Historical Challenges of Urban Planning - Essay Example

Historical Challenges of Urban Planning Technology has led to the growth of many urban centers. Invention and innovation of an urban centre requires research and analysis, critical thinking, public consultation, urban design, policy recommendations, management and implementation. Urban centers existed long before in history during the struggle for independence. Modern urbanization mostly entails improvisation of the early urban cities. Planning an urban centre is influenced by certain factors such as historic preservations, strategic plans, regulatory and incentive strategies, comprehensive plans, or even neighborhood plans (Levy, 2011).

Therefore, a planner ensures enforcement of the chosen policy in urban planning. Urban planning can be viewed as a complex and sequential procedure that considers the welfare of the population around. This paper discusses in length challenges that were faced by historical urban planners and they were able to overcome and can pose as an example to the upcoming urban planners. As depicted by scholars, history in one way or the other repeats itself, is evident in the society. Urban planning is a process that used to be centuries ago and still ongoing due to changes in technology.

Planning an urban centre is not an easy task and is accompanied by several challenges. Urban planning involves the social-economic aspects in a city contrary to historical planning that dealt with improvisation of physical aspects of streets and buildings (Balducci, 2011). Although these two types of planning systems differ, there are several challenges that were faced by historical planners that other planners can learn from. One of the challenges that faced most of the historical urban planners was infrastructure and public health.

For any city to be successful, it has to be accessible for every individual. A city requires continuous supply of water, energy, transport systems, and better disposal facilities. Scholarly research depicts that historical urban planning was met with a lot of vigor hence resulted to rapid urban growth and industrialization in the urban centers. This led to overcrowding, pollution and out break of diseases. It became a serious challenge on how to curb these issues. It required creativity and innovation of better infrastructure (Balducci, 2011).

This led to introduction of expensive infrastructure in the highly populated cities. These infrastructures included efficient and adequate sewer and water systems, electrical, gas, and communication conduits. There was also construction of better roads for easy access to the cities. Improvisation of better infrastructure reduced cases of diseases brought about by poor sanitation and pollution in the urban centers. It also enhanced the efficiency of urban centers. Clearing of land challenged historical urban planning.

This was in effort to construct urban centers. However, it destroyed the natural environment and rendering people homeless. This was a challenge faced since to build up the urban centers, a massive land was cleared. This led to destruction of the natural vegetation and habitats for animals. Additionally, many people had to relocate to other places (Levy, 2011). This became a serious challenge to the settlers, and a solution required formulation. To ensure settlement of displaced people, land reclamation was enhanced.

As a result, people settled the places without hindrance. Agricultural practices were also encouraged to provide raw materials to the developing urban centers. Lack of insufficient infrastructure affects in depth urban planning. The health of any individual is a vital factor that has to be considered when planning an urban center. This health is affected by several factors such as environmental pollution, air pollution, and water pollution that all arise from urbanization. Poor infrastructure hinders effective urbanization due to inefficient transport and communication processes (Balducci, 2011).

Clearing of land for construction of urban centers leads to land degradation. It also renders some animals and individuals homeless. Moreover, minimal space is left for settlement and agricultural practices. In conclusion, urbanization is a continuous process that takes place within the changing knowledge. Therefore, as depicted by scholars, history is known to repeat itself and the above-discussed challenges are bond to be experienced by future planners. Just the way the historical planners were able to overcome the challenges by improvising infrastructure and enhancing land reclamation, the same practices can be promptly used in contemporary urban planning processes.

Although urbanization has brought optimistic impacts to the society, it has also posed pessimistic impacts that have become a challenge to be overcome with time. It is therefore necessary to encourage urban planning for effective modernization. Change is essential in the society and every individual has to accept change whether positive or negative in life. Urbanization as a form of change has to be accepted in the society regardless of the effect. It is therefore crucial to learn the pessimistic impacts of change and find ways of dealing with them.

References Balducci, A. et.al. (2011). Strategic Planning for Contemporary Urban Regions: City of Cities : a Project for Milan. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Levy, J. M. (2011). Contemporary Urban Planning. New York: Pearson Education.