Book Review Urban and Regional Planning by Peter Hall

CHAPTER ONE

The chapter one aims to distinguish and settle the ambiguity between the general and concise meanings of the word ‘planning! "or me he was in his most ob#ecti$e approach within this chapter!

"irst% Hall ga$e the most common meaning of planning which in$ol$es  both the first two of these elements& planning is concerned with deliberately achie$ing some ob#ecti$e% and it proceeds by assembling actions into some orderly se'uence! One dictionary definition% in fact% refers to what planning does( the other% to how planning does it! He points out that most people only understand the general meaning of planning which is based on the idea of the plan as a physical representation or design!

)econd% he e*panded the meaning of planning in relation to its application to urban and regional setting! He said that urban and regional planning is spatial planning which refers to planning with a spatial% or geographical% component% in which the general ob#ecti$e is to pro$ide for a spatial structure of acti$ities +or of land uses, which in some way is better than the pattern that would e*ist without planning!

Third% he tal-ed about the history and the de$elopment of planning as an acti$ity! Planning de$eloped into a science of decision.ma-ing% which was inspired and has foundations from concepts in philosophy and politics( it harnessed the thin-ing of a number of social sciences% such as economics% sociology and psychology! /t has led to a more e$ol$ed meaning which is not only based from the old idea of planning as production of blueprints for the future desired state of the area% but also the new idea of planning as a continuous series of controls o$er the de$elopment of the area% aided by de$ices which see- to model or simulate the process of de$elopment so that this control can be applied!

0astly% he cited the ob#ecti$es in planning! He starts with planning as the solutions to the need to organi1ed small towns to a now much more fle*ible% wor-ing with much greater information! And it is more rational 2 at least potentially so! /t co$ers almost the whole of human e*perience! The ideal urban and regional planner would ha$e to be a good economist% sociologist% geographer and social psychologist in his or her own right% as well as ha$ing se$eral

other necessary physical.scientific s-ills% such as a good understanding of ci$il engineering and of cybernetics statistician% systems analyst and educationalist!

Ne$ertheless% he said that the alternati$e system has created many new problems and pitfalls of its own! "or e*ample% the de$elopment of computeri1ation does not ma-e planning easier% in the sense that it somehow becomes more automatic!

 CHAPTER T3O

Chapter two formally starts the recorded history and origins of urban growth! 4odern urban and regional planning has arisen in response to specific social and economic problems% which in turn were triggered off by the /ndustrial Re$olution at the end of the eighteenth century!

The 5reece and Eli1abethan 0ondon was stated as the origins of some early planning problems! The rumbling horses of the chariot in 5reece was the first recorded noise pollution and the burning of sea coal in the fourteenth century 0ondon was the first recorded air pollution! He stated that these problems brought the need for a proper planning regulations to bring the community in order! )o as an effect many cities in both the ancient and the medie$al world were planned% at least in the sense that their e*istence and their location were laid down consciously by some ruler or some group of merchants( and among this group% a large proportion e$en had formal ground plans with a strong element of geometric regularity!

He then relates the early town planning to its more modern face especially before the industrial re$olution% the baro'ue era in the se$enteenth and eighteenth centuries! He made them distinct but related to one another! /ndustrialism made a great impact% which for me was the main idea of the second chapter! There were many critical points in the time of industrialism% such as proper sanitary and water supply! To combat the problems the )elect Committee on the Health of Towns +6789, and the Royal Commission on the )tate of 0arge Towns +67882:, produced the two ma#or ;lue ;oo-s% or official reports which established a single authority in which proponents of urban planning would be regulated!

The start of modern transportation such as trams% horse buses up until electric trams and trains brought both positi$e and negati$e effects into the layout of the cities!
CHAPTER =

Chapter = is all about the two di$ision of thin-ers who re$olutioni1e ideas regarding urban and regional planning% & the Anglo.American group and the continental European group!

"irst% the Anglo.American tradition&

Ebenezer Howard : Garden Cities & all industry was decentrali1ed deliberately from the city% or at least from its inner sections% and a new town was built around the decentrali1ed plant% thus combining wor-ing and li$ing in a healthy en$ironment!

Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker & Social City ! The surrounding green belt% the mi*ture of industrial and residential areas% and the emphasis on single.family housing of good design! /t did% howe$er% compromise on the principle of self.containment& because most of its inhabitants came from the city% where they held #obs% subsidi1ed public transport was pro$ided for them to commute bac-! ;oth >nwin and Par-er consistently argued for the Howard principle of generous green belts around the new communities!

Clarence Perry, Clarence Stein and H. Alker Tripp  & the Neighbourhood unit idea% which in essence is merely pragmatic& certain ser$ices% which are pro$ided e$ery day for groups of the population who cannot or do not wish to tra$el $ery far +housewi$es and young children,% should be made a$ailable at an accessible central place for a fairly small local community% within wal-ing distance of all homes in that community! Patrick edde! and Patrick Abercrombie & Abercrombies most notable contributions to Anglo.  American planning theory and practice% howe$er% were made in e*tending city  planning to a

wider scale! 5eddess contribution to planning was to base it firmly on the study of reality & the close analysis of settlement patterns and local economic en$ironment! "rank #loyd $ri%&t & a completely dispersed 2 though planned 2 low.density urban spread% which he called Broadacre City ! Here% each home would be surrounded by an acre of land% enough to grow crops on( the homes would be connected by superhighways% gi$ing easy and fast tra$el by car in any direction! Along these highways he proposed a planned roadside ci$ili1ation% in which the petrol +‘gas, station would grow naturally into the emporium for a whole area(

The European tradition& Art'ro Soria y (ata& a main road runs straight through the linear centre of the city% carrying a tramway +since scrapped,% with rather geometrical housing bloc-s on either side! Tony arnier and Ern!t (ay & a design for an industrial city + Cité industrielle, which% li-e Howards garden city% was to be a self.contained new settlement with its own industries and housing close by! #e Corb'!ier  & The first was that the traditional city has become functionally obsolete% owing to its increasing si1e and increasing congestion at the centre! The second was the parado* that the congestion could be cured by increasing the density! The third proposition concerned the distribution of densities within the city! "ourth and lastly% Corbusier argued that this new urban form could accommodate a CHAPTER 8 Chapter four is all about the emergence of regional planning and the new laws with much supporti$e study was made! 4ost notably the ;arlow commission% this commission were% first% to in'uire into the causes of the geographical distribution of industry and population% and possible changes in the causatory factors in the future( second% to consider the disad$antages 2 social% economic and strategic 2 of the concentration of industry and population into large centres( and third% to report on remedies that were necessary in the national interest!

/ts great importance was that it pro$ided for comprehensi$e go$ernment controls o$er the distribution of industry% of a negati$e as well as a positi$e -ind! CHAPTER "/?E The "ifth chapter tal-s about the regional policy and its change from 6@8: to 6@79! Regional policy is a system where the large internal differences of income and opportunity between its regions will be e'uali1e% transferring  resources from richer to poorer regions ! The number one aim of the planning policy is to create employment% reduce unemployment rate and impro$e the efficiency of industry increasing its gross regional product and income! The economists tend to focus on the issue of employment o$er the other problems e*ist in ;ritain for  the reason that% unemployment is a more $isible and e$ident problem% more statistics about it is a$ailable! Their mission is to ma-e poor regions which suffered a 8!: unemployment into a ‘de$elopment district monitoring its economy for a period of time! The chapter also discuss about the conser$ati$e go$ernment and labor go$ernment and its discrepancies! 0abor go$ernments tends to be a more hands on that the conser$ati$e where new factories in less prosperous place are erected that create plenty of #obs which focus professional and scientific -ind of employment! /t concluded that regional policy created about =99%999 new #obs but doubts from other economist are still present! Policy changes from 6@B9 2 6@79 is being discussed% it is all about the change in de$elopment districts where concentrated help is most needed to it! The theory of 5rowth Pole is introduced% it says that de$elopment is not uniform o$er an entire region but ta-es place in a single pole! The growth pole theory was applied to the different area of ;ritain and change the district policy into growth pole! The idea is to identify parts of region with the best prospect of rapid growth de$elopment and treat it as a growth 1one! They want e'uality in growth critici1ing the continuing disparity between the distressed problem area and rapid growth of prosperous areas! /n this area% Peter Hall elaborate one of the biggest of element in regional planning and it is the economy of the area! How he used the different information and analogies about the economys fluctuation that time is a good way to understand and $isuali1e it by the reader! He point out that prosperity is related to some wheres distress con$eying that the whole regions economy should be balanced in all aspects!

CHAPTER B Chapter si* is all about the Planning of Cities and Region! This chapter focuses on the different aspects of regional planning such as the population and how it becomes a big factor in the growth of the cities! The term ‘baby boom is used to signify how the number of population increase suddenly% the author e*plained it and according to him% it is due to the different reasons such as early marriage and also people tend to search more on #ob and education ma-ing them separate in their families resulting to increase in the demand of houses! And according to him% that time% more population is e'ual to more small houses that cause a huge pressure in urban de$elopment and also more demand for employment! The rapid buy of different goods and $ehicle ownership are also e$idence of the population bloom! ;ut at some point there is some fluctuation in the population due to the different regulation set by the authorities! /n the latter part other components of regional has been affected such as the housing and infrastructure needs! Planning is now crucial at that state% architects had a planning battles in the different urban areas introducing different -inds of alle$iation such as greenbelts% the clean air act% new traffic schemes for public transport and different reforms in each regions! The whole chapter also emphasi1ed that population is a one thing to be considered in regional planning! CHAPTER  The history of planning in Europe is what the focus in chapter  is! /t describes different issues and implications of these problems from the post war period up to the D6 st century! Peter Hall discussed the places where urbani1ation flourished and the areas that became neglected as urbani1ation rapidly grew!  As the plan for the halt ofrapid industriali1ation too- place% a considerable number of farmers migrate from the country side to the ma#or industrial areas of Europe lea$ing the farms to fall into ruins or restoration of homes for townspeople! One of the effect of these migrations is the centrali1ation of urbanism at the central Europe! 3hile the central regions flourished% peripheral regions succumb to high unemployment rate! These region differences created a new

geography of Europe and the place where large urban agglomeration is found in a linear megalopolitan 1one! The region is called ;lue ;anana! Centrali1ation is part of European tradition as seen from the plans of the region and e$en countries! ust li-e the European region% "rance has shown its own centrali1ation plan! The concentration of urbanism at "rance is at Paris! As planners thought of Paris as a competent place for primacy among the world cities% different plans and strategies were formulated as to -eep Paris at the top of "rench economy! Of course% e$en when the focus of de$elopment is at Paris% the other region of "rance must not be neglected! ;ecause of the primacy of Paris in the de$elopment of "rance% the other regions need to catch up with the speed of growth of this city! To do that% they need to brea- the concentration of the economic life! They$e decided to establish eight new ma#or cities that will balance the economy and the rapid population growth in the area! The new towns are to ha$e different facilities that will cater the population needs and will be connected by different public transportation!  As many of the cities flourished% a number of cities decline and that is a way to balance things! /f the cities in Europe set aside their tradition for a centrali1ed planning% a balanced life style would be in effect and will be fair to all the European people! CHAPTER 7 The chapter 7 demonstrates a plenty of faults in the planning of the >nited )tates after the war! Peter Hall e*pressed his thoughts on how the >nited )tates planned their cities! Europeans and Americans differ somewhat in their definition of planning! They sees the planning of >nited )tates as a contradiction in terms! FThe >nited )tates is seen as a land where the phenomenally rapid settlementprocess has been accompanied by unprecedented destruction of irreplaceable natural resources( where e*treme affluence marches hand in hand with large.scale poc-ets of po$erty% often close by( where urban areas sprawl unregulated into fine open country% lea$ing a trail of ugliness and economic inefficiency! "iercely critical as it may be% this is the stereotype which many European professional planners% and many intelligent European citi1ens% hold!G 2pg! 67@ )ince the >nited )tates is a larger continent than Europe% it possesses a $ast and comple* system of planning agencies and of planning measures! E$en though it is a region that is $ery de$eloped% it still ha$e economic de$elopment problems on po$erty! Although the definition of po$erty in >nited )tates differ in the rest of the world% as po$erty in >nited )tates

may mean a middle class li$ing style at other countries% it is still a problem that needs to be addressed for them to ha$e a 'uality life! These economic problems were strategi1ed and wor-ed to be sol$ed! They focus on different issues li-e po$erty and unemployment! As a large region% >nited )tates cities were $ery far away from each other! And by being far% it adds to the problem of connectedness within these cities! /nstead of relying on e$ery cities resources% >nited )tates planned to ma-e each city independent! The application of the smart growth helped the >nited )tates utili1e their lands more! As the smart growth follows a proper 1oning where houses will be a fewer miles to wor- and has an ad#acent public transport a$ailable! CHAPTER N/NE Chapter @ mainly focused on the planning process stages of e$olution! The planning process may ha$e e$ol$ed from master plan or blueprint era to )ystems planning and participati$e2conflict planning but planning is still planning! The principles are still there and it only become more systematic as time goes on! The master plan or blueprint era shows how planning is done still without proper  #ustifications and ob#ecti$es of their wor-! /t is more on details in terms of land.use patterns% whereas the systematic planning in$ol$es a series of study and e$aluations in which planning considerations and strategies will be based! The introduction of cybernetics in the planning process helped planning to be more sophisticated! Rather than dealing with a completely new sub#ect matter% cyberneticsis essentially a new way of organi1ing e*isting -nowledge about a $ery wide range of phenomena! /t is composed of different systems that compliments each other! /t can be compared to ha$ing a thorough in$estigation on a matter and pro$iding a realistic approach to a solution!