What is Urban Planning?

Cities have been around for thousands of years, and even though cities of the past were not comprised of skyscrapers and taxi cabs, they still suffered from the same issues that modern cities face. Proper distribution of utilities, traffic congestion, sanitation, and law enforcement are all considerations that need to be examined when planning out a city or planning for the growth of a city. The process of analyzing and implementing strategies to deploy these systems is known as urban planning.

How is Urban Planning Undertaken?

Because the United States has so much existing infrastructure, cities don’t spring up as they used to in the past. Instead, most urban planning today is focused on the growth of existing towns into cities or the growth of cities as they spread outward from an urban center. Although new cities do still get created from completely undeveloped areas, these occurrences are fairly rare.

Engineers and policymakers use urban planning project management software to model different scenarios to determine various outcomes of planning decisions. Modern urban planning project management software can also incorporate artificial intelligence elements to display how variables could play out under a variety of circumstances.

What Qualifications Does an Urban Planner Need?

To become an urban planner, professionals typically seek a degree in urban planning, sociology, engineering, or a similar program. The need for a degree will depend on what role the urban planner is filling. Additionally, urban planners will usually need to seek accreditation from an organization like the Planning Accreditation Board.

Different states may have different regulations regarding urban planner qualifications as well. In major cities, additional requirements may apply.

The Future of Urban Planning

Urban planning has undergone many changes as city centers have grown larger and city populations have become denser. In the future, urban planning will likely rely heavily on technologies like machine learning to evaluate data taken from various Internet-of-things (IoT). Systems that utilize sensors, video cameras, microphones, and other hardware that can record statistics about how residents of urban areas live, work, and play.

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