URBAN PLANING

Canberra, Australia - Image From Nearmap

Urban ​​Planning is a discipline that tackles the processes of designing cities. This discipline has a high range of use cases, like the design of new cities as well as pre-existing cities. It’s a mix of Architecture and Geography, Architecture for its essence, which are buildings and human modifications, and Geography for the environment that these structures are placed in. 

The design of cities existed for a long time, but the acknowledgement of this field happened in the late 19th century due to the rapidly changing state of European and American cities. This field has good traits; the management of how cities are built is important, both for the residents but also for the industries and other businesses that might want to settle in a city. 

In recent times, the use of Urban Planning shifted to the environment, and how cities could be made so that less emissions are generated and assuring a more sustainable use of the land. Although it also has its drawbacks. There are two main scenarios that Urban Planning can face, which can cause issues. The first one is an economic issue, especially with the creation of sustainable cities. The use of alternative methods can be costly and thus problematic for those who fund the project. The second issue is the residents of a city undergoing a project; some people might not want changes to their area for plenty of reasons such as habits, culture or misunderstandings. 

Overall, this is an interesting field and there’s plenty to go through, especially with the environmental challenges to come.