Regional planning

Regional planning is a branch of land use planning and deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure and settlement growth across a significantly larger area of land than an individual city or town. The related field of urban planning deals with the specific issues of city planning. Both concepts are encapsulated in spatial planning using a eurocentric definition.

Regions require various land uses; protection of farmland, cities, industrial space, transportation hubs and infrastructure, military bases, and wilderness. Regional planning is the science of efficient placement of infrastructure and zoning for the sustainable growth of a region. Advocates for regional planning such as new urbanist Peter Calthorpe, promote the approach because it can address region-wide environmental, social, and economic issues which may necessarily require a regional focus.

A ‘region’ in planning terms can be administrative or at least partially functional, and is likely to include a network of settlements and character areas. In most European countries, regional and national plans are ‘spatial’ directing certain levels of development to specific cities and towns in order to support and manage the region depending on specific needs, for example supporting or resisting, polycentrism.

Principles of regional planning

Specific interventions and solutions will depend entirely on the needs of each region in each country, but generally speaking, regional planning at the macro level will seek to:

• Resist development in flood plains or along earthquake faults. These areas may be utilized as parks, or unimproved farmland.

• Designate transportation corridors using hubs and spokes and considering major new infrastructure

• Some thought into the various ‘role’s settlements in the region may play, for example some may be administrative, with others based upon manufacturing or transport.

• Consider designating essential nuisance land uses locations, including waste disposal.

• Designate Green belt land or similar to resist settlement amalgamation and protect the environment.

• Set regional level ‘policy’ and zoning which encourages a mix of housing values and communities.

• Consider building codes, zoning laws and policies that encourage the best use of the land.

Major planning typology

Spatial planning refers to the methods used by the public sector to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scales. Spatial planning includes all levels of land use planning including urban planning, regional planning, environmental planning, national spatial plans, and local levels.

Land use planning is the term used for a branch of public policy which encompasses various disciplines which seek to order and regulate the use of land in an efficient and ethical way.

Urban planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning, economic planning, environmental planning and transport planning, to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities.

Transportation planning is the field involved with the setting of transportation facilities (generally streets, highways, sidewalks, bike lanes and public transport lines) and operating, managing systems and maintaining level of service.

Growth management plan is a set of techniques used by government to ensure that as the population grows that there are services available to meet their demands. These are not necessarily only government services. Other demands such as the protection of natural spaces, sufficient and affordable housing, delivery of utilities, preservation of buildings and places of historical value, and sufficient places for the conduct of business are also considered.

Common aspects of different types of planning

	Spatial planning	Land use planning	Urban planning	Transportation planning	Growth management Plan	Common for all
Regional planning	Allocation of spaces	Public policy	Hazard minimizing	Suitable system for transportation	Natural spaces	Sustainability
	Loctional Advantage and disadvantage	Efficient use of land	Poverty reduction	Rational actor	Sufficient and affordable housing	Heritage conservation
		zoning	Environment	Satisfying	Delivery of utilities	Updating technology
			Ecology	Zoning		Institutional arrangement
			Location aspect			Regional integration
			Renewal and re-generation			Infrastructure efficiency
						Accessibility
						Rational planning model

In Bangladesh degree of regional variation is significantly low whether delineation of region is more important. Regional planning is not only for same character areas. It also provides an administrative advantage and scope of more purposive work with long range of planning tools. Actually it includes all major aspects of planning that binds it with deep relationship with various planning typologies.