Transport Planning Process - Essay Example

Transportation Planning Concept Paper Transport planning process appreciates the fact that different theories coexistwithin this kind of planning. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assist in a better understanding of the relationship between theoretical concepts (conceptual) in planning and the planning practice (empirical). Theories should be the tools of good practice, thus, they are to be used to inform the emerging trends of transport planning (Brooks 15). This research paper seeks to scrutinize major transport planning theories by taking into account contributions of scholars. Identification and Definition of Major Theoretical Concepts Much emphasis should be placed on the issue of transport planning with a view of expanding the planning boundaries from the conceptual to a practical based perspective. The rational Planning theory was a planning theory propounded after the World War two. It was majored in the core areas of knowledge in planning that were perceived to be essential to practice (Barrett 9). It led to development of the generic planning model in capitalistic democracies and was taken from views from different social disciplines in addition to the political and economic factors. It was used as an approach in solving problems in the public sphere (Brooks 39). Later, it was taken to the public policy due to its guiding principles. The rational planning theory had the following steps; a) the end to reductions and expansion, b) it calculated course of action, c) it evaluated the consequences, d) it provided alternatives to the existing challenge; e) it considered the implications of the existing alternate (Johnson 67). This theory describes the problem solving mechanism in the transport planning. It was engineered with a view of serving the interest of the public and thus very populous (Brooks 47). Advocate Planner theory is based on the legal advocacy system as an analogy, where a member of a community approaches the planning authority and argues on the behalf of the public interest. Social learning theory puts emphasis on the responsibility of the planning authority to uniting the stakeholders and sharing the information with a view of learning from them (Barrett 22). This helps to develop social structures that meet the social expectations of the stakeholders. Transitive planning theory emphasized that the members of the community and the civic leaders be at the center of the planning process if at all the plan was to be implemented (Brooks 107). Communicative planning theory asserts that planners had to alert the members of the community (Johnson 21). This is believed to encourage community based planning actions. The planner should develop consensus policies that would widely gain the support of the citizens. Social capital theory (Brooks 87) is a recent development that seeks to capture the imaginations of the planning theorist as a reaction to the challenge of multicultural challenge. It puts emphasis on the effectiveness of social networks and societal leadership. Feminist theory of planning theory calls for planners to consider the issue of economic production while seeking to undervalue the community re-production. It also ignores the manner in which people use space (Barret 52). It propounds the approach that economic efficiency measures universal utility in planning scrutiny. For instance, this theory cites transportation model as tilting around movement to the workplace. The walking neighborhood theory means beyond the person on foot concerns, thus, it derives a dual meaning in the sense that the ability to walk in the neighborhood does not only mean the facilitation of movement by pedestrians but also the sociability between the people both physically, mentally and health wise (Brooks 127). The hydra theory represents different group of people, organizations, societal movements and authority relations. It is a positive theory that addresses the economic competition and respects the discipline of planning in the practical world (Johnson 64). Relationship between these Conceptual Theories in Planning and real world examples The relationship between planning conceptual theories and the real world practice is the existence of power relationships. Planning, therefore, becomes important as a planner has to see how to face the power. It is critical for a planner to reflect on the political repercussions of the theories they adopt (Brooks 137). This is informed by the fact that all the planning theories are entrenched in certain political agendas, thus promoting specific power relations. The perception of a city problem varies from one city to another. This induces certain approaches. The theories are linked to invariants, where the members of the community are understood to be reliable and political in nature (Barrett 72). Therefore, an ideal planner has to make critical decisions. The planners should be capable of interacting with other stakeholders, thus, they must regard their interests and social cultural practices (Brooks 162). This assumption is based on the advocacy theory. In the practical world, the decision maker ought to target market-based-objectives, which could be against the interests of a minority group. This situation calls for integration of the public interest in the process of decision making (Johnson 41). The proponents of various theories seek to engage developers with the view of fostering good planning procedures. Thus the hydra model theory seeks to place the planners at the apex so they can engage meaningful ideas that emerge from the people with a view of getting a very practical solution to the transport plan (Johnson 71). Planning transportation over the future enables the planner to think in accordance with the specific theory and the public interest, as defined in the theory of rationale, which is clear on the issue of strategic planning and the issue of decision making that advocate for the participation, debating and dialogues with a view of allowing articulation of ideas (Brooks 24). A planner must be aware of the planning and its core values and thus be in a position to convince the members of the community on the need to undertake a transport project that may have certain effects which are short termed, while it has the long-term benefits to the members of the society (Barrett 81). It is, therefore, important that the planner bears an epistemological viewpoint that demands awareness of the theoretical underpinnings. There are several standpoints that are maintained by planners, including positivism, post positivism, critical theory and constructivism theory (Barrett 51). A planner needs to understand the shortcomings of each of these theories and avoid being confused when handling a practical problem. In certain circumstances, the planner may be relegated from the decision making process. In such cases, they should emerge as major contributors. Participatory planning requires the support of the basic reliance on scientific reasoning (Johnson 120). The Specific Planning Practice Issues (Empirical) and the Examples That Relate to Each Theory The Rational Planning theory specific issues of practice included steps of problem solving for individual enterprises. It requires resources and expertise, not to mention the elusive aim of serving the public interests and politics. The issues make this theory are hard to implement. However, this theory is effective due to the logic found behind the justifications and methodological outlines that are core in introducing most plans (Brooks 187). On the part of the advocate theory, it is enormously hard and conflicted. Its critics point out that the tendencies of an advocate planner to become demographically different from the residents they serve are high; therefore, the advocate planner may fail to meet the expectations of the society. However, this theory takes the perception that the planning authority works on behalf of the community (Brooks 125). The advantage of the advocate planner theory is that it places the public interest at the heart of the planning process. The Social learning theory, seeks to bring the stakeholders together, helping the social structure with a view of learning from their experiences. This theory requires that the planner recognizes and embraces science in the planning process. It is, therefore, vital for purposes of proper transport planning that the authority unify the science and development through the available data on public demands and future needs (Johnson 65). The transitive theory, which emphasizes that the members of the community and the civic leaders be at the center of the planning process if at all the plan, is to be implemented. Communicative planning theory is very practical in the sense that it demands the direct engagement of various stakeholders in the Planning process (Barrett, 21). This is fundamental as it factors the concept of modern day democracy, where members of the society are given a forum to voice in their views on how they wish the future transport system to be like. The critics of this theory advocate that the process is not realistic in the sense that it wastes time and it is not well informed by the policy issues (Johnson 7). Social capital theory is a recent development that seeks to capture the imaginations of the planning theorist as a reaction to the challenge of multicultural challenges. It puts emphasis on the effectiveness of social networks and societal leadership (Brooks, 156). It is important as it places focus on the current social networks; therefore, it meets the social need of the future generation as the planner is required to consider what will be necessary. The feminist theory of planning calls for planners to consider the issue of economic production while seeking to undervalue the community re-production. It also ignores the manner in which people use space (Johnson 28). It propounds the approach that economic efficiency measures universal utility in planning scrutiny. For instance this theory cites transportation model as tilting around movement to workplace (Barrett 59). The walking neighbor theory is based on the ability of people to walk freely and is derived from the reforms aimed at growing urban population. It requires that people who live within the same neighborhood be linked by rail transit (Brooks 61). This theory is characterized by features such as alternates, traditional neighborhood design, transit orient development, pedestrian pockets and transit villages. However, this theory is said to be wide as there is no specific definition of what a neighborhood is constituted of, and it is said to address a multitude (Johnson 107). Analysis of the Effective/ Accurate of the Theories as Applied to Real World Examples (Conceptual/Empirical Relationship) An analysis of effective theories with a view of attaining an accurate transport planning system in relation to the theories is discussed in this paper. Any urban setting is vulnerable to consecutive revolutions due social scientific changes. Thus, it is fundamental for a planner of an effective transport system to have a primary frame of reference. As opposed to natural science, planning is different as it factors in the concerns that are core in the social science dominion (Brooks 209). Planning, like any other profession, uses knowledge that is required in planning roads and their physical outlays. Infrastructure planners are, therefore, required to operate upon the substantial environment, factoring the social-economic effects that arise from this. The society engages in the future, however, the transport planners may fail to fully plan for the future (Barrett 31). It is, therefore, important that the planner does engage the sociologist, economist, and the administrators with the view of developing an integrated and comprehensive transport system. It has been argued that proliferation of theories in planning ought to be perceived as a problem as it may depict planning theory as having failed to achieve the expectations of the society. The policies of urban planning theory dictate that a research program can be managed to realize monopoly in discipline. It can, therefore, be submitted that the planning theories are effective (Brooks 79). The Way These Theories Support Planning Practices This segment seeks to draw an analysis of the effectiveness and the accuracy of the theories that have been discussed in this paper as applied on a practical example. This section will also explain whether the theories support the planning practices as discussed in the above section. The rational planning theory is effective in the view of the fact that it harmonizes the different social disciplines, political and economic factors. Its ability to solve problems makes it a suitable theory and in particular the findings of the urban planning interview, where the modeler uses data to make models (Brooks 157). The issue of using passenger data, financial data, economic data, and employment data reveals that this information is material in developing a transport planning concept. It compares all the data and the gives a consultant the data from the survey and critically re-examines it. The communicative planning theory is also useful where there are arguments that are raised by members who are critical or skeptical of the public planning. It is clear that this theory has been applied to address such issues, where public problems are addressed at a public forum in each town. The interview discloses that people have visited the planners to discuss their opinions on issues such as public transit (Barrett 39). It is clear that this is a scope of the advocate planner theory, since individuals are said to hire lawyers who then take up planning issues to court. The social capacity theory plays a key role in the planning as illustrated by the interview. Public interest takes a center stage. The interview revealed that there are town hall meetings which gather public opinions on planning issues (Johnson 92). The planner is said to have put the meeting information online and on the newspaper with a view of inviting residents to give their views. During the meeting, they show road projects and factor in the people’s opinions. The Michigan Avenue Extension issue creates a good example for such a planning theory. The feminist theory of planning is also illustrated where there are dilemmas that emerge from the process of planning, and the politicians are forced to join for purpose of an effective and comprehensive plan (Brooks 169). The planner is clear that safety remains a priority and is always considered. This walking neighborhood theory also blends in. For instance, the planner observes that no bicycle line is allowed on the 45-speed road due to safety reasons. The hydra theory factors in the changes such as land, speed, signore location and capacity of the road. The 2035 plan is said to have divided zones with more specific details, more transit change, bus ways, more sidewalks and an update of the map, and transit. It is clear that the entire agency is involved in the implementation dealing with funding issues. Conclusion Transport planning process appreciates the fact that different theories coexist within this kind of planning. This paper developed better understanding of the relationship between theoretical concepts (conceptual) in planning and the planning practice (empirical). Theories have emerged to be like tools of good practice, thus, they should be used to inform the emerging trends of transport planning (Brooks 15). The scrutiny of the major transport planning theories has revealed the need for public participation. Typical performance indicators that relate to transport system should be aligned with policy targets. Although this study did not directly assess the issue of commuting cost, it is worth considering that there is a link between costs of commuting. It is, therefore, important that cost also be considered as a factor of assessment. The findings of this paper are that an empirical approach is meant to find the application of theories as practical to the existing issues. Therefore, a proper theory is one that identifies measurable attributes of an effective transport system, in addition to the public interest. Works Cited Barrett, Carol. Everyday Ethics for Practicing Planners. Chicago, APA, 2001. Print. Brooks, Michael. Planning Theory for Practitioners. Chicago: SAGE, 2002. Print. Johnson, William. Urban Planning and Politics. 2nd Ed. New York: Sanded, 1997. Print. Read More