Urban planning or urban planning is the set of technical and regulatory instruments that are drafted to order the use of land and regulate the conditions for its transformation or, where appropriate, conservation. It comprises a set of practices of an essentially projective nature with which an organization model is established for a spatial area, which generally refers to a municipality, an urban area or an area on a neighborhood scale.[1]
Urban planning is related to geography, architecture, transportation engineering and civil engineering to the extent that they organize spaces. It must ensure its correct integration with urban infrastructures and systems. It requires a good knowledge of the physical, social and economic environment that is obtained through analysis according to the methods of geography, sociology and demography, economics and other disciplines. Urban planning is, therefore, one of the specializations of the urban planning profession, although it is normally practiced by architects (mostly) and also by geographers, civil and transportation engineers and other professionals, in countries where it does not exist as an independent academic discipline.
However, urban planning is not only planning, but requires management which entails political-administrative organization.
Urban planning is specified in Urban Plans, technical instruments that generally include an informative report on the background and justification of the proposed action, mandatory standards, plans that reflect the determinations, economic studies on the viability of the action and environmental studies on the effects it will produce.[2].
Urban planning establishes decisions that affect property rights, so it is necessary to know the property structure and establish what the impact of the effects on private property may be on the viability of the plans.
Background
In order to plan we start from the concept of politics.
It has a social democratic origin, which conceives the plan as a globalizing element (The plan conceived as a perfect strategy of social democratic intervention techniques) capable of forming an effective regulatory framework for construction activity, regulating the relationships between the forces that represent competing interests.
Under this conceptual approach, the global takes precedence over the spontaneity of the initiative that is forced to promote actions beyond all logic, based on classification techniques and urban qualification.
Conceptual planning
Introduction
Urban planning or urban planning is the set of technical and regulatory instruments that are drafted to order the use of land and regulate the conditions for its transformation or, where appropriate, conservation. It comprises a set of practices of an essentially projective nature with which an organization model is established for a spatial area, which generally refers to a municipality, an urban area or an area on a neighborhood scale.[1]
Urban planning is related to geography, architecture, transportation engineering and civil engineering to the extent that they organize spaces. It must ensure its correct integration with urban infrastructures and systems. It requires a good knowledge of the physical, social and economic environment that is obtained through analysis according to the methods of geography, sociology and demography, economics and other disciplines. Urban planning is, therefore, one of the specializations of the urban planning profession, although it is normally practiced by architects (mostly) and also by geographers, civil and transportation engineers and other professionals, in countries where it does not exist as an independent academic discipline.
However, urban planning is not only planning, but requires management which entails political-administrative organization.
Urban planning is specified in Urban Plans, technical instruments that generally include an informative report on the background and justification of the proposed action, mandatory standards, plans that reflect the determinations, economic studies on the viability of the action and environmental studies on the effects it will produce.[2].
Urban planning establishes decisions that affect property rights, so it is necessary to know the property structure and establish what the impact of the effects on private property may be on the viability of the plans.
Background
In order to plan we start from the concept of politics.
It has a social democratic origin, which conceives the plan as a globalizing element (The plan conceived as a perfect strategy of social democratic intervention techniques) capable of forming an effective regulatory framework for construction activity, regulating the relationships between the forces that represent competing interests.
Urban planning in various countries
Chili
In Chile there is a variety of communities where people live. These are established in different ways and have different needs and are divided into various forms. The urban division of Chile could be expressed as follows:
• - Neighborhoods in which there is a little more space than in the neighborhood, around 500 meters. It has around 10,000 inhabitants and less than 3,000 homes. In this the free spaces are for play and sports. At scale, 2 m² per inhabitant is required.
• - Communes, larger than neighborhoods, are the minimum urban grouping, about 800 to 1000 meters, they only have garden areas. It has around 30,000 inhabitants and less than 10,000 homes. On a scale, 5 m² per inhabitant is required, these are the garden areas or urban parks as they can also be called, where cultural and sports activities can be carried out.
• - The city is very complex and extensive with rest spaces, but those rest spaces are large landscaped parks. It has around 90,000 inhabitants and 30,000 homes. At least 5 m² per inhabitants is required.
In Chile, planning focuses more on the regulation of urban land. Before, it focused more on urban centers and did not apply to rural areas even though most of the natural resources existed there, and this because the greatest concentration of people was in urban places.
A good example of this are communes of different sizes, which do not correspond to the number of inhabitants that sometimes reside in the area. For example, in Providencia "Providencia (Chile)"), one of the least inhabited communes, has many resources and La Florida "La Florida (Chile)"), this commune, despite having very few resources, has a lot of infrastructure and also many inhabitants. Sometimes this is unavoidable because the place cannot be expanded since they have other communes around it, as is the case in Providencia "Providencia (Chile)") and others that are possible to expand as in the case of La Florida "La Florida (Chile)").
How to develop a model of green areas or possible solutions to the problem:
The important thing is to find a balance between areas, not just more of one than the other. The protection of soils is very important, in addition to the preservation of historical centers and also regulating constructions, this is because this does not exist much in cities and their dynamics. Also that people's needs are satisfied for the inhabitants of different places, because they arise and change according to cultures and other things such as technology. Communities must organize and aspire to define a development model and organize themselves accordingly. This will allow them over time to achieve prosperity and a better quality of life. It is advisable to have two conditions:
• - First, there must be a dynamic in the city, one that allows investment and development projects to be selected or not.
• - Second, that the variables that drive the development of a city are constant and stable over time.
The World Health Organization proposes that the moderate standard should be 9 m², the space that must exist for each person, of green areas per inhabitant and the Spanish standard is 13 m² per inhabitant. In Santiago de Chile it can be seen that the average number of green areas per inhabitant is 4.2, that is, it is below international standards and it is estimated that this is why a deficit problem occurs, also because urban parks require a lot of maintenance and this is very difficult. It is difficult because establishing the appropriate monetary value for benefits such as clean air and the use of parks and that value is what the inhabitants are willing to pay to live in that area.
Spain
Urban planning is, in Spain, a public activity at all territorial levels, and can be delegated to private agents at a level below the municipality, although always under the control of the public administration. Urban planning instruments must be oriented towards achieving, in their scope of application, the general objectives of public urban planning activity, without prejudice to promoting their own objectives. In application of their objectives, urban planning instruments are legitimized to indicate different determinations on each of the lands to which they apply, even when they have similar characteristics or belong to the same owner.
Its contents are subject to legal requirements contained in national and regional legislation, which establish formats for urban plans and minimum requirements for urban quality, including:
• - Conditions of use, intensity of use") and building typology") (urban planning qualification): maximum and minimum densities, variety of uses and typologies...
• - Shape, dimension, surface area per inhabitant and other parameters of public free spaces. These parameters are intended to ensure that public parks and gardens exist in sufficient quantity and condition in the city. The most advanced legislation includes determinations on the sunlight of these spaces, pavements and trees.
• - Surface allocated to plots for public facilities. These parameters allow the administration to have land to later build schools, health centers and other necessary equipment.
• - Transfers of land or use free of charge and free of charge to the administration: these transfers include those for free spaces and equipment referred to above, along with the transfers of building plots and the rights to build on them that the administration receives free of charge.
As for the system itself, it is organized into three large groups:
• - the general planning"): written at the municipal level, it contains the general planning determinations") that establish the structural planning of the entire municipal area; Depending on the different urban planning legislation - this is an exclusive competence of the autonomous communities; in addition to structural planning, it must or can include detailed planning of some lands. Depending on the municipality they can be (the names may vary in each autonomous legislation):
general urban planning plans, and
municipal subsidiary regulations"); and.
• - development planning"): intended for an area at the neighborhood level, or, in any case, lower than the municipal level, its object is the detailed planning of its entire area. Depending on the class and category of land") they can be (the names may vary in each autonomous legislation):
[2] ↑ Rodríguez Avial, Luis (2022). «Hitos conceptuales en la evolución del planeamiento desde el nacimiento del urbanismo». En Fundación Arquitectura COAM, ed. El futuro deseable de la ordenación del Territorio y del planeamiento urbano. Madrid: Ediciones de Arquitectura. p. 59. ISBN 978-84-96656-94-9.
Under this conceptual approach, the global takes precedence over the spontaneity of the initiative that is forced to promote actions beyond all logic, based on classification techniques and urban qualification.
Urban planning in various countries
Chili
In Chile there is a variety of communities where people live. These are established in different ways and have different needs and are divided into various forms. The urban division of Chile could be expressed as follows:
• - Neighborhoods in which there is a little more space than in the neighborhood, around 500 meters. It has around 10,000 inhabitants and less than 3,000 homes. In this the free spaces are for play and sports. At scale, 2 m² per inhabitant is required.
• - Communes, larger than neighborhoods, are the minimum urban grouping, about 800 to 1000 meters, they only have garden areas. It has around 30,000 inhabitants and less than 10,000 homes. On a scale, 5 m² per inhabitant is required, these are the garden areas or urban parks as they can also be called, where cultural and sports activities can be carried out.
• - The city is very complex and extensive with rest spaces, but those rest spaces are large landscaped parks. It has around 90,000 inhabitants and 30,000 homes. At least 5 m² per inhabitants is required.
In Chile, planning focuses more on the regulation of urban land. Before, it focused more on urban centers and did not apply to rural areas even though most of the natural resources existed there, and this because the greatest concentration of people was in urban places.
A good example of this are communes of different sizes, which do not correspond to the number of inhabitants that sometimes reside in the area. For example, in Providencia "Providencia (Chile)"), one of the least inhabited communes, has many resources and La Florida "La Florida (Chile)"), this commune, despite having very few resources, has a lot of infrastructure and also many inhabitants. Sometimes this is unavoidable because the place cannot be expanded since they have other communes around it, as is the case in Providencia "Providencia (Chile)") and others that are possible to expand as in the case of La Florida "La Florida (Chile)").
How to develop a model of green areas or possible solutions to the problem:
The important thing is to find a balance between areas, not just more of one than the other. The protection of soils is very important, in addition to the preservation of historical centers and also regulating constructions, this is because this does not exist much in cities and their dynamics. Also that people's needs are satisfied for the inhabitants of different places, because they arise and change according to cultures and other things such as technology. Communities must organize and aspire to define a development model and organize themselves accordingly. This will allow them over time to achieve prosperity and a better quality of life. It is advisable to have two conditions:
• - First, there must be a dynamic in the city, one that allows investment and development projects to be selected or not.
• - Second, that the variables that drive the development of a city are constant and stable over time.
The World Health Organization proposes that the moderate standard should be 9 m², the space that must exist for each person, of green areas per inhabitant and the Spanish standard is 13 m² per inhabitant. In Santiago de Chile it can be seen that the average number of green areas per inhabitant is 4.2, that is, it is below international standards and it is estimated that this is why a deficit problem occurs, also because urban parks require a lot of maintenance and this is very difficult. It is difficult because establishing the appropriate monetary value for benefits such as clean air and the use of parks and that value is what the inhabitants are willing to pay to live in that area.
Spain
Urban planning is, in Spain, a public activity at all territorial levels, and can be delegated to private agents at a level below the municipality, although always under the control of the public administration. Urban planning instruments must be oriented towards achieving, in their scope of application, the general objectives of public urban planning activity, without prejudice to promoting their own objectives. In application of their objectives, urban planning instruments are legitimized to indicate different determinations on each of the lands to which they apply, even when they have similar characteristics or belong to the same owner.
Its contents are subject to legal requirements contained in national and regional legislation, which establish formats for urban plans and minimum requirements for urban quality, including:
• - Conditions of use, intensity of use") and building typology") (urban planning qualification): maximum and minimum densities, variety of uses and typologies...
• - Shape, dimension, surface area per inhabitant and other parameters of public free spaces. These parameters are intended to ensure that public parks and gardens exist in sufficient quantity and condition in the city. The most advanced legislation includes determinations on the sunlight of these spaces, pavements and trees.
• - Surface allocated to plots for public facilities. These parameters allow the administration to have land to later build schools, health centers and other necessary equipment.
• - Transfers of land or use free of charge and free of charge to the administration: these transfers include those for free spaces and equipment referred to above, along with the transfers of building plots and the rights to build on them that the administration receives free of charge.
As for the system itself, it is organized into three large groups:
• - the general planning"): written at the municipal level, it contains the general planning determinations") that establish the structural planning of the entire municipal area; Depending on the different urban planning legislation - this is an exclusive competence of the autonomous communities; in addition to structural planning, it must or can include detailed planning of some lands. Depending on the municipality they can be (the names may vary in each autonomous legislation):
general urban planning plans, and
municipal subsidiary regulations"); and.
• - development planning"): intended for an area at the neighborhood level, or, in any case, lower than the municipal level, its object is the detailed planning of its entire area. Depending on the class and category of land") they can be (the names may vary in each autonomous legislation):
[2] ↑ Rodríguez Avial, Luis (2022). «Hitos conceptuales en la evolución del planeamiento desde el nacimiento del urbanismo». En Fundación Arquitectura COAM, ed. El futuro deseable de la ordenación del Territorio y del planeamiento urbano. Madrid: Ediciones de Arquitectura. p. 59. ISBN 978-84-96656-94-9.
partial plans"), and
special plans"); Among them is the Special Plan for Interior Reform (PERI), through which consolidated urban areas in need of major or minor reforms are organized.
• - The complementary instruments"):
*detail studies"),
urbanization project, and
catalogs").
"Revision of urban planning instruments" is understood to mean "the total reconsideration of general planning determinations"), so that its final approval produces the replacement of the revised instrument. Some legislation, for example that of the Basque Country, also provides for partial revision, used when its scope extends to a large area, so that its modification alters the general organization of the municipality.[1].
"Modification of urban planning instruments" is understood to mean, however, any other change in its current determinations that does not involve a review.
In Spain, Law 8/2007, of May 28, on Land, is the basic legal support for urban planning instruments in terms of conditions for the equality of Spaniards in the right to land ownership; although the competence in the matter falls exclusively on the autonomous communities, so each of them has its own urban planning legislation.
Different planning execution systems are planned.
The Consolidated Text of the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law of 2015 in its first additional provision, "Urban information system and other information at the service of public policies for a sustainable urban environment", provides for the formation and permanent updating of a general and integrated public information system on land, urban planning and buildings, with the aim of promoting transparency.
• - Urban use.
• - Surface right.
• - Urban planning law.
• - Jacques Boudeville.
• - Mortgage of the right to urban use.
• - Ius aedificandi.
• - Territorial Planning.
• - Land (urban planning) "Land (urban planning)").
• - Urban planning.
• - Urban vitality.
• - Ayllón Campillo, Manuel: The dictatorship of the urban planners. A manifesto for a free city. Topics of Today, Madrid, 1995. ISBN 84-7880-520-6.
• - Larrodera López, Emilio: Notes on forty years of urban planning in Spain, Complements to the Course on Figures of Planning and its Management. COAM Urban Planning and Housing Commission, Madrid, 1982. ISBN 84-85572-43-2.
• - García Medina, José: Urban use mortgage. Ed. La Ley. Wolters Kluwer España, S.A., Madrid, 2008. ISBN 978-84-9725-861-6.
• - Bascuñán Walker, Francisco / Walker Fernández, Paz / Mastrantonio Freitas, Juan: «Model for calculating green areas in urban planning from housing density». Urban. Chile, 2007 vol. 10 no. 015., pp.97-101. ISBN 0717-3997.
• - Baeriswyl Rada, Sergio: «New urban challenges and new planning tools». Urban. Chile, 2006 vol. 9 no. 013., pp.44-47. ISBN 0717-3997.
• - Muñoz Rebolledo, María Dolores: «Environmental dimension in territorial planning instruments». Urban. Chile, 2003 vol. 6 no. 7., pp.63-72. ISBN 0117-3997.
• - Vaquer Caballería, Marcos: "Urban planning and housing plans: the strange couple", Journal of Local Administration Studies, no. 7, May 2017, pp. 68-85.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Urban Planning.
• - Urban information system. Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.
partial plans"), and
special plans"); Among them is the Special Plan for Interior Reform (PERI), through which consolidated urban areas in need of major or minor reforms are organized.
• - The complementary instruments"):
*detail studies"),
urbanization project, and
catalogs").
"Revision of urban planning instruments" is understood to mean "the total reconsideration of general planning determinations"), so that its final approval produces the replacement of the revised instrument. Some legislation, for example that of the Basque Country, also provides for partial revision, used when its scope extends to a large area, so that its modification alters the general organization of the municipality.[1].
"Modification of urban planning instruments" is understood to mean, however, any other change in its current determinations that does not involve a review.
In Spain, Law 8/2007, of May 28, on Land, is the basic legal support for urban planning instruments in terms of conditions for the equality of Spaniards in the right to land ownership; although the competence in the matter falls exclusively on the autonomous communities, so each of them has its own urban planning legislation.
Different planning execution systems are planned.
The Consolidated Text of the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law of 2015 in its first additional provision, "Urban information system and other information at the service of public policies for a sustainable urban environment", provides for the formation and permanent updating of a general and integrated public information system on land, urban planning and buildings, with the aim of promoting transparency.
• - Urban use.
• - Surface right.
• - Urban planning law.
• - Jacques Boudeville.
• - Mortgage of the right to urban use.
• - Ius aedificandi.
• - Territorial Planning.
• - Land (urban planning) "Land (urban planning)").
• - Urban planning.
• - Urban vitality.
• - Ayllón Campillo, Manuel: The dictatorship of the urban planners. A manifesto for a free city. Topics of Today, Madrid, 1995. ISBN 84-7880-520-6.
• - Larrodera López, Emilio: Notes on forty years of urban planning in Spain, Complements to the Course on Figures of Planning and its Management. COAM Urban Planning and Housing Commission, Madrid, 1982. ISBN 84-85572-43-2.
• - García Medina, José: Urban use mortgage. Ed. La Ley. Wolters Kluwer España, S.A., Madrid, 2008. ISBN 978-84-9725-861-6.
• - Bascuñán Walker, Francisco / Walker Fernández, Paz / Mastrantonio Freitas, Juan: «Model for calculating green areas in urban planning from housing density». Urban. Chile, 2007 vol. 10 no. 015., pp.97-101. ISBN 0717-3997.
• - Baeriswyl Rada, Sergio: «New urban challenges and new planning tools». Urban. Chile, 2006 vol. 9 no. 013., pp.44-47. ISBN 0717-3997.
• - Muñoz Rebolledo, María Dolores: «Environmental dimension in territorial planning instruments». Urban. Chile, 2003 vol. 6 no. 7., pp.63-72. ISBN 0117-3997.
• - Vaquer Caballería, Marcos: "Urban planning and housing plans: the strange couple", Journal of Local Administration Studies, no. 7, May 2017, pp. 68-85.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Urban Planning.
• - Urban information system. Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.