Show As an urban planner, you know the importance of legibility and comprehensibility in communicating plans for the built environment. Developing an understanding of the tools and techniques of urban design is a crucial benefit to the implementation of effective plans. Whether you’re a professional in the urban planning field or an urban planning student, learning basic design principles doesn’t require a graphic design degree. Thankfully, there are a number of free software tools available to take your plans to the next level: 1. GIMPGNU Image Manipulation Program, commonly known as GIMP, is a raster-based image manipulation software. If you’re familiar with Adobe Photoshop, you will find GIMP to be an effective (and free!) alternative with similar capabilities. In the context of urban design, GIMP is used to edit images, add text to images, and overlay graphic content on maps. Additionally, GIMP offers some great free educational resources and tutorials. 2. SketchUpSketchUp is an indispensable tool to urban planners and urban designers alike. Unique in its ability to quickly and accurately render 3-dimensional forms, Sketchup provides users with an effective tool to visualize buildings, neighborhoods, and even cities. There are some limitations to the freeware version as opposed to SketchUp Pro, but there are workarounds you can learn in the Urban Design for Planners: Software Tools. What’s more, SketchUp integrates easily with Google Earth (read on to learn more!). 3. InkscapeInkscape is vector-based, open graphic manipulation tool often used as a counterpart to GIMP. For the urban designer, Inkscape is used to draw and manipulate shapes and lines on maps. Comparable to Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape offers a user-friendly alternative for planners and designers. 4. QGISQGIS is a free, open source Geographic Information System with powerful capabilities. Compatible with Esri (the industry standard maker of ArcGIS), QGIS is perfect for the planner looking to expand their design capabilities. Use QGIS to view multiple layers of mapped data relative to one another, group locations or elements with sets of criteria, determine distance calculations, examine proximities, and quickly create figure ground maps. QGIS makes it simple to quickly get up to speed with the program with an extremely active support community. 5. Google EarthGoogle Earth is a crucial tool that lends itself to a variety of professional applications. Particularly useful to urban planners and urban designers alike is the ability to explore cities from an axonometric view (from the perspective of a low flying plane). Other settings provide the ability to experience a 3D perspective, accurately measure distance, and integrate with GIMP and SketchUp. Beyond these practical aspects, the potential to explore cities and landscapes around the world makes Google Earth a ground-breaking resource. Ready to learn more? Watch Online Urban Design CoursesTHE CHALLENGES OF AN URBAN WORLD During the next century more than half of the world's inhabitants will reside in cities. The rapid growth and urbanization of the world's population are the result of many complex economic, social, demographic, and political factors and pose unprecedented challenges to the functioning of human settlements and the quality of life for their inhabitants. Urbanization has many beneficial aspects. Cities play an increasingly vital role in education, culture, and productivity. The process of urbanization is also a significant factor in the worldwide demographic transition to lower birth rates. Cities throughout the world, however, suffer from a host of problems, including congestion, pollution of air and water, inadequate water supplies, wasteful use of energy, problems of waste disposal, inadequate housing, the spread of communicable diseases, and the deterioration of social support systems. Many cities have expanded into areas prone to earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters. Even those cities which are no longer growing in population continue to expand in territory, dwelling space, transportation density, resource consumption, and production of wastes. The problems of our cities must be addressed by effective economic and social policies and strategies. Science and technology also have a crucial role and responsibility in providing solutions and in ensuring the long-term sustainability of cities and the ecosystems on which they depend. A critical factor in the ability of science to contribute to solutions will be the education, training, and capacity building of local scientific and technical expertise. POTENTIAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY Advances in science and technology - especially progress in transportation, communication systems, public health, and agricultural and industrial production - have significantly contributed to the evolution of cities. In recent decades, many important new discoveries have been made in essentially all aspects of the sciences and engineering. While this wealth of new knowledge has improved the quality of life for millions of individuals, many new technological advances have only slowly penetrated to the less affluent communities of the world. In general, the potential for science and technology to ameliorate or solve the problems of the world's multiplying cities has not been realized. A much broader discussion is needed on how the range of existing technological and scientific research findings can be translated into actions at the national, regional and local levels. As urban populations multiply, older technologies and practices - previously appropriate to settlement development - will not necessarily be the best solutions to these problems. Indeed, some once-successful technologies can lead to difficulties and become problems as the process of urbanization continues. Urban planning for the next century thus requires a fresh consideration of the current problems and available solutions within the context of regional environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic conditions. Many new discoveries in science and engineering are potentially applicable to the amelioration of urban problems. Among these are the following: Computational Capability. The rapid expansion of computational power over the past two decades has permitted the construction of intricately detailed models of the behavior of the Earth's atmosphere on both global and regional scales. These models have improved steadily in recent decades and are now in worldwide use, proving better and more sophisticated understanding of the world's climate system. Comparable computational ability for modeling the micro-climatic behavior of individual buildings and building complexes also exists, but has only rarely been applied despite its obvious utility for reducing energy consumption and improving indoor air quality and the health of the inhabitants. Waste Disposal and Recycling. Tremendous advances have been made in waste disposal and recycling, especially of building materials and other solid waste, but are still slow in penetrating into general use globally. However, a cohesive overall plan for sustainable waste management is possible for most cities in the world. Such a plan would include techniques which ensure waste avoidance, re-use and recycling, reduction of toxic waste, proper use of incineration and landfills, and innovative biological waste management processes. The aim of such planning should be to reduce the environmentally damaging effects of the growing quantities of waste. Global Positioning Systems and Global Information Systems. The advances in global positioning systems (GPS) now permit entirely new methods of land management, especially when coordinated with hand-held communication systems. These are in turn part of the rapidly expanding capability of global information systems (GIS) for storage and manipulation of vast quantities of demographic, geographic and other data. These same data manipulation capabilities underlie the important development of computer-assisted and ultimately computer-controlled transport systems. Biotechnology and Ecological Engineering. The developments of biotechnology and ecological engineering promise changes in the design and physical structure of the human ecosystem, which will allow use of local resources in a more sustainable manner. For example, parks may serve as lungs to process vehicle emissions, and buffer zones of wetlands can prevent deterioration in coastal zones because of waste and pollutant release. Disease Surveillance and Control. In recent decades, improvements in sanitation and implementation of effective intervention programs have reduced mortality from infectious diseases in most of the world's population. However, increased urbanization--in combination with poverty, pollution, poor sanitation, and inadequate health services--has contributed to a resurgence of infectious diseases, many of which are becoming increasingly drug resistant. The challenge for public health is remediation of the conditions that are fostering this increase. Examples of possible interventions include establishment of coordinated global systems of disease surveillance and control using modern scientific methods and technologies, and accelerated development of promising new drugs or vaccines. DEVELOPING AN URBAN RESEARCH AGENDA While much research is being conducted relevant to the challenges of cities and other human settlements, neither the pace of scientific research nor its transfer into practical application has kept up with the rapidity of urban growth. This situation exists in both the developed and developing worlds. The generation of new knowledge about how cities and their various components actually operate requires commitment to scientific study far beyond current levels. Research into all aspects of urban development, including the managerial and political approaches to transfer of new knowledge into practice, needs to be intensified. Strengthening of research within developing countries is important for generating new knowledge relevant to the challenges of cities and for promoting collaboration with research institutions in more developed nations. Important research areas with specific focus on urban settlements include (with no order of priority) the following:
LOCAL AND NATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES Each urban area constitutes a unique entity in terms of geography, climate, economic and cultural history, and form of governance. Thus site specific solutions to urban challenges should be sought at all stages of investigation, planning, implementation and management. Local expertise and knowledge derived from worldwide research and experience are both required for successful resolution of the problems of each city or metropolitan region. Planning and Leadership Political leaders and managerial and planning experts need to be in continuous communication with each other and with the scientific community. They should be broadly knowledgeable of relevant developments in a wide range of disciplines, including the physical sciences, engineering, agriculture, human health, ecology, economics, geography, architecture, sociology and the political sciences. Education and Training Absorption and Generation of Knowledge Knowledge Centers and Linkages Maintenance and Evolution of Infrastructure Providing the Environment for Successful Innovation Monitoring, Assessing, and Evolving INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Cities and other human settlements do not exist in isolation. Action taken locally by one city may generate regional and even global effects. Innovative solutions developed in one city may have application elsewhere. New forms of international cooperation are thus required for developing and sharing information and technologies for the benefit of all urban areas. Multinational Research Planning Information Sharing Capacity Building CONCERTED ACTION Science and technology can produce widespread benefit for future generations only if there is synergy among scientific research, urban planning, and management. The worldwide scientific community must work together and with political and managerial decision makers to identify and implement innovative solutions for meeting the needs of the world's 21st century cities. IAP HABITAT II STATEMENT SIGNATORIES African Academy of Sciences Albanian Academy of Sciences Argentina National Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Federation of Asian Scientific Academies and Societies Australian Academy of Science Austrian Academy of Sciences Academy of Sciences of Belarus Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Fine Arts of Belgium National Academy of Sciences of Bolivia Academy of Sciences and Arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazilian Academy of Sciences Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Royal Society of Canada Caribbean Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Cuban Academy of Sciences Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt Estonian Academy of Sciences Delegation of Finnish Academies of Science and Letters French Academy of Sciences Georgian Academy of Science Conference of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Academy of Athens Guatemalan Academy of Medical, Physical, and Natural Sciences Hungarian Academy of Sciences Indian National Science Academy Islamic Republic of Iran Academy of Sciences Royal Irish Academy Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Royal Scientific Society of Jordan National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakstan Kenya National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea Latin American Academy of Sciences Latvian Academy of Sciences Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Malaysian Academy of Sciences Mexican Academy of Scientific Research Academy of Sciences of Moldova Mongolian Academy of Sciences Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Royal Society of New Zealand Nigerian Academy of Science Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Pakistan Academy of Sciences National Academy of Science and Technology of Philippines Polish Academy of Sciences Romanian Academy Russian Academy of Sciences Singapore National Academy of Science Slovak Academy of Sciences Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academy of Sciences of South Africa Royal Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences of Spain National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Conference of the Swiss Scientific Academies Royal Institute of Thailand Third World Academy of Sciences Turkish Academy of Sciences National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Royal Society of London National Academy of Sciences of the USA Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan National Academy of Physical, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences of Venezuela |