URBAN PLANNING

Urban planning is a way to control how cities use land, create and improve transportation and to carefully develop settlements and communities. Urban planners help to manage the growth of cities. They try to make cities a nicer place to live in and balance the needs of cars and pedestrians, industry and cleanliness, and how to construct new things without destroying historical sites and buildings.

Cities are also designed to keep the people who live there safe. Urban planners decide where to build barriers, how to protect people from tsunamis and earthquakes and evacuation areas for people during disasters. They can also design a city so that there is less crime by reducing population density and traffic to make people feel more at ease. Parks, gardens, and trees help people feel more relaxed and safer when they walk on the streets. The presence of street lights and lamps also helps to reduce crime.

Urban planners are also responsible for planning transportation in cities. High density cities with lots of traffic can be harmful to people because of smog and pollution. Another problem of high density cities is a lack of available parking, which can hurt businesses. Smart urban planners will place transport stations (train stations, subway stations, etc.) near high density areas such as apartment buildings and skyscrapers to help solve these problems. For low density areas with houses, busses are the best and most efficient form of transportation.

An example of a planned city in Japan is Tama New Town, which is located near the capital city, Tokyo. During the early 1960s, many people moved out from the center areas of Tokyo but the result was terrible as new cities began without enough roads, shops, and transport. The new cities were noisy, crowded, and polluted places. As a result, the government decided to carefully plan a new town called Tama New Town. This town began construction in 1971 and urban planners built a train station at the center of every neighborhood. Every neighborhood corner had a koban (police station) or shop. At the center of Tama New Town is a large shopping area with a park and a large rail station. Most residents of Tama New Town say they are very satisfied with life there.