The urban

1. The urban • Related to cities and towns • size • density • heterogeneity • Chaos and order • Planning • Planners

2. Views on the urban • theatre and spectacle (Mumford) or alienation and anomie (Wirth)? • urbanism: a way of life associated with life in an urban area • urbanization: the process of becoming urban, including: • relative and absolute growth in towns and cities within a defined area, • increasing proportion of population in urban areas and in largest urban area, • structural change such as economies of scale, concentration and centralization and • behavioural and cultural change

3. Planning • Definitions (Hall) • a physical representation • a method of doing • an orderly arrangement of parts of an objective • [but also] the act of creating order from chaos • direct the present along a trajectory aimed at particular futures

4. Planning and civil society • Civil - of or consisting of citizens; of the commonwealth or state; befitting the citizen; polite; legally recognized • Civil society • a way of thinking about power and the state • implies a tension among • the state (the political functioning of a society), • the economy (which, in capitalism, seeks to bend the state to its private purposes), and • community (the social and cultural functioning of a society in which embeddedness or alienation gain expression) (see Marris) • Planning articulates this tension and, as far as possible, resolves it

5. What planners do - RAPI • Planners assist government, private organisations, groups and individuals in the community to achieve their future objectives through developing relevant projects, policies, processes and plans.

6. RAPI • The planning profession aims to: • Improve the quality of life of people. • Make living and working environments safe, healthy, efficient and aesthetically pleasing. • Plan for the future growth of regions, urban areas, industry and commerce, recreation and open space • Plan specific projects to ensure the most suitable relationship with the surrounding environment. • Planners are involved in the development and re-development of existing towns, cities and rural areas. The term town planner is sometimes misleading because planning is needed as much in rural and regional areas as in urban areas.

7. RAPI • The planner is trained to advise on the most appropriate types of land use for any given area. The planner must assess and plan current and future plans uses. For example, the case for conversion of farm and forest land to meet predicted housing needs, and whether or not offices should be allowed to spread into inner city housing areas.

8. RAPI • Planners also work in more specialized areas such as • economic development, • urban design, • tourism, • social planning and • environmental planning.

9. The planner must have knowledge of the various associated professions • architecture, • law, • engineering, • surveying, • economics, • sociology and • environmental management. • Geography????

10. Planners are usually employed in four areas: • Government: Planners are involved in all levels of Government from local councils to State and Federal Governments. Local Government is perhaps the biggest employer, with planners being responsible for planning and assessing development within their Council areas. • Private consultancies: Consultants are most often employed by developers, local residents or on contract to local councils or other government bodies in Australia and overseas.

11. and • Private Companies: An increasing number of large companies employ their own planners on staff to handle development projects for that company. • A wide variety of other professions, including engineering, architecture, education, and environmental and recreation management also employ planners.