URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

CONCEPTS: THEORIES & MODELS

THAT INFORM PRAXIS
27 May 2019

From the lecture presentation of: SCURP 2019

José E.A. Gomez, Jr., DPA A Basic Course in Urban and Regional Planning
and selectively adapted from the file of Training and Extension Services Division
DC Magnaye, PhD 3/F Cariño Hall, School of Urban and Regional Planning
University of the Philippines - Diliman, Quezon City
SCURP 2019 : A BASIC COURSE IN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
 OUTLINE OF
PRESENTATION
I. Concept and Scope of Planning
II. Key Concepts in Spatial Planning &
Urban Studies
A. Urban Planning Theories
B. Regional Planning Theories
CONCEPT AND SCOPE OF
PLANNING
Roles of a Planner
Policy Designer Visionary
Regulator Advisor

Works as private consultant, creates and

Implements government rules and promotes own plan(s) based on realistic
standards, or recommends best or idealistic forecast of the future
practices

Facilitator Advocate
Educator
Mediator

Advances the civic agenda

Reconciles conflicting interests of contending for the general welfare of
groups in society the public
Planning
The practice of deciding or arranging in
advance, based on reasonable anticipation
of the future, and an adequate knowledge of
past and present conditions. It is concerned
with addressing socio-economic and spatial
problems, oriented predominantly toward the
future.
Planning is deeply concerned with the
relation of goals to collective decisions
and strives for comprehensiveness in
policy and program. (Friedman,J. 1966, 5)
Not Planning…
The mechanistic (rote) implementation of
a past set of decisions or guidelines,
especially with no responsiveness to
future conditions.

The prediction of future events with

neither recourse to rational analysis of
the present, nor even reference to past
trends.
Goals of Planning
Goals of Planning Generic Strategies
(Key Result Area)
Efficiency Engineering and entrepreneurial
innovation, savings on financing/materials
Effectiveness Enforcement of policies, in timely fashion
Ecology Equilibrium and balance
Equity Evenhandedness, social justice
Empowerment of Education and participation of different
people sectors, allowing people to decide their
own fate
Schools of Thought in Planning
Schools of Thought Principles

Instrumentalist View Results-oriented

Planning as Requires social interaction
Communicative Action
Radical Planning Mobilize people to change societal
structures
Systems Theory of Information and feedback utilization -
Planning iterative and cyclical
Schools of Thought in Planning
Schools of Principles
Thought
Planning as Social Discover regular occurrences for
Physics prediction and management
Planning as Social Studying human societies as
Darwinism biological organisms
Planning as Social Directing human behavior given a
Engineering variety of strategies
Urban and Regional Planning
Urban (or city) Planning
The act of anticipating change, and
arbitrating between the economic, social,
physical, and environmental forces that
determine the location, form and effect of
urban development (Ratcliffe, J. 1996)
Production of citywide development plan
(aspects of land use and development) that
determines which site/s can be built upon.
Urban and Regional Planning

Regional Planning

Planning for an area with distinctive

economic and social characteristics,
opportunities and problems and setting it
apart from other regions (for specific
reasons).
Urban and Regional Planning
Region
• City or central place plus the outlying territories that
are functionally integrated with it.

• Based on natural/physical as well as

economic/political relationships between urban areas
and its surrounding rural territories.

• The region is a supra-urban entity. Flexible concept

referring to continuous and localized area intermediate
between national and urban levels (local level).
Urban and Regional Planning
Criteria for Defining a Region
Geographical balance between mountains and plains (existing
ecological barriers, or the obvious practicality of making the
region coincide with a specific ecological space/habitat).

Wide range of resources and development functions that may

be used to animate the local economy.

Developed urban settlements network (growth points for

commerce, education and industry, as well as poor areas that
need to be paired with other sources of aid)
Urban and Regional Planning
Criteria for Defining a Region

Developed transportation facilities (good road

or river network), or strong potential for this.
Based on areas inhabited by ethnic groups
and other customary settlements.
Follow administrative and political boundaries
of government units, or historical divisions.
Urban and Regional Planning

Linkages in a Region
• Economic Linkages

• Infrastructure
Linkages

• Sociocultural
Linkages
Urban and Regional Planning

Why Regional Planning?

To address problem of depressed industrial and rural
regions suffering from economic dissatisfaction:
economic disparities between regions.

To separate regional cultures and political identities that

have produced necessary pressure for action and
attention to special needs.
Urban and Regional Planning

Why Regional Planning?

Movement towards a regional structure of

administration and decision making.

Interregional allocation of resources.

Some Other Professional Groups’ Definitions

American Institute of Certified Planners

• URP is the unified development of urban communities and their
environs and of states, regions and the nation as a whole, as expressed
through determination of the comprehensive arrangement of land uses
and land occupancy and their regulation.

Canadian Institute of Planners

• URP refers to the scientific, orderly and aesthetic disposition of land,
buildings, resources, facilities and communication routes, in use and in
development, with a view to removing congestion and securing the
maximum practicable degree of economy, efficiency, convenience,
sound environment.
Urban and Regional Planning

Urban
Planning
Place making
(creating livable
human spaces
and natural
communities)
Regional
Planning
 Well
Run

Governance

Environment
Place
Housing &

Rendered
and built
Design

Well
So
Built
Well

Making

Equity

Fair for
Everyone
URBAN AND REGIONAL
PLANNING THEORIES
Urban Planning Theories

1. 1. Urban Morphology

1. 2. Urban Growth and Spatial

Interaction
Urban Planning Theories
• Urban Morphology

Key Theoretical Concept Planning Advocate

Concentric Zone Ernest Watson Burgess (1886-
1966)
Sector Theory Homer Hoyt (1895-1984)
Multiple Nuclei Edward Ullman and Chauncy
Harris (1945)
Concentric Zone – Sector Peter Mann (1965)
Theory
Concentric Zone Theory (Burgess)
(Burgess Model/Bull’s Eye Model/Concentric Ring Model/Concentric Rings Model

• Based on Burgess’s observations of

Chicago during early years of the 20th
century.
• Major routes of transportation emanated from
the city’s core, making the CBD the most
accessible location in the city.
• An important feature: positive correlation
of socio-economic status of households w/
distance from CBD
• more affluent households observed to live at
greater distances from central city.
Concentric Zone Theory (Burgess)
(Burgess Model/Bull’s Eye Model/Concentric Ring Model/Concentric Rings Model
• Zonal Description
Zone Characteristics
Zone 1: Central • ”loop” district
Business District • location of most tertiary
(CBD) employment and urban transport
infrastructure making it the most
accessible zone.

Zone 2: Zone of • area of older industry

Transition • low income and mix of low-end
(residential) uses
• near labor and market
• where transport terminals (port
and railyards) are located
Concentric Zone Theory (Burgess)
(Burgess Model/Bull’s Eye Model/Concentric Ring Model/Concentric Rings Model
• Zonal Description

Zone Characteristics
Zone 3: Zone of Low Working Class Residence Ring
Cost Homes (slums, contains poorest
segment of urban population)
Zone 4: Zone of Better High Class Apartment and
Residences Single Family Ring (including
shopping & commercial) –
white collar workers and
middle class families
Zone 5: Commuter Zone Middle class and upper
(sub-urban and semi-rural) income groups
Concentric Zone Theory (Burgess)
(Burgess Model/Bull’s Eye Model/Concentric Ring Model/Concentric Rings Model

• As city grew over time, the CBD exerts pressure on zone

immediately surrounding it
• Outward expansion of CBD invades nearby residential
neighborhoods; causing them to expand outward
• The process continues with each successive neighborhood
moving further from the CBD.
• As city grew and the CBD expanded outward, lower status
residents moved to adjacent neighborhoods, and more
affluent residents moved further from the CBD
• Examples: Older, Smaller-Area, Compact Cities like London,
Chicago
Concentric Model: Chicago City

Source: http://cronodon.com/images/Burgess2.jpg
Sector Theory – 1939 (Homer Hoyt)
• City develops in a series of sectors instead of
rings
• As city grows, activities expands in a wedge, or
sector, from the center (due to emergence of star-
shaped transportation routes – bus lines/street
car lines)
• Once a district with "high-class" housing is established,
the most expensive houses are built on the outer edge
of that district further from the center.
• Place of high value land uses not only in CBD
but tend to follow arterial networks
Sector Theory – 1939 (Homer Hoyt)
1 – CBD

2 – Wholesale and light

manufacturing
(factories/industry) –
transitional
3 – Low-class residential
(old inner city area)
4 – Middle-class
residential
5 – High class residential
(modern suburbs)
Sector Theory – 1939 (Homer Hoyt)
• Recognizes existence of land use zones, but
suggests that there are sectors or wedges of land
uses in the city due to emergence of star-shaped this theory is
transportation routes, such as bus lines and just a
streetcar lines. refinement
on the
concentric
• As such, the industrial area would lie in a sector model,
along rail lines coming into the city center; poorer rather than
people live adjacent to industrial near their jobs; a radical
Rich live on opposite side of town far from the restatement.
industry and poor-middle income in between.
Hoyt’s Sector Model
 Multiple Nuclei Theory
(Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman,1945)
• Many cities did not fit traditional concentric
zone or sector models
• Cities of greater size were developing substantial
suburban areas and some suburbs, having
reached significant size, were functioning like
smaller business districts.
• These smaller business districts acted as satellite
nodes, or nuclei, of activity around which land use
patterns formed.
Multiple Nuclei Theory
(Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman,1945)

1 – CBD
2 – Wholesale and light
manufacturing
3 – Low class residential
4 – Middle-class
residential
5 – High-class residential
6 – Heavy manufacturing
7 – Outlying business
district
8 – Residential suburb
9 – Industrial suburb
 Multiple Nuclei Theory
(Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman,1945)
• Harris and Ullman still saw the CBD as the
major center of commerce, but they
suggest that
• Specialized cells of activity would develop
according to specific requirements of certain
activities, different rent- paying abilities, and
the tendency for some kinds of economic
activity to cluster together.
Concentric – Sector Theory (Peter Mann, 1965)
Structure of a city:
interplay bet. rings and
sectors (combination of
Burgess and Hoyt)

Main feature: commuter village

separated from built up areas

Commuter Village - A town whose residents normally work elsewhere,

although they live, eat and sleep in these neighborhoods.
Concentric – Sector Theory (Peter Mann, 1965)
 How has Metro Manila Grown?

https://gnoegrapher.wordpress.com/ retrieved on 06 July 2018

Urban Planning Theories
• Urban Growth and Spatial Interaction

Theory Planning Advocate

Central Place Theory Walter Christaller
Range and Threshold Berry and Garrison
Rank Size Rule George Zipf
Bid Rent William Alonso
 Central Place Theory (Chrystaller)
• The Central Place is a settlement which Number of
Human
provides one or more services for the Settlement
population living around it.
• Simple basic services (e.g. grocery stores)
are said to be of low order while Urban
specialized services (e.g. universities) are System
said to be of high order. Location of Size of
Human Human
• Settlements providing low order services are Settlements Settlements
‘low order settlements’.
• Settlements providing high order services
are high order settlements.
• The sphere of influence is the area of under
influence of the Central Place.
Central Place Settlement
• Settlement providing one or more services for the population living around it.

Low Order • Simple basic services (e.g.

Services grocery stores, bakeries)

High Order • Specialized services (eg.

university, large shopping
Services arcades, malls)
Central Place Settlement

Settlements
• Are said to be low (high)
providing LOS order settlements
(HOS)

Existence of High • There are low order services

Order Services around it, but not vice versa
 Range and Threshold (Berry & Garrison)
The Central Place Theory relies on two concepts: Range and Threshold
Threshold – Minimum amount of purchasing
power necessary to support the supply of goods
/services from a central place; or minimum
population needed to bring about the selling of
particular good or service

Range of Good/Services – extent of the good’s

market area; distance by which people are
willing to travel to obtain the product
Rank Size Rule
(George Zipf 1949 – American Linguist)
Settlements in a given country may be ranked in order of their size
The population of a given urban area (“Pn”)
P1
tends to be equal to: Pn = q
• Population of largest city (“P1”), divided n
by rank of the population size (“nq”) into Pn = population of nth
settlement
which the given urban area falls P1 = population of
largest
Central Features: settlement
n = settlement rank
The 2nd rank city will have ½ the population of the 1st q = exponent which
The 3rd rank city will have 1/3 the population of the 1st usually
approximates
unity
Rank Size Rule
(George Zipf 1949 – American Linguist/Social Scientist)

• The 2nd rank city will have ½ the population

of the 1st

The 3rd rank city will have 1/3 the population

of the 1st

The 4th rank city will have 1/4 the population

of the 1st
Rank-Size Rule
Usefulness
Model for future planning; in the allocation of
resources and in administration (may not be
exactly fitted to all scenarios)

However, the empirical regularity tends to hold

for logarithmic scales. For practical purposes,
this means that in any closed system of
settlements, only a few tend to dominate.
 Bid Rent Theory (William Alonso, 1960)
Suggests that the more accessible the site of land, the higher is its
value (different functions will bid differently for land in various parts of the city)
Factors affecting
land values
1.Proximity to a
secondary shopping
center.
Result of Alonso’s dissertation: 2.Local Site
His model gives land use, rent, intensity of land use, Characteristics
population and employment as a function of distance 3.Government Policy
to the CBD of the city as a solution of an economic 4.Security
equilibrium for the market for space.
Bid Rent Theory (William Alonso, 1960)

Poorest houses
and buildings
Bid Rent Theory (William Alonso, 1960)
Functional Zones within a City
1.The CBD is the central, most accessible, most expensive part of a
city
2.The Inner City is the area immediately surrounding the CBD; has
adverse social and economic conditions
3.The Industrial Zone
4.The Residential Zones
Divided in 3 groups:
Low Income: 1st generation immigrants and poorer groups.
Middle Income: 2nd generation immigrants, and wealthier
groups.
High Class Residential: wealthiest groups
Theories of Spatial Interaction
Gravity Model of Human Interaction
Analyzes spatial interaction between Features
spatially separated nodes (migration, › Assumption 1: Large
commodity flows, traffic flows, places attract people,
residence-workplace trips, etc) ideas, and
commodities more
than smaller
“Interaction between two centers is directly
proportional to their size and inversely
proportional to the distance between them” › Assumption 2: Places
closer together have
greater attraction
Gravity Model of Human Interaction
Friction Factors: You'd probably
If you are to go shopping at one of two choose shopping
center A, because the
identical shopping centers described below, trip takes less than
which would you choose? half as long as a trip
to shopping center B,
Shopping Center A is 10 km away, 8 minutes even though B is
closer.
by expressway
Friction factors
represent the effect
Shopping Center B is 5 km away, 20 minutes that various levels of
by city streets travel time have on
travel between zones.
REGIONAL PLANNING THEORIES

1. Growth Poles Concept

2. Regional Development Planning

Growth Pole Concept
Perroux’s Growth Pole Thesis
“Growth does not appear everywhere
at the same time, it manifests at
points or poles of growth, with
variable intensity; it spreads through
different channels, with various
terminal effects on the whole of the
economy.”
Francois Perroux
1903-1987
Growth Pole Concept

POLES – can either be firms or

industries of group of firms of
industries which can be
propulsive if it has high
interaction with many other
firms, high degree of dominance
and great in size.
Cumulative Causation
Theory
- Classical theory of dev’t w/
reference to spatial dimension
- “Multiplier Effect” – dev’t of new
industry in inner cities encourage the
concentration of further industrial
activities (spread effect)
 Introduction of a new
industry or expansion of
an existing firm

Multiplier Effect

Area becomes a
growth pole

Gunnar Myrdal’s Theory of Cumulative Causation

Automobile Industry
Forward Linkage
When one industry or sector produces the raw materials for another

Backward Linkage
When growth of an industry leads to the growth of the industries
that supply it; for example, growth of the textile industry may
encourage the growth of the cotton industry

Auto industry has a direct backward linkage to the steel industry and an indirect
backward linkage to the coal and iron industries (since coal and iron are inputs
to steel production)

Forward linkages exist when the growth of an industry leads to the growth of the industries that
use its output as input, or when the output of an industry helps propel another industry; for
example, through a forward linkage agricultural development in the United States helped create
the railroad system because railroads transported agricultural products
Core-Periphery Theory
(Friedman)
- Spread Effects -
CORE AND PERIPHERY THEORY
The theory highlights the inequality in levels of
development between core and periphery.
 Regional Planning Theories
Polarization and Trickle Down
A trickle-down process (Albert
Effect (Albert Hirschman) Hirschman’s term) or spread
effect (Gunnar Myrdal’s term)
“Backwash effect” = counteracts the initial depletion
loss of jobs and Counteracted over of human and financial resources
migration of young time by “trickle down” in the hinterland caused by
toward growth poles effect which makes polarization (or backwash).
(Polarization) periphery more
Growth at poles attractive spurring Growing markets, new technology
= decline in urban and rural and friction of distance combine
peripheral areas migration with congestion, pollution in the
heartland (urban center) and the
amenities of the hinterland,
making outlying areas more
Regional attractive to development over
time.
Planning
Industrial Location Theory
Industrial Location Theories
• Comparative Advantage
• Theory of Agricultural Location
• Least Cost Approach (Weber)
• Market Area Approach (Losch,
Hooever)
• Profit Maximizing Approach
(Isaard and Greenhut)
Regional Planning Theories and Concept

Industrial Location
• Comparative Advantage
• (David Ricardo-1772-1823)

- Site that has the tendency to produce more output per unit of input given
factors such as natural endowments, transportation, institutional
advantages, amenity factors, etc.

- Sites near metropolitan areas enjoy high comparative advantage

Regional Planning Theories and Concept

Industrial Location
• Theory of Agricultural Location
• (Johann Heinrich von Thunen-1783 to 1850)
• Use of a piece of land = function of cost of transport to market and
land rent a farmer can afford to pay (determined by yield)
• Agricultural land use = accessibility, costs, distance, and prices
Industrial Location Theories
Least Cost Approach (Alfred Weber,
1909)

Market Area Approach (Losch and

Weber)

Profit Maximizing Approach (Walter

Isaard, 1956 and Melvin Greenhut,
1974)
Industrial Location Theories
Least Cost Approach (Alfred Weber)

Choose location where the costs

(transportation, labor and agglomeration) are
least

If sources of raw materials are found in a single site

and the principal market in another site, firm should be
located at the market or some site between the source
of raw materials and the market
Industrial Location Theories
Market Area Approach (Losch and
Weber, 1909)

Optimum location is a function of aggregate

demand

Optimum location is the place where

profits are maximum (revenues exceed
costs by largest amount)
Industrial Location Theories
Profit Maximizing Approach (Isaard
and Greenhut)

Companies locate to maximize revenues not

locations with least cost

Costs and revenues vary with location

Regional Planning Theories and Concept

Industrial Location Modalities

* Special Economic Zone

* Industrial Estate

* Export Processing Zone

* Agro-industrial Development
Special Economic Zone (Ecozone)
* selected areas with highly developed or
potential to be developed into
- agri - industrial
- industrial
- tourist
- recreational
- commercial
- banking
- investment and financial center
Special Economic Zone (Ecozone)
* boundaries fixed or delimited by
presidential proclamation

* may contain any of the following :

- industrial estates
- export processing zones
- free trade zones
- tourist and recreational centers
Industrial Estate (IE)
• tract of land subdivided and developed according to a
comprehensive plan under a unified continuous management

• with provisions for basic infrastructure and utilities; with and without
pre-built standard factory buildings (SFBs) and community facilities
for the use of the community of industries

• minimum size of 50 hectares of contiguous land with facilities to

accommodate at least 5 locators

RA 7916: Special Economic Zone Act of 1995

Export Processing Zone (EPZ)
• a specialized industrial estate located physically and/or
administratively outside the customs territory

• predominantly oriented to export production

• enterprises allowed to import capital

equipment and raw materials free from
duties, taxes and import restrictions
 Export Processing Zone (EPZ)
• PZs have played a significant role in the economy of
the Philippines

• First four Government-sponsored zones; the Bataan,

Mactan, Baguio City and Cavite EPZs.
Putting it into practice: Industrial Location,
and Growth Poles for Investment.
Putting it All Together: Using Knowledge of Theory for
Sound Communication and Decision-Making in Urban Areas
• Use theory to tell you what is likely to happen, given certain
land uses, certain types of inhabitants, or certain activities.

• Use theory to tell you what is not practical or not likely to

happen in a real-life scenario in urban settings.

• Use theory to help you decide how to sort a complicated

situation.

• Communicate/translate for the benefit of decision-makers or

stakeholders who may not understand the logic of urban
phenomena.
 Important Ideas to Bring Along

• The “city” like all human creations, is both an object and a

phenomenon that carries its own logics and rationality. It can
therefore be studied, understood, and the actions of its elements
can be predicted.

• Although complex, one way to understand the city is to

understand its parts and layers. However, planning and corrective
action must take into account the interconnectedness and
interdependence of parts.

• Although sometimes unpredictable, people in cities tend to

respond to similar phenomena in similar ways.
 Thank you

SCURP 2018 : A BASIC COURSE IN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING