Urban planners guide a city’s growth by balancing residential, commercial, recreational, and institutional needs. They collect and analyze data on traffic, pollution, ecology, infrastructure, and community needs. They work with various groups to ensure legal compliance and consider industry and geographical landmarks. Planners must address suburban sprawl and find ways to limit it while enabling growth and creating jobs. AICP certification is required in the US.
Urban planning is a profession in which planners work to guide a city’s present and future growth by striking a careful balance between residential, commercial, recreational, and institutional needs. A planner makes the best use of a community’s resources, solves current community problems, and protects important physical and geographic landmarks, all while considering how a city’s future needs will fit. An urban planner in the United States should be certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).
The planning process usually begins with planners collecting and analyzing data on every aspect of a city. Important aspects of their study include issues such as traffic congestion; air, water and soil pollution; ecological conservation; and infrastructure. Planners need to analyze the capacity of roads and highways, the location and capacity of water and sewer lines, public schools, libraries, cultural sites, and so on. The use of computers has made all of this much easier and more efficient.
Once all the data has been collected and analyzed, planners work with neighborhood groups, business leaders, law enforcement and government officials to determine community needs. They deal with zoning and building codes and environmental regulations to ensure the plan is legal and works within existing codes. An important aspect of urban planning is what kind of industry exists in the community and how best to serve it. Geographical landmarks are also a key factor in how a community is planned. A beach or lake community may have an entirely different plan than river, mountain, or landlocked cities.
Suburban sprawl can be a nightmare for planners. Many plans conceived decades ago were not progressive enough to accommodate the inevitable sprawl that has developed in cities across the nation. As populations grow, many cities extend beyond their infrastructure.
Urban planners must enable growth by planning cities where highways can be expanded, schools can be added, and the citizenry can be served by government agencies. Some planners are finding new ways to limit sprawl and make suburban communities more self-contained. As suburbs drive workers away from inner cities and jobs, planners must also find ways to help the city foster new business development in the suburbs to create jobs for its growing population.
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