An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning

An informative read - Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning by Susan Thompson

 

1.         ‘Social planning’, which is at the core of all good modern planning, is based on social justice principles, and enables planners to understand and accommodate equitably society’s social and cultural needs in order to build sustainable environments.

2.         Planners need to work within diverse Australian communities. The characteristics of ‘diversity’ include gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and ability, sexual orientation, generational aspirations, lifestyle, employment and work patterns, well-being and health. All these affect the nature of communities and the sorts of facilities required.

3.         Prior to the 1980s planning practice and policy was based on quite limited markers – for example, it was assumed families were nuclear, ethnicity was Anglo-Celtic, people were heterosexual, workers were men. However, contemporary planners working within diverse communities have adopted a more interdisciplinary and holistic approach. 

 

4.         Planning practice is now guided by contemporary principles of social justice (e.g. respect for diversity, acceptance and respect for basic human rights) which aims to ensure social equality and a sense of belonging.

5.         ‘Social capital’, which refers to the resources available within communities, aims to encourage social participation and attachment, social inclusion and social cohesion. Closely related to social capital is ‘community capacity’ which refers to a community’s ability to develop resources for addressing social problems, managing its environment and improving the quality of life.

6.         ‘Social planning’, which encompasses both strategic and statutory planning processes, aims to improve the health, well-being and resilience of all people in the community by adopting a holistic, inclusive and collaborative approach taking into account the principles of social justice. The most powerful social planning is in New South Wales where the local Government Act 1993 requires that all councils prepare a social plan.

7.         One of the strategic processes adopted in social planning is the gathering of research about a community, including counts of age, income, ethnic background, religious affiliation, which goes beyond current needs to find out the community’s strengths and weaknesses and potential for capacity-building.

8.         ‘Social impact assessment’ is the assessment and judging of policies, projects and programs for their potential effect on the impact on the population’s way of life, culture and community. 

9.         There are social, legislative and professional challenges facing social planning, the most significant being building and sustaining social capital and community capacity given threats to the population’s income, well-being and personal safety.

10.       Examples of concerns include the growing disparity between rich and poor, people’s access to housing, fear of crime, the pace of change and loss of distinctiveness arising from globalization, the lack of legislative frameworks to achieve social equity and well-being, governments’ demands for overly simple measurable social planning outcomes. Social planners therefore need to be open-minded, reflective and accepting of diversity.