ROLE OF PLANNERS IN TOWN PLANNING

ROLE OF PLANNERS IN TOWN PLANNING

The goal of city and regional planning is to further the welfare of people and their communities by creating convenient, equitable, healthy, efficient, and attractive environments for present and future generations. Plans are required at different levels of government. Plans can take several shapes, from comprehensive plans to historic preservation plans. Plans are presented to community officials, who review, revise and adopt them for action.

Once the plan is adopted, the planner's job becomes very imperative in the implementation of the plan and in coordinating among many groups. The tools of planning implementation include land use controls and economic development strategies. Through an analytical planning process, planners consider the physical, social and economic aspects of communities and examine the connections between them. Professionally trained planners also analyze issues such as transportation, land use, housing, recreation and open space, natural and cultural resources, community services, population, and economic development based on the established goals.

Planners plan with a highly collaborative process. Through this collaborative process they help to define the community's vision for itself. Planners work with many types of communities-small villages, large cities, sub-urban towns, etc.This vision is created not only from what the community members want, but is based on an understanding of the problems and resources at hand. The planners provide this analysis and help the community to look at the options it has for development and change. Planners must be technically competent and creative and show both hardheaded pragmatism and an ability to envision alternatives to the physical and social environment in which we live.

The planning process typically involves performance of a number of roles. The town planners normally keep in mind the following aspects while formulating their planning strategy:

1. Physical design and the way in which the cities work.

2. Data on present and future trends in population, employment and health.

3. Plans and the process by which they are developed.

4. Techniques for involving a wide range of people in making decisions.

5. Programs of the local, state and federal governments

6. Legal foundation and techniques for land use regulation.

7. Interaction between the economy, transportation, health and human services, and land use regulation.

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Some planners function primarily as technical analysts or researchers, others as designers or program developers, others as agents of social change, and still others as mangers or educators. Some planners will make a career in only one of these roles. In short, the following are the functions which the planners do perform invariably:

1.Planners formulate plans and policies to meet the social, economic, and physical needs of communities, and they develop the strategies to make these plans work.

2.Planners develop plans for land use patterns, housing needs, parks and recreation opportunities, highways and transportation systems, economic development, and other aspects of the future.

3.Planners work with the public to develop a vision of the future and to build on that vision.

4.Planners often function as mediators among conflicting community interests. They may also become facilitators in their professional judgment to help to identify the best resolutions to the issues creating conflicts.

5.Planners analyze problems, visualize futures, compare alternatives, and describe implications, in stimulating and thought-provoking ways.

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