Economic dimension of urban planning

Urban planning involves multiple dimensions such as security, safety, mobility and the societal and cultural dimensions. The economic dimension is one of the core dimensions of urban planning. It deals in the first place with the economic functionality of urban objects, but also with the economic impact of spatial development plans, the economic output of these impacts and the economic tools used to estimate and predict these impacts (see clickable map below).

Structure of the economic dimension of urban planning

The relationships between the economic concepts within the economic domain are illustrated below (clickable map):

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The importance of the economic theme within the urban planning system is increasing because of two main reasons:

An increasing amount of urban planners believe in the potential contribution of the planning system to maximize the net welfare of society with the help of appropriate policy measures that influence the delivery of a more attractive, competitive and successful urban area^[1].
The increasing population in cities places more and more pressure for development of land and has lead to the consolidation of the urban core. And, although this has led to a strengthening of the economic and social functions of the cities and surrounding areas, urban planners are at the same time forced to recognize the increasing threats caused by both natural and human causes that can have a devastating impact on the economic and social functioning of the urban area^[1].

The economic aspect of security in an urban planning context is relevant for urban planners in three major ways:

First of all, security threats (crime & terrorism) lead to (negative) direct and indirect economic effects on a local, regional and national level.
On top of that, security measures lead to investment costs and to secondary economic effects (e.g, the longer waiting lines at airports due to the upgraded security measures since 9/11). These effects are called: "economic effects of security measures".
Finally, security measures influence the behaviour of criminals and terrorists due to the process of crime displacement and crime diffusion (the economics of criminal and terrorist behaviour).