensions, which constitute some of the most useful views
on urban space for established urban planning practice (Lagopoulos, 2018a. p. 5).
➔ Surveys help in the documentation of gathered data and helps find the
relationship between complicated activities of town/city life.
➔ It also helps give solution/s towards the local requirements needed for the facilitation,
implementation of plans and policies.

As urban planning is an applied field, any planning practice has to resort to some form of theory,
or even better, to be guided by a methodology.
Andreas Faludi (1986, pp. 12, 23, 115).

It allows us to move from theory to application, in the applied fields, such as urban planning, the
emphasis is on methodology, since these fields aim to be operational and achieve real-world
efficiency
For this very reason, the survey of land uses, just like any other urban planning practice, needs
to be guided by a specific methodology

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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
Tools

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Patrick Geddes (1908, 1915)
- proposed for the first time the systematic survey of urban space prior to its planning.
‘Survey-before-plan’ principle soon came to be recognized as a key element in urban
planning methodology.
- The methodological approach by Geddes, as well as his proposal for preparation of
‘surface utilization plans’ (nowadays known as ‘existing land-use maps’) was strongly
supported in the following years by Raymond Unwin (1909, pp. 140–141) and Patrick
Abercrombie (1915, pp. 85–86, 1916, p. 187), both of whom were leading planning
practitioners in Great Britain during Geddes’s time.

Surveying

Kind of survey Information on the following:

1. Functional Surveys are ➢ Roads: History, road width, traffic survey and tree
conducted to be able to location/s
study and analyze the ➢ Railways: Positions of level crossing, passenger stations,
etc.
functional aspects of
➢ Airports and seaports
town/city life.
➢ Waterways and canals
➢ Local industries and the availability of raw materials and
labor
➢ Mines and their location
➢ Probable cost/s
2. Social Surveys includes ➢ Historical Buildings
social aspects of the ➢ Architectural character, heritage
town/city’s history, ➢ History of growth
➢ Preservation of wild lids
architecture, health,
➢ Parks and recreational grounds, activities, etc.,
housing ➢ Public service and access to basic goods and necessities

3. Territorial Survey deals ➢ Geology

with the physical ➢ Land - includes the terrain, soil and other features of the
features, soil land
characteristics & type, ➢ Water - rivers, oceans, lakes, etc.
forest covers, climatic ➢ Climatic conditions
conditions, geological ➢ Natural vegetation and forest covers
features, etc.

4. Vital Survey - refers or ➢ Population density

deals with the ➢ Characteristics and classification, make up of the
population aspects of population
data gathering. ➢ History of the past growth of population

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Surveying Techniques

Technique Definition

Self Surveys mailing/sending questionnaires to the persons to be surveyed.

Interviews conducted by asking questions to the people to be surveyed.

– wherein the surveyor conducts an inspection

DIRECT INSPECTION of the situation concerned in order to make an
assessment.
OBSERVERS PARTICIPATION – wherein the observer himself participates in
acquiring the data required.

NOMINAL – where the surveys does not have any order (i.e.: age, sex,
etc.)
ORDINAL – where there is a specific order of choices like asking of
priorities, preferences, housing conditions, etc.

INTERVAL – where an interval of time is given importance like time taken

to shift from a particular project to another; time interval when
using a different mode of transport, etc.

SAMPLES IN SURVEYING
– refers to the selection of a number of “samples” or selected
individuals or groups of people for the surveying activity. They are selected based on the
following:
● The larger the total population, the smaller percentage of the population is required to be
surveyed.
● The more varied the response to a particular set of questions, the larger the sample size is
required.
● If there is a possibility of having disastrous results as a result of poor information, the
larger the sample size is required.

Sample Size – refers to the number of persons selected for the survey.
Sample – refers to the persons that are included in the survey.

Types of Samples:
Simple Random Sampling
– selecting samples at random without criteria.
Systematic Sampling
– a systematic sampling is a statistical method that
researchers used to zero down on the desired population they want to research.
Stratified Sampling
– making of a homogenous listing of the different sects of the
population and collecting a certain percentage at random from each sect.
Clustered Sampling
– when samples are selected from clusters.

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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
Tools

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Module 4 : Basic Planning Concepts, Principles and
Tools
Global Positioning Survey (GPS)
➔ The Global Positioning System, formally known as the Navstar Global Positioning System,
was initiated as a joint civil/military technical program in 1973.
➔ The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been developed in order to allow accurate
determination of geographical locations by military and civil users.
➔ It is based on the use of satellites in Earth orbit that transmit information which allow
to measure the distance between the satellites and the user.
➔ It is a navigational system that can determine exact locations and features by utilizing
satellites and receivers on earth.
➔ GPS tracking contains added values like providing accurate and valid information of
quantitative spatio-temporal data which is useful in planning

Geographical Information System (GIS)

➔ Computer programs that are used in various fields in planning and engineering (but
are also widely used by other fields of interest) which allows for the collection of
information, processing and organization of such data.
➔ A geographic information system (GIS) is a system that creates, manages, analyzes,
and maps all types of data.
➔ GIS connects data to a map, integrating location data (where things are) with all types
of descriptive information (what things are like there). This provides a foundation for
mapping and analysis that is used in science and almost every industry.
➔ GIS helps users understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context. The
benefits include improved communication and efficiency as well as better
management and decision making.

How does GIS work?

- Hundreds of thousands of
organizations in virtually every
field are using GIS to make maps
that communicate, perform
analysis, share information, and
solve complex problems around
the world

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Geographical Information System (GIS)

The GIS Model

● Spatial Data (where)
- specifies location
- stored in a shape file in ArcMap or any other GIS Software
● Attribute (descriptive) data (answers what, how much, when)
- specifies characteristics at that location, natural or human-created
- stored in a data base table.
* GIS systems traditionally maintain spatial and attribute data separately, them merge or join
them for display or analysis.

GIS FUNCTIONS:
1. Data Management
- when data volume becomes large.
- database management system (software) to store, organize and manage data.
- data is stored conceptually as a collection of tables.
2. Data Manipulation
– scale change, projection change, distortion, removal, coordinate rotation/translation
3. Data Analysis
- Buffering
- Overlay Analysis or Sieve Mapping

Components of GIS
1. Hardware
– devices used that the user interacts with directly in
carrying out GIS Operations
2. Software
– collection of programs which captures geographic processing functions
3. People
– Skilled people who design, program, supply with data and
interpret results
4. Organization/Procedures
– GIS requires management. Mapping standards according to budget
5. Data
– Digital representation of selected aspects of some specific area.
◦Sources: Thematic Maps, Aerial Photography, Satellite
Imagery, GPS Readings, Ground Surveys, etc.

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GIS and Planning

➔ GIS offers a coherent representation of a set of geographical units or objects which,
besides their location, can be characterized by one or more attributes
Example: All land parcels in a city can be a set of geographical data with attributes like
land owner, parcel number, and zoning type. Such information is suitable or spatially based
planning applications, and a GIS provides an excellent tool for analyzing this information for
both urban and regional planning tasks.

➔ GIS can be used for collecting, analyzing, and presenting spatial data. Planning data can
be collected and stored in the GIS database. Once collected, a wide range of spatial
analysis functions can be performed on the data to create suitable data layers. These
spatial data layers can then be presented in the forms of maps, reports, and charts

Other tools, methods, 7 basic principles

There are numerous tools and new technologies that have come up and are still in being
developed and introduced for planning applications. Almost every year, another software, gadget,
etc. is being introduced.

It is important to understand the basics which is the “WHAT,

WHERE, HOW (*how much, how soon, etc.), WHY” questions that
needed to be answered regardless of your chosen tool and
method.

The principle is that with proper data collection, the planning team can carefully analyze the
problems and situations as well as possible effects of each possible solution before creating plans
and policies.

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