Urban planner

An urban planner is a virtual person, who would in practice be formed by a team with various expertise and responsibilities, ranging from a city’s council representative to consultants on specific subjects, like urban mobility or social dynamics.

Description

The ‘urban planner’ (in the context of the VITRUV concept tool) is a virtual entity, representing a team with various expertise and responsibilities, ranging from the professional urban planner to a city council elected representative and consultants on specific subjects, such as specialists on urban mobility or socio-economic appraisal.

This virtual entity represents urban society as a whole, with particular attention being on people, places and their interaction within the urban system.

The urban planner can be engaged in a public and/or private capacity and, as part of standard activities, commonly engages with numerous stakeholders in the performance of its goals and objectives (regarding a plan or project). Urban planners guide the formation and design of cities and urban areas. This process involves creativity, engagement, political diplomacy, ability to compromise and strong analytical skill application. The process uses technical tools such as demographic analysis and environmental impact assessment etc.

The urban planner has to use the tools to guide urban formation and design with an understanding of the policies of the city and create economically and environmentally sustainable/viable plans and projects.

The urban planner has significant input into the formation of urban land use zones and the regulations and guidelines associated with those zones. The process of devising these zones in carried out alongside significant public consultation.

The urban planner must have consideration of the financial implications of urban plans and proposals and this requires that the urban planner social, budgetary, and developmental concerns to respond to the community’s need for progress, while still presenting a fiscally sound proposal to governments and private investors.

Typical goals and objectives

The primary obligation of urban planners is to serve the common good. Urban planners strive to advance the art and science of urban planning for the benefit of the citizens of the town or city and related environs and, while allowed to act as an advocate for a project, should always seek to secure the delivery of proper planning and sustainable development, pursue quality place making for people and respect diversity in cultures, ecosystems and the built environment.

Some of the typical goals/objectives of the urban planner include:

• Creating policies and objectives to control and guide the optimal growth of the city or urban area, in a sustainable, socially and economically progressive manner, that facilitates quality of life and safety for all citizens;
• Managing development and helping to create affordable housing;
• Playing a role in regenerating socially-deprived areas and creating new jobs;
• Designing towns and cities to include attractive buildings, vibrant public spaces and successful commercial and retail activities (healthy and dynamic urban areas);
• Working to protect the wider urban environment;
• Helping to bring back historic buildings into sympathetic use;
• Creating policies for managing traffic and providing sustainable solutions to transport needs;
• Improving energy efficiency and cutting carbon emissions in homes, factories and businesses;
• Engaging communities to have a say in how their living space is developed and protected to improve their quality of life.

Main stakeholders in urban planning

Stakeholders refer to actors with a specific interest (which may be expressed or not) in the development of an objective, policy or measure. So stakeholders include a wide array of public and private organisations (municipalities and authorities, universities and institutes, associations, enterprises, chambers etc.), individuals (politicians, experts etc), and the media and, of course, the public (citizens and visitors to the city or urban area). Stakeholders can be organisations or individuals. There can be simple reasoning applied to identify stakeholders, and there are practical steps to progress and encourage stakeholder involvement.

Possible stakeholders in an Urban Environment
Gouvernment	Business	Communities	Others
European Union	National Business Associations	National Environmental NGOs	Universities
Department of Environment/Planning	Major employers	Trade unions	Experts
Other National Departments	Private Financiers	Media	Research Specialists
Regional Authorities	International/National Business	Local Authority Forums	End-user or Ultimate Building Occupier
Local Authorities/Municipalities (Departments include: planning, housing, transport, environment, water & sanitary, and community & recreation etc)	Regional/Local Business	Local Community Organisations
Proximate Urban Area Authorities	Retailers	Local Interest Groups
Transport Authorities	Utilities Companies	Citizens
Law Enforcement	Contractors	Visitors
Politicians (Councillors)	Urban Planning Consultants	Citizens in Proximate Urban Areas
Other Decision Makers	Developers	Disabled People
Partnership Bodies		Landowners
Project Managers		Parents/Children
Professional Staff		Elderly Persons
Emergency Services
Health and Safety Executives