ARC 160 – Settlement Planning & Design II: High-Yield Revision Notes

Rational decision‐making to stimulate community growth; balances ecology & human needs.
Objectives: target‐group specific; aim at positive growth.
Key concepts (hierarchical):
• Development Goals → national vision (e.g. $Vision\ 2020$ ).
• Development Policies → statutory guidelines (human/social, economic, spatial/environmental) prepared by NDPC.
• Development Programmes → organised actions + technical & financial strategies.
• Perspective Plans → long-term (e.g. $\le 20\text{ years}$ ) phased strategy.
• Rolling Plans → $3$ - or $5$ -year slices of perspective plan; guides budgets & priorities.
Grass-root role: express aspirations, rank basic vs. felt needs, co-finance & participate.
Basic needs vs. Felt needs: community ranks basic needs into priorities.

Centralised (Top-Down): decisions by central govt (MFEP); quick authority, uniform distribution & big-ticket projects; bottlenecks—non-participatory, irrelevant/slow projects, possible corruption & regional neglect.
Decentralised (Bottom-Up): power/resources devolved to $261$ District Assemblies; encourages competition, relevance, rapid spread; challenges—weak area councils, common-fund misuse, staffing & legal complexity.

Basic local government unit; deliberative, legislative & executive.
Structure: Regional Coordinating Council → Metropolitan (4-tier) / Municipal or District (3-tier) Assembly → Urban/Town/Area/Zonal Council → Unit Committee.
Key departments:
• District Planning Authority (approves plans).
• Sectoral Departments (line ministries’ reps).
• Finance Office (budgets, common fund, donor support).
• Local Representation (elected $60\%$ , govt appointees $30\%$ , MPs).
Core functions (Act 462): mobilise resources, promote production & social dev’t, provide infrastructure & services, manage settlements/environment, maintain security, support justice & culture.
Service-Centre Objective: develop growth poles; hierarchy by catchment population:
• Class 1 $10{,}000{-}15{,}000$
• Class 2 $5{,}000{-}10{,}000$
• Class 3 $1{,}000{-}5{,}000$
• Class 4 $15{-}100$
Service-centre provisions: agro-industry, trade, civic, admin, social, health, education, emergency, business advisory, leisure, finance.

Imageability/legibility: ease with which urban form creates clear mental maps; boosts navigation, identity & security.
Five elements:
• Districts – large areas with shared character.
• Nodes – strategic focal points (squares, stations, markets).
• Landmarks – prominent external reference points.
• Paths – movement channels (streets, rails, canals).
• Edges – linear boundaries (walls, rivers, greenbelts).

Local-level planning model targeting poverty eradication in rural areas through basic & felt needs satisfaction.
Principles:
• Participatory (grass-root) problem-solving.
• Multi-sector & simultaneous (agriculture, industry, services).
• Uses appropriate, small-scale, labour-intensive technology.
• Operates between DA & rural communities (fits decentralisation).
• Promotes empowerment, social mobilisation & psychological security.
Appropriate Technology criteria:
• Prevent pollution (air, water, soil, noise, industrial).
• Shift to renewable energy (solar, wind, biogas, hydro).
• Rely on local skills/resources; scalable, maintainable, biodegradable.
Project implementation: integrate facilities, amenities, infrastructure, services & utilities; respect socio-cultural, legal & environmental context; ensure inter-sectoral coordination.