Legal aspects
Contents
Legal aspects
"Principles of law" define the systems of urban government, establish the context for urban planning and regulation of land development. Further, they delimit the powers of urban planners and managers, in order to regulate the use and exclude abuse of urban environment.[1] Planning laws limit an owner's rights in private property in order to secure benefits for the community as a whole. These benefits include such things as the safety and health of persons; convenience, amenities and agreeable environments for the public; acceptable standards of private and public living and work places; and reasonable burdens of public expenditures that have to be incurred when land is developed.[2]
The legal input into the urban development and planning process is both a matter of politics, technicalities and stakeholders. Through its profound implication for urban development, principles of law define the systems of urban government, establish the system of urban planning and regulation of land development, and delimit the powers of the urban planners and managers, in order to regulate the use and exclude abuse of urban environment.[3]
United Nations Recommendations
The global report on UN Human Settlements Programme 2007 recommends that the planning codes for buildings should be:
- “realistic, given economic, environmental and technological constrains;
- relevant to current building practice and technology;
- updated regularly in light of developments in knowledge;
- understood fully and accepted by professional interest groups;
- enforced in order to avoid the legislative system being ignored or failing into disrepute;
- adhered to, with laws and controls based more on a system of incentives rather that punishment;
- integrated fully within legal systems that take account of potential conflicts between the different levels of administration and government.”[4]
Summary table of legal aspects in urban planning
The following table summarizes legal principles as fundamental aspects in the urban planning process:
Footnotes and references
- ↑ McAuslan, Patrick (2003): Bringing the law back in: essays in land, law and development. Hampshire: Ashgate, p. 139.
- ↑ According to The Canadian Encyclopedia: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008273
- ↑ Cf. McAuslan 2003: 139.
- ↑ UN-HABITAT 2007.
