Plaaning and efficient us of urban areas

Lecture 8

Whats the reason for planning

• Provides what

• Corrects

• Improves

• Ensures fair___

• Provides public goods (clean environment, shared spaces).

• Corrects market failures (pollution, inequality).

• Improves information for long‑term decisions.

• Ensures fair distribution beyond what markets can achieve.

What’sats the Property Market

Institutional arrangements for using, trading, and developing property as welll as the roleplayers involved

(rules,conventions and relationships)

What are the three types of markets

development (creation of new properties or the significant renovation of existing ones to increase their market value.)

user(supply of homes exceeds the demand from buyers, putting buyers in the driver’s seat during negotiations and driving prices down)

investment.(buying,selling/ managing main goal profit)

What are the differnent sectors

Commercial

Residential

Industrial

How does the market allocate land and what des this change

• Different uses and sectors compete

• Highest and best use

• Highest returns

• Spatial outcomes

If market is left alone what happens and what intervenes for balance

• Markets serve the highest bidders

• Planning intervenes to balance demand, supply, costs, and fairness.

What is planning

• Public intervention in otherwise spontaneous property markets.

• Assigns and restricts rights to land use and development.

• Development control regulates construction, occupancy, and transactions

What are the planning tools and markets

• Shaping

• Regulation

• Stimulation

• Building

• Market shaping → Set broad context (e.g., spatial development frameworks).

• Market regulation → Control actions (e.g., zoning schemes).

• Market stimulation → Incentives (e.g., density bonuses).

• Capacity building → Help actors operate effectively.

Explain the three type of economics

• Neoclassical economics

• Welfare economics

• New institutional economics

• Planning affects supply and demand. (zoning restrictions reduce supply-higher prices)

• Planning overcomes market failures by correcting externalities (like pollution, congestion, inequality) and ensuring socially optimal outcomes)

• Planning reduces (or increases) transaction costs.(clear property rights and streamlined permitting lower costs)

What’s the SDF and what does it translate

A long term strategic plan guiding spatial growth with a 5‑year development plan and 10–20‑year vision.

• Translates the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) into spatial form.

What does the SDF show (4) and what must it estimate

• Shows desired land use patterns, growth directions, urban edges, and conservation areas.

• Must estimate housing needs and identify future housing locations and densities.

Whats the Municipal Systems Act (2000)

→ requires municipalities to plan and manage development.

What does SPLUMA stand for and what does it set

Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA, 2013) → sets principles:

• Spatial justice

• Fair governance

• Sustainability

• Efficiency

• Integration

What are the 4 types of SDFS

: National, Regional, Provincial, Municipal.

What must the SDFs align with

Must fit SPLUMA principles, provincial visions, national policy (e.g., NDP), and municipal land use systems.

What elements help with structuring

• BIO

• Transport

• Urban form

• Infrastructue

• Social and economic

• Existing biodiversity and open space systems.

• Existing transportation networks.

• Variables shaping urban form and function.

• Existing infrastructure networks.

• The social and economic profile of the area.

What’s the difference between SPLUMA and SDF

SPLUMA is the national law that sets the principles and legal framework for land use planning, while an SDF is the municipal or regional plan created under SPLUMA to guide spatial growth and development.

👉 Shortcut cue: SPLUMA = law, SDF = plan.

Define:

Zoning

Cumulative zoning

Prescriptive zoning

• Zoning assigns rules for how land can be used (residential, commercial, industrial).

• Cumulative zoning → hierarchy of uses, least to most restricted.

• Prescriptive zoning → specific allowable use for each property.

What is the purpose of zoning(3) and what would happen without it (3)

• Purpose → prevent incompatible land uses, protect public health, safety, and welfare.

• Without zoning → random, chaotic land use patterns (e.g., homes next to polluting industries), inefficient infrastructure, and social conflict.

What 3 ways does Houston approach w/o zoning

• Subdivision and development regulations

  • The city enforces rules on lot sizes, building setbacks, parking, and street layouts.

  • Developers must comply with subdivision plat approvals, which act like zoning substitutes.

• Land-use ordinances and codes

  • Ordinances (Chapters 42 & 26) regulate density, housing variety, and parking.

  • Recent reforms (Livable Places initiative) encourage “missing middle” housing types like courtyard developments.

• Special districts and deed restrictions

  • Neighborhoods often use private deed restrictions to control land use (e.g., limiting commercial activity in residential areas).

  • Historic districts and special improvement zones add layers of regulation.