Compact
City
Planning
Instruments
Glafkos Constantinides
May 2015
EUKN Policy Lab & DTP&H
The issue we
discuss has two
main aspects
(1) Why
compact
development matters in
planning? Which planning
objectives need to guide
us? What is society gaining
(2) How do we deliver
compact development
Which instruments ?
What planning process ?
What is the big deal with Compact Development?
THE THEORY: A historic objective in planning, almost the
reason why planning exists / to achieve outcomes
•
•
•
•
Reduce uncertainty
Work within a predictable timeline
Bring needed changes
Deliver positive benefits to society, such as:
• SOCIAL
• ECONOMIC
• ENVIRONMENTAL
Social cohesion (What the market cannot offer,
lower cost housing, etc. )
Economic efficiency and
Infrastructure utilization
Integrated solutions
Avoidance of waste, Shorter trips and
reduction of car dependency energy requirement
NEW TOWNS WERE PLANNED
TO ORGANIZE AND MANAGE
POPULATION OVERSPIL
FROM LONDON, LIVERPOOL,
MANCHESTER AND
SCOTLAND
TO DO THE JOB
DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATIONS WITH
APPROPRIATE POWERS WERE
ESTABLISHED
REALITY
To achieve the benefits of compactness we need to invest in the quality of
planning process
• Planning needs to be proactive
• Planning needs to have resources
• Planning needs to have the necessary legal powers
• Planning needs to have legitimacy from society and Government
In other words
 Society needs to give to planning all the instruments for pursuing
positive actions / compact development
 Planning needs to be central to public policy on development
Consistent with Democracy and the Rule of Law, planning process needs
to have:
• Powers to control the location of development and the land market
• Powers to restrict / regulate the exercise of development rights
• Powers to raise revenues from land development
• Powers to assemble land for integrated and organized development
• Powers to engage all the stakeholders in development
• Powers to enter into PPP
PLANNER’S (ideal) PERSPECTIVE
Planners need legal, financial and technical powers, skills and tools to achieve this
IS THIS ‘COMPACT DEVELOPMENT’ ?
IF NOT WHAT IS IT?
Different cities
grow in different
ways….. For
different reasons
•
•
•
•
•
Transport
Income
Access to land
Policies
Social values
THIS IS SPRAWL
THIS IS SPRAWL
Where are the services?
How is it accessible?
Who pays for the
infrastructure?
COMPACT DEVELOPMENT IS DESIRABLE
IT LEADS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
DO WE HAVE THE TOOLS TO ACHIEVE COMPACT DEVELOPMENT?
TWO SERIOUS CONCERNS
(1) DO WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
Preconditions for compact development:
•
•
•
•
•
SOCIAL
Powerful planning system
Robust planning tools
Financial resources for actions
Political support
Social commitment to planning
(2) IS IT ALL POSITIVE?
Cohesion / limited choices of life style
Economies / diseconomies
Higher densities / congestion / green
space, diversity
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
Land area
(in sqKm)
Density
(people per
sqKm)
Rank
City / Urban area
Country
Population
1
Mumbai
India
14,350,000
484
29,650
10
Shanghai
China
10,000,000
746
13,400
21
Cairo
Egypt
12,200,000
1,295
9,400
32
Istanbul
Turkey
9,000,000
1,166
7,700
40
Athens
Greece
3,685,000
684
5,400
41
Ankara
Turkey
3,100,000
583
5,300
42
Madrid
Spain
4,900,000
945
5,200
43
London
UK
8,278,000
1,623
5,100
44
Tel Aviv
Israel
2,300,000
453
5,050
47
Moscow
Russia
10,500,000
2,150
4,900
48
Barcelona
Spain
3,900,000
803
4,850
114
New York
USA
17,800,000
8,683
2,050
116
New Orleans
USA
1,009,000
512
1,950
117
Copenhagen
Denmark
1,525,000
816
1,850
120
Las Vegas
USA
1,314,000
741
1,750
124
Antwerp
Belgium
915,000
596
1,550
125
Denver
USA
1,985,000
1,292
1,550
Source: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html
City
Population
Area
km2
Pop / km2
Population
to cover
urbanizatio
n costs /
KM2
Nicosia
225,000
225
1,000
1,000
Tel Aviv
2,300,000
453
5,400
5,400
London
8,278,000
1,623
5,100
5,100
Barcelona
3,900,000
803
4,850
4,800
URBANIZATION EXPANSION COSTS ARE IMPORTANT
WHO BEARS THE COSTS IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT
Nicosia has a costly urban growth pattern
NICOSIA URBAN REGION
NICOSIA LOCAL PLAN AREA
Compact
development is
about how cities
grow
Two parameters:
• Growth and location
• Growth and how
development is
organized
COMPACT DEVELOPMENT IS NOT ONLY A MATTER OF LOCATION
WHAT
MATTERS
IS THE
ORGANIZATION
OF DEVELOPMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mixed uses
Density
Mobility
Accessibility
Services
Amenity
Open Space
Design quality
Unity AND
diversity
Working with an overall
vision
Change from
piecemeal
to a positive outcome
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
PPP / Land for Investment
Intensification of development
TDR / Green Corridor
Land Assembly / Exchange
EU Grant Funds /Planning vision
Betterment / Infrastructure
Accessibility P Transport / Bicycles
Governance/Implementation Team
Higher priority for intervention
Organized development in an area where the rest of development
Is open ended
Tools for ‘quality’ Planning Process
Spatial instruments
Non-spatial instruments
Tackling fragmentation:
Land pooling / readjustment / assembly
Governance:
Upgrading of role of planning
Tackling piecemeal development:
Planned Unit Development
Development Companies
Legitimacy / Acceptance:
Planning at the centre of government
policy
Tackling financial dependency:
Betterment / compensation
Community Infrastructure Levy
Tackling mismatch between spatial
and wider policy objectives:
Fiscal Policy / Tax policy
Tackling ownership issues:
Transferable Development Rights
Tackling isolation:
Framework for working with the private
sector for win-win results
Tackling the need to deliver outcomes: Tackling the need to deliver outcomes:
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
Tackling dependency on details:
More facilitation and strategic control
Tackling the need to ‘cost / benefit’
development: Going for growth with
benefits
To sum up
• Compact development remains a key objective
• There are challenges in delivering it
• To achieve it we need to empower the Planning
Process
• Planning needs closer interaction with wider
social and economic policy, Planning at the
centre of Government’s policy on development
• What is important is to achieve Organized
Development (what does ‘compact
development’ mean beyond Organized
Development)
• In Cyprus achievements could be greater if
Society offered Planning all it needs to work
(legal powers, resources, priority and support)