Urban planning

Urban, city, or town planning, deals with the physical, social and economic development of metropolitan regions, municipalities and neigrborhoods. Other professions deal in more detail with a smaller scale of development, namely architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level. The Greek Hippodamus is often considered the father of city planning, for his design of Miletus, though examples of planned cities permeate antiquity. Muslims are thought to have originated the idea of formal zoning (see haram and hima and the more general notion of khalifa, or "stewardship" from which they arise), although modern usage in the West largely dates from the ideas of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne.

Planning and suburbanization

In some countries declining satisfaction with the urban environment is held to blame for continuing migration to smaller towns and rural areas (so-called urban exodus), so successful urban planning can bring benefits to a much larger hinterland or city region and help to reduce both congestion along transport routes and the wastage of energy implied by excessive commuting.

Related Topics:
Migration - Urban exodus - Hinterland - City region - Commuting

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A strong belief that the behaviour of individuals living in or frequenting an area can be heavily influenced by its physical design and layout is called environmental determinism.

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