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SSR3033:Theories & Techniques of Regional

Planning

Regional Planning and Regional Policy19th and 20th September 2016

Objectives

• To identify the rationale of planning and the different types of planning

• To explain the concept of regional planning• To discuss the scope and content of regional

planning activities

Introduction to Planning

• Planning – the making of an orderly sequence of action that will lead to the achievement of stated goal, which require techniques…

• Planning – also a development control tool Managing development & balancing

the economic, social and environmental aims & objectives

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Video – 9 minutes

Town Planning - 1948 British Government Educational Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFQNju88KbE

Definitions of planning (various)“is a process of formulating and clarifying social

objectives in the ordering of activities in supra-urban space – i.e. in any area larger than a single city”

Friedmann, 1963 in Wannop, 1995

“public sector activities encompassing economic, social and physical elements to formulate and implement appropriate public policy in an area covering more than one existing jurisdiction”

(Hilhorst, 1971 in Mohd Yaakub Johari, 1992)

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Steps in planning1. Identify problems / needs

2. Formulation of general objectives and specific objectives

3. Identify obstacles

5. Identify and evaluating alternatives

4. Forecasting result

6. Develop plan that will benefit both the government and the people.

Rationale of planning• Preparation of sequential action to overcome predicted future

needs / problems. Planning is needed to fulfil the effect of dynamic changes: – Time– Society – Complex and volatile entity– Economy- the efficiency of resources allocation and utilization

to all parties – Politics – Power allocated to serve the government and the

people. The need of both parties should be fulfilled accordingly.

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Constantly evaluated!

• Planning requires a constant evaluation of what has happened in terms of implementation and making necessary refinements to ensure that desired results are achieved.

• Also must be continually adapted and respond to changes in population, housing, and the economy that are influenced by transportation, utility, business, and regulatory changes beyond community control.

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Advantage of planning

1. Helps local government insure adequate services for its citizens; and minimizes costs for Town funded projects. – As an example, proper planning will prevent

ripping up a road just paved to install new water lines. With planning, the water lines would be installed before the road was paved, thus preventing the re-work.

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Other advantages of planning

• Establishes and preserves acceptable land and water use patterns for agriculture, business, industries, communities, recreation and highways.

• Assists in preventing premature urbanization and overcrowding of areas, which would result in increased demands for services and facilities and the need for higher taxes to support these facilities and services.

• Subdivision control

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Subdivision

• Subdivision control - acts as a preventative measure guarding against improper lot layout and inadequate subdivision preparation.

• Also serves to promote and ensure the orderly development of the land within the town in order that the land, when subdivided, may be used for building purposes without danger to the public health, safety and general welfare of the town.

Types of planning

• Physical Planning• Economic Planning• Allocative Planning• Innovative Planning• Indicative Planning • Imperative Planning

Physical vs Economic Planning• Economic Planning

• Focusing on economic structure of an area & its overall economic performance• Related to resource

allocation and distribution• Resource planning by

State Economic Planning Unit

Physical Planning Related to the ordering of

space – landuse, infrastructure network, new town/ settlement

As basis for development control mechanism

Planning of a new town by Urban Development Agency (UDA)

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Example of physical planning

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City

Allocative vs Innovative Planning• Allocative (Peruntukan)

• Emphasis on conflict solving (in line with policy changes)

• Also a control mechanism; based on functions and priorities

• E.g. controlling resource allocation when there are changes in financial/ economic policies

• Example of Allocative planning: New Economic Plan (NEP) and development of public housing to allow the low income group to also having opportunity to own a house

Innovative (Pembaharuan) Not just looking at function and

efficiency, but also involve improvement to the system

Renewal of ideas & allows changes

Example: Development of LRT system in Kuala Lumpur to overcome the problem of vehicle overcrowding OR, the opening of small medium industries in the rural areas to create more job opportunities

Indicative vs Imperative Planning• Indicative Planning

• Advisory in nature, involve general guidelines

• E.g. policies in Malaysia Plan

• RM ke-7 : To introduce basic economic activities and to establish modern facilities throughout the states; RM ke-8 : To economically improve the less developed states

Imperative Planning Order through Act and

specific Guidelines E.g. Town & Country

Planning Act 1974

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Regional Planning

• is planning for a geographic area that transcends the boundaries of individual governmental units – but that shares common social, economic,

political, cultural, and natural resources, and transportation characteristics.

The keyword is “strategic issue”

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Regional planning agency• A regional planning agency prepares plans that serve as a

framework for planning by local governments and special districts.

• Sometimes have direct regulatory authority in that they not only prepare plans, but also administer land-use controls through subdivision review and zoning recommendations, review proposals for major developments whose impacts may cross jurisdictional borders, and review and certify local plans.

• In some cases, they directly implement the regional plan, as in the operation of regional transit systems.

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Reasons for regional planning

• address issues that cut across jurisdictional boundaries;

• providing information, technical assistance, and training; coordinating efforts (intergovernment), especially that involve federal funding;

• articulation of local interests and perspectives to other levels of government.

• and providing a two-way conduit between member governments and the state and federal agencies.

Objects and subjects of regional developmentLevel/ Scale Objects Subjects

People Individuals Education

Households Homecare services

Families Childcare services

Spaces, places and territories

Neighbourhoods Neighbourhood renewal

Communities Community regeneration

Villages Rural diversification

Cities Growth strategies

Region Regional economic strategies

Nation Regional development

Adapted from Pike (2006, pp. 49)

Regional Planning

• Primary purpose: general distribution of resources, activities and development

• Territorial competition (therefore territorial approach to development)

• E.g. regional co-ordination of transportation and landuse; regional sharing of resources, regional growth control;

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Regional definition (Malaysian context)In general, a region is defined as an area covering two or more administrative boundaries.

The Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172) defines a region as an area comprising of two or more states.

In the 9th Malaysia Plan are the National Economic Regional Corridor covering an area of more than 2 states: the Northern Corridor Economic Region, Central Region, Eastern Corridor Economic Region and Southern Johor Economic Region (Iskandar Development Region).

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• The National Physical Plan (NPP) has identified four (4) Conurbations or City Regions that shall be planned and developed as integrated regions, – Klang Valley Conurbation– George Town Conurbation– Kuantan Conurbation– the Johor Bahru Conurbation (Iskandar Development Region).

Source: Federal Department of Town and Country Planning

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Regional planning in MalaysiaA Regional Plan – (i) document containing spatial development strategies (ii) a tool for managing the growth and development of city regions or conurbations.

Purpose of the plan: for a more balanced and fair distribution of growth and dispersal of development as well as to achieve an integrated and efficient infrastructural framework.

There are two levels of Regional Planning, which are; a Regional Plan for the National Economic Corridor Region and a Regional Plan for a Conurbation/City Region. The main focus in a National Economic Corridor Region The Regional Plan for a Conurbations/City Region

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Two levels of regional planning• a Regional Plan for the

National Economic Corridor Region

• focus is to enhance economic development opportunities for states experiencing slow development growth and to raise the living standards and quality of life of the rural population.

• a Regional Plan for a Conurbation/City Region

• focuses mainly on coordination of urban services provision and the accomplishment of uniform guidelines and standards for effective and efficient urban environment.

Regional Planning – for whom?

• Social welfare distribution of who and where benefits and losses are channeled

• How to address inequalities?• Who makes the decisions?

Rationale• As a result of several regional problem (e.g. urban

overcrowding, urbanisation. Personal mobility, urban-rural disparities)

• UK: north-south divide• Malaysia: East Coast vs West Coast

• More comprehensive to support structure and local plans

• Dealing with regional resource allocation – aiming for efficiency

Regional Planning in Malaysia• Previous regional planning thought (intra-regional

level) look at region as purely economic areas to be developed & untouched by development/ civilisation

• People were brought in, without taking into account the existing communities & their established cultures

• E.g. FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority), FELCRA, RISDA settlements

• Characterised by economic ethnocentrism & politicisation of issues

Intra-Regional Planning involves resources allocation between sub-regions in a particular region. Example:The Central Region – Kuala Lumpur, SelangorEastern Region – Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang OR, within the planning region itself – DARA, KESEDAR, KETENGAHFocus : Urbanization & environmental issues, housing, transportation, employment opportunities

Local scale of objectives & goals – to serve the region itself Concentrates on physical planning Innovative planning – talking about actions to renewal – Agenda 21, conservation, transportation Indicative planning (with specific guidelines)

Intra-Regional Planning (Sewilayah)

Inter-Region Planning: Allocation of resources among regions To reduce unbalanced economic development among regions – to reduce the regional disparities between the western and the eastern region. Example: Building more infrastructures in less developed regions to encourage investment Focus : Public cost / Great level of government interference – more allocation to areas that do not provide the according output to the allocation.

National objectives & goals Socioeconomic planning Allocative planning as it involves other regions Imperative planning – orders / allocation by the government

Inter-Region Planning (Antara Wilayah)

Regional Conflicts

• Examples of regional conflicts• How to minimize regional conflicts?• How to achieve a balanced development?

Regional Conflicts: Economic Objectives • Weak vs strong areas within a region or between

regions: which one should get more allocation?• Investment in “weak region” could affect short

term economic performances of the regions, as well as the whole nation• i.e. not exploiting the advantages offered by

“strong region”• Long term effects - ???

Regional Conflicts: Balanced Growth

• What does it imply?• Weak region to accelerate development in

order to catch up with strong region?• A matter of developing a unique regional

identity• Involve centralisation of power and resources?

Regional Conflicts: Multi-agencies Involvement

• Multi agencies, hence multi aims/objectives• Conflict of interests?• Rate of development is hard to predict –

and it is not the same for every region.

Current regional initiatives• SCORE• NCER• ECER• IDR

What are the focus of each of these initiatives?

Summary

• What is meant by planning? What are the different types of planning?

• How does planning relates to regional development?

• Current regional policy initiatives

References• Glasson, J & Marshall, T. (2007). Regional Planning. New York:

Routledge• Pike, A. (2006). Local and Regional Planning. New York:

Routledge• Development planning and regional imbalances in Malaysia

(2003) https://www.um.edu.my/docs/librariesprovider7/working-papers/fea-wp-2003-005.pdf?sfvrsn=2

• An overview of spatial policy in Asian and European countries (2014) http://www.mlit.go.jp/kokudokeikaku/international/spw/general/malaysia/index_e.html