Spatial Planning

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Planning, that is process of ‘making a plan’, has been an important part of development of our areas. Planning is the application of conscious thought to the solution of problem or issue. Planning is said to be found at the very centre of the complex mess of technology, politics, culture and economics that create our whole society and its physical presence (Rydin, 2011). As RTPI (2011) defines it, ‘planning is the management of competitive uses for space and making of places that are valued and have an identity.

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Space as a term is very much territorial in nature, and since we are talking about competitive uses of space, it means that a space needs to be used in such a way that it gives the most advantage to the society. Rydin (2011) says that our cities reflect the power structures of the society, which means that they reflect thoughts of whoever has the power to take the decision for the planning of the area.

Planning causes lot of changes to an area and economy, especially with the decisions that deal with growth, prosperity and overall well being. But in the past we have seen that the results of changes which are caused are not always desirable for the society as a whole. Some haphazard and unplanned growth decisions have caused large scale damage to the overall society, which is why we need to ‘Plan’!

Planning and Land-use Lewis Keeble (1969) defines Town Planning as 'the art and science of ordering the use of land and siting of buildings and communication routes so as to secure maximum practicable degree of economy, convenience and beauty'.

This definition brings us to the concept of land-use and its role in planning. Land use planning by definition is the public policy which orders the use of land in a particular area. The most important objective of land-use planning is to make sure that people’s needs are fulfilled and they have availability of land for their various activities. Land-use planning has been one of the earliest methods of planning the different uses of land so as to promote local wellbeing and economic prosperity (Rydin, 2011)

Land-use planning introduces the concept of zoning and development plans. Zoning is the process of creating zones in a particular area, for example residential zones, commercial zones or industrial zones. Development plans are the physical, territorial plans that are designed for a particular area for the future, which defines which area is for what kind of a use. Land-use planning also encompasses planning of communication routes, or the transportation routes, which depend on the places people travel from and travel to daily.

There are various factors for deciding best land uses like social, economic conditions, assessment of land and water potential etc. One of the most important factors for comprehensive land-use plan is the overall vision for the future of development for that neighbourhood, district, city or planning area.

The zoning is done is such a way that conflicting uses of land are kept away from each other and mutually benefiting land uses are placed together. For example, there would be green areas or parks near residential areas, there would be commercial, shopping complex near a major residential project to ensure all the retail needs of the residents are fulfilled; similarly polluting industries would be placed far away from residential areas so as to avoid the problems of pollution. Once the basic zoning, plans and transportation routes are sorted, land use planning looks at other factors like the aesthetics, architecture, safeguarding historical places and natural resources, scale of buildings etc.

There have been several negative impacts of similar ‘land-use planning’. As different types of areas are away from each other so there is more pressure on long distance travelling routes, which increases pressure on the transport system. There are problems like congestion, pollutions which happen due to such travelling. Also, due to this zoning there are certain areas which are used and occupied during particular hours of the day, which increases cases of crime, anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

In order to reduce these problems, planners looked at ‘mixed patterns’ of land-use. This reduces long distance travels, as people can then live and work in nearby areas and hence use means of travel like walking, cycling etc. This also results in a healthy, safe and more vibrant city.

Problems with Land-use planning and shift to spatial planning Even after the introduction of mixed use planning, there are some essential drawbacks of land-use method of planning. Firstly, there is nothing to suggest the pattern in which the growth should or will happen, and it is expected that the stakeholders should invest in the future looking at the potential of proposed development plans and regulatory policies which are decided by the state (Rydin, 2011). This is not always a concrete method of predicting the future, and the stakeholders do not feel involved as they do not have a say in the process.

Land-use planning is not very flexible and plans cannot keep up with the changing market scenarios and economic demands or the changes in main planning objectives. It cannot adapt to the changes in the development requirements. The generalization of land use ignores the uniqueness of land and local requirements of some areas which are different.

From the post-war times, state intervention was very important in reconstruction, and there was a nationalisation of land development rights. The old planning system was a comprehensive and universal legal definition of development relating to the use and development of land. It was the duty of local planning authorities to prepare a development plan and there was a requirement of planning permission from the local authority for any proposed development. There was a right to appeal to the Minister by any applicant for planning permission aggrieved by the decision of the local authority; and a power of enforcement if it appeared to the local planning authority that any development of land has been carried out without the granting of planning permission. (Shaw and Lord, 2009) So, overall the system was entirely in the hands of the planners, local authority and the bureaucracy with the intervention from the ministers.

Due to these reasons, there was a shift to ‘Spatial Planning’ which was much more comprehensive planning system in nature.

Spatial Planning Due to the problems associated with ‘land-use planning’ and the introduction of ‘Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, 2004’, there was a shift to planning system from the traditional ‘Land-use planning’ system to ‘Spatial Planning’.

Cullingworth and Nadin (2006) say that 'Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function.' Spatial planning operates at all the different possible scales, from large-scale national or regional strategies to the more localised design and organisation of towns, villages and neighbourhoods. (RTPI, 2011) It looks at all the policies which can affect land-use and a planning area is no longer treated as fixed area, or a container in which things happens.

The objective of the new system is that planning should involve more than land use plans and requirements; facilitate creation of good environment. It should address the scope and contents of strategic plans and link them to other policies; interagency linkages; public participation. Planning should coordinate activities of multiple agencies like the public service providers, utilities companies, property development industry and work in tandem. There is a high emphasis on partnership building for the success of planning. (Shaw and Lord, 2009)

Spatial planning looks at the dynamic and complex interaction within social and spatial relations and systems of governance. The word ‘spatial’ is used to express a focus on location and distribution of activity within the territory or space. Spatial planning is more specifically defined as a method or procedure to influence future allocations of activities to space or space to activities. It makes use of urban and regional planning instruments to set out and implement spatial policy at whatever spatial scale. (Williams, 1996)

Shaw and Lord (2009) talk about the reforms in the English planning system and say that the new ‘Spatial planning system’ is a positive coordinated approach to maintain and create communities. The new system gives rise to a broaden scope and purpose of planners, increase stakeholder involvement, and it deals across different kinds of activities. Spatial planning is a responsive system, where there is quick planning and decision making which is why it becomes more relevant and effective. It includes communities, stakeholders in the decision making and their opinions make a difference which boost their confidence and installs a belief in the system. On the links of collaboration, the system is a collaborative system which makes sure that all the mechanisms come together and planners engage with all the other responsible agencies and bodies to reach the necessary planning decisions. Spatial planning is very much result-oriented and there is an important part of measuring and finding the resulting impact of the decisions and actions, through annual monitoring report. Decisions are evidence based, so whatever decisions are taken have the backing of scientific, economic and social evidence, which ensures that the right decisions are taken.

Spatial planning requires horizontal integration of policies across sectors and vertical integration of national, regional and local policies, which makes it much more effective than land-use planning. The ideas of collaborative planning and governance policies, there is an emphasis on stakeholder engagement and integrating policies.

Spatial planning produces a vision for the future, considering the local challenges and opportunities. The decision making is done locally, with community-based involvement and objectives being most important priorities, in accordance with the national and regional development policies. These visions and then brought into reality by creating priorities and policies to back them and then allocating land for it. Public sector resources are allocated with private investment which promotes the project as well as economic and social prosperity. These goals and visions are made followed by all the local and regional authorities and agencies coordinating together for its delivery.

Limits of Spatial Planning Despite all the goods that spatial planning delivers and looks at, there are definitely some problems that are associated with it.

Firstly, the involvement of communities and various agencies is an extremely tedious and time consuming process, which itself requires a lot of effort. This coordination and integration from the initiation of the project till the end is what makes spatial planning a success, which doesn’t happen in every case due to which a lot of projects don’t get initialized or executed to the best of their potential.

Second is that, it is a proactive process rather than a reactive process. So all the stake holders have to show initiative and enthusiasm to start the process, rather than wait for it to get started automatically. It depends on the communities to come forward and make proposals, try and attract investors to fund them and get planning approvals.

Thirdly, it is meant to be more than just integration of various elements, but most of the times it just stops at that point. It also seeks to use infrastructure provision in order to encourage development, which seldom gets materialized.

So, the spatial planning system only works where stakeholders are assured on their returns for the time, money and energy they are investing in this process. (Rydin, 2011)

Conclusions

The reforms in the English Planning system have definitely been much needed and appreciated. The implantation of spatial planning in infrastructure planning and delivery although has started, but till now it has been a slow process.

Spatial planning is seen as one of the most promising methods for development of societies, regions and urban areas. It is also one of the new ways of creating sustainable communities, preserving the environment and historical places, and promoting social and economic prosperity. Planning is now seen as an important activity by all the stakeholders.

Strategic planning empowers communities, changes the roles for planners, and encourages investment and faith of stake holders. Overall it creates better living areas. But despite these positive factors, we have to remember the time and effort that it takes to make sure it happens. There is a change of way that is needed to look at everyone’s role in this process. It would require a new way of thinking by planners of today as well as the communities who are ultimately going to benefit from it.

Spatial planning is a result-monitored system, but the ways of calculating results are not yet perfectly accurate. The monitoring process needs to be re-looked at if we want to install faith in the investors and communities. There is also a need for stronger prediction of the success of projects, so that planning decisions are backed by more and more investors and communities.

There are various spatial scales at which planners have to look at, from the larger national scale, which is looked at by the National Planning policies till the much smaller community and individual scales. It is interesting to see how this system would look at each of these scales differently.

From 2004 till now, the government has changed and the coalition government has abolished the various policies and scales which were there when ‘spatial planning’ was first introduced. With the abolition of regional tier, we are left with two major scales, namely the national and the local, so it will be very interesting to see how the planning system works with the new Local Enterprise partnerships, and new national policy framework.

Overall it is important to remember that for the success of spatial planning, we need to change they way we look at things, think case to case, as every place, each scale and situation is different. Once we are able to change the way we look at the new system and our role in it more effectively, we can be assured of a successful and more sustainable future.