Urban planning is often misunderstood by people. What many do not know is that private urban planning firms actually do a lot of work and have a huge responsibility. It is these companies that shape the urban living environment. The changes that they recommend and that the authorities accept can lead to making your life a lot better or can create a scenario in which you end up with huge daily problems that will be really stressful.
The most common mistakes that are made by urban planners right now are the following.
No Individual Style
This is the most common mistake that is noticed. There is simply no focus put on the project’s individual style design needs and many other singular circumstances that apply. In order to overcome this, urban planners have to learn how to adapt and how to take key giveaways from every single project. Also, market research helps since it highlights what people want and need. This should always be a priority.
Overlooking International Standards
There are countless different unspoken standards in design (an example here). Whenever these are applied, the overall quality of the end design is higher. This includes things like balance, unity, and scale. When international standards are ignored and a new set of standards is created in the urban living area, it is inevitable that problems appear. People will not feel as if they are in a familiar place and tourists will have difficulty navigating urban areas.
Ignoring Active Transit
In so many cases, pedestrians are ignored. People need sidewalks and they cannot be any size. The exact same thing goes with bikes. Routes that are designed have to follow methods that offer biking and walking advantages. When this does not happen, most people end up relying on their cars. You want to offer alternatives so that you do not end up in the unwanted situation in which commuting becomes a huge problem.
Not Protecting Current Buildings
Most expansion efforts focus on destruction. Construction is something that is really simple and that is rarely actually the priority. This means that many historic locations and landmarks end up being destroyed. Highly successful planning projects always protect all the advantages that exist in an area. This offers a unique appearance and the personality needed by an urban area to feel welcoming.
Very Wide Streets
Last but not least, making streets wide often looks like good urban planning. In reality, this is dangerous since it will increase the speeds at which cars travel. In addition, the environment created for pedestrians becomes unfriendly. You should even know that wider streets are much more expensive to maintain. The road that is designed needs to offer safety and be suitable based on active transit requirements.
Modern urban planning is faced with numerous challenges. The work of the best urban planning firms is highly respected because of the unique ways in which urban problems are tackled. This is never an easy task though. It is really important to avoid all the errors mentioned above and there are many others that exist.
