Urban and Regional Planning

GeES-4011
 Course Contents
1. Introduction
• The concept of urban and region
• Meaning of planning and urban and regional planning
2. Economic & Spatial Theories in Regional Growth
& Planning .
3. Regional Growth-Long Run
4. Issues in urban & regional planning
5. Techniques & Models in regional analysis &
regional planning and their applications.
6. The Growth Pole Theory
 Course Objectives
• At the end of the course, students will be able to:
➢ Define the basic concepts of urban and regional planning
➢ Understand the reasons behind regional income disparity
➢ Identify inter and intra-regional planning
➢ Discuss spatial theories in regional growth and planning
➢ Elaborate social and Environmental Issues in Urban
and Regional Planning
➢ Identify the techniques and models employed in urban
and regional analysis and planning
➢ Discusses urban and regional problems and explain
the various strategy of development.
• Points of Discussion:-
–Urban
–Region
–planning
• What is Urban?
• An urban area is the region surrounding a city. Most
inhabitants of urban areas have nonagricultural jobs.
• Urban areas are very developed, meaning there is a
density of human structures such as houses, commercial
buildings, roads, bridges, and railways.
• “urban” differ from one country to another, in all regions
urbanization has been characterized by :
– growth of urban populations; and
– demographic shifts from rural areas to cities;
– overall shifts in the economy from farming towards
industry, technology and service.
• Basically urban refers to the geographic territory within or
close to a city.
• In Ethiopia the criteria used to distinguish urban from rural area
are :-
– population size of 2000 and above,
– 75 per cent of its inhabitants engaged in non agricultural
activities and
– the presence of chartered municipality.
• Region is a geographical area having its own
distinctive characteristics.
• For example According to cultural geographers, there are
Three Cultural regions.
• These are :-
• Formal Cultural Regions
• Functional Cultural Regions
• Vernacular Cultural Regions
1.Formal Cultural Region
• It is an area inhabited by people who have one or
more cultural traits in common.
• The hallmark of a formal culture region is cultural
homogeneity.
2. Functional Cultural Regions
• It is intended to function politically, socially,
economically as one unit.
• Functional Region is thus an area tied together by a
coordinating system such as law, monetary system,
roads, etc.
3. Vernacular Cultural Region
• Vernacular culture region is also called "Popular" or
"Perceptual" Regions.
• It is a region perceived to exist by its inhabitants, as evidenced
by the widespread acceptance and use of special regional name.
• Vernacular regions generally lack sharp borders and the
inhabitants of any given area may claim residence in more
than one such region.
• It grows out of people’s sense of belonging and
identification with a particular region.
• Vernacular Region is an area that ordinary people recognize as a
region.
• For example Most Christians and Muslims regardless of the
religious affiliation, recognize that the term ‘Holy land’ refers
to the Middle East.
 Chapter one - Introduction

• Regional planning is a branch of land use planning and

deals with the efficient placement of land use activities,
infrastructure and settlement.
What is planning?
 Different Scholars define Planning in different views.
Some of the definitions include:
 Planning is:
 is a process for accomplishing purpose
 blue print of business growth and a roadmap of development.
 setting of goals on the basis of objectives
 process of formulating objectives and developing alternative
strategies
 Planning
• Is a way of thinking about social and economic
problems.
• planning is oriented predominantly towards the
future
• consists of goals and means
• a consciously directed activity with pre-
determined goals and means
• an ordered sequence of operations, designed to
lead to the achievement of either a single goal or
to balance between several goals
 Planning
• is the blueprint that sets the direction for where your
organization is going.
• Identifying and selecting appropriate goals and courses of
action for an organization.
• A method for doing or making something, consisting of at
least one goal and a predefined course of action for
achieving that goal.
• The process of setting goals and courses of action,
developing rules and procedures, and forecasting future
outcomes
• Planning is the process used by managers to identify and
select goals and courses of action for the organization
 Why we plan? The Need for Planning
• Proper planning is vital for sustainable
development.
• Some of the major needs for planning include:
 To control the means of production and equitable
distribution of resources
 for effective control of national economy for the best
interest of the society
 to meet the individual needs and preferences in the
society.
 for adequate provision of facilities and public utilities in
urban and rural settlements
 The need for Planning
 For efficient utilization of resources
 for balanced regional development and strong political
integration
distributes rationally public investment funds among the
competing sectors of the national or regional economy for
balanced sectoral development
For effective control of inflation and unemployment and
alleviation of poverty.
 avoids the ills of market forces and individual actions
Readress the inequalities that crop out between individuals
and regions as a result of absence of planning
Resource mobilization
• What are the steps in planning?
 Steps in Planning
Step One: Analyze the current situation-
• This answers the question: Where are we now?
Step Two: Assess current responses-
 This answers the question: What have we been
doing to make a difference.
 This is called a response analysis and the
information can be collected and assessed from
key informants or reports, such as the impact
assessment-EIA.
 …Cont.d
Step Three: Describe the future scenario-
 This answers the question: Where will we be in (3, 5 or
10) years if we continue doing what we are doing now?
 The information from the impact assessment will enable
this to be answered.
Step Four: Set a goal and objectives-
 This answers the question: Where do we want to be in
(3, 5 or 10) years?
 A goal is a broad statement of intent. It should be
phrased as an impact statement in the present tense.
 Objectives are statements of what needs to be done to
achieve a goal.
 …Cont.d
Step Five: Define strategies and activities-
• This answers the question: How do we get where we
want to be?
• Strategies are the means to reach the objective (advocacy,
education, care, etc.).
• Activities are discrete, specific actions or sets of actions
that need to be taken to reach an objective.
Step Six: Select priorities, define target groups and
sequence activities-
 This answers the question: Which are the most
important activities that will make the greatest impact
for whom?
Step Seven: Allocate roles and responsibilities-
• This answers the question: Who will lead and who will be
partner?
• For each activity identify the lead person or portfolio or
unit, as well as the partners who can assist with the activity.
Step Eight: Set targets and indicators of progress and
success-
 This answers the question: How will we know we are
making progress?
 The targets and indicators should be realistic and linked
to specific activities or objectives.
 Make sure that, for each indicator, there are ways to obtain
the necessary information with a reasonable level of
effort and cost.
Step Nine: Find the resources-
 This answers the question: What inputs are needed to
make the activity happen?
 The inputs may be human, financial, material or
technical and these need to be identified for each activity,
as well as the sources, such as from the LA budget, or
from a donor or partner.
Step Ten: Put it all together
• Usually a plan (sometimes called a strategic, operational
or business plan) is preceded by a short narrative section
that introduces it.
• The narrative is followed by the detailed work plan,
which should use a template that is consistent with those
used in other planning processes.
 Types of Planning
• Depending on different criteria, there are different types of
planning.
Based on Scope/ Participant Criteria
 On the bases of who undertakes the plan and at what scale, plans can
be classified as :-
A. Private Planning
 It is concerned with planning in the framework of micro-social system
of a society.
 It if further developed in the context of the firm.
 When private planning is undertaken at large or medium size business
concern, it is known as Corporate Planning.
B. Public Planning
 is concerned with societies and major subsystems. For instance,
sectors of an economy, town, river basin, etc
 Based on Temporal Criteria

• Plans are designed for a varying period of implementation. The broad

phases are:
1. Long-term plans:
 Generally last 10 to 15 years.
 They are also known as Perspective or Indicative plan.
 They are general, vague, and flexible.
 They have been popular in socialist economies.
2. Medium term plans:
usually last for 5 years.
They are more precise than the perspective plans and embrace current plans.
3. Short term plans:
refer to plans currently under implementation.
They are detailed enough to guide development actions.
They are annually evaluated.
 Based on Level of development Criteria

1. Economic planning:
 refers to planning in the developed countries which have
achieved already high level of social and economic development.
 Their major concern is accelerated and or balanced economic
development.
2. Developmental planning:
 is characteristic of developing countries, which aspire to change
society economically, socially, politically, etc.
 The objective of the planning exercise is multifaceted
restructuring of society.
 This has affinity to the definition of planning that we have earlier
seen.
 Based on Level of Planning Criteria
1. Single level planning:
• It is one carried out at the national level.
• It is sectoral and narrow in scope.
• Most plans in third world countries are single level plans. For instance,
Ethiopia’s First; Second, Third and so on Five-year plans have been single
level plans.
2. Multilevel planning:
• Planning here is structured hierarchically.
• Planning is done for different regions with plan design and implementation
being the responsibilities of the respective region.
• Coordinating bodies may be created to synchronize the regional plans at the
national level.
• The degree of national control depends on the degree of devolution of power.
• Regional Planning during the derg period can be characterized as ‘a sort of
multilevel planning’.
 Jurisdiction Criteria
• Based on to what extent the plan is implemented/ enforced, plan were
distinguished as Indicative and imperative planning.
1. Indicative planning:
 In a free market economies (capitalist) strict implementation of plans contradicts
the bases of the socioeconomic organization.
 Gives general directions about the determination of particular objectives as
production, consumption, manpower, or about public and private investment.
 It has no obligation whatsoever, up on the investor.
 It is subdivided as:
A. Normative planning:
• The plan may have certain psychological and educational effort but the methods
employed to ensure that it is put in to effect are indirect and constitute of certain
sticks and carrots.
B. Planning by actuation:
• It is cause to act which relies up on budgetary tariff, financial, and fiscal policy
or possibly, up on a public works program to induce business firms to take the
decision required under the plan.
 …Cont.d
2. Imperative planning:
In socialist societies means of production are
nationalized.
The government is the sole responsible organ
for socio-economic development.
How much to invest, where to invest, in what to
invest, where to sell the product, at what price,
etc. are decided by the government.
The plan is a legal commitment which has
strictly to be followed.
 Function or Area of Concern Criteria
1.Allocative Planning:
Is concerned with the coordination, the resolution of conflicts, ensuring that the
existing system is ticking over efficiently through time in accordance with
evolving policies.
It is sometimes known as regulatory planning.
In the context of the small firm, it will involve the planning of the deliveries of
inputs of raw materials and labour, and the distribution of the final goods.
In the context of the national economy, it would involve month-to-month
regulation of the economy using fiscal and monetary policy.
2. Innovative Planning:
Is no merely planning for the efficiency of the existing system, but is more
concerned with improving/ developing the system as a whole,
Introduces new aims and attempts to mould change on a large scale.
For this reason it is sometimes known as developmental planning.
In the context of the small firm, the marketing of a new product or the opening
of a factory extension within a specific period of time would involve innovative
planning.
 Spatial/Non Spatial Criteria

1. Sectoral planning:
is concerned with calibrating the various sectors of the
economy with each other or developing each sector with
differently set priorities.
Thus, developing the agricultural, mining, industrial, and service
branches is sectoral planning.
Similarly, establishing the right ratio between the agricultural,
mining, industrial, and service branches does not necessarily
concern itself with regional issues.
2. Spatial planning:
it concerns itself with the territorial distribution of the
production forces and the integration between various regions.
The creation of spatial framework for the realization of
planning objectives is considered inevitable.
 LEVELS OF PLANNING
Regional planning is similar to other types of planning in that
it possess the same basic feature and may be a combination of
the variety of alternative forms already outlined.
But it is different from other types of planning in that it is
planning for a Region.
In general terms Region is a flexible concept, referring to a
continuous and localized area intermediate between National
and Urban regions.
As such regional planning can be seen as fitting in to a
continuum of planning.
Regional planning is the process of formulating and
clarifying social objectives in the ordering of activities in the
supra-urban and sub-national space’.
 LEVELS OF PLANNING
Therefore, in the context of regional planning, there could be the
following levels of planning:
a) Inter-National Planning
• This is planning efforts among countries.
• Such countries may share common boundaries or in the same
ecological zone, and may pool their resources together and agree
to solve problems that threatened national boundaries such as
smuggling, illegal migration
• Others countries may agree on a common currency, free
movement of people and goods between one country and the
other like the ECOWAS.
• Such activities can also be at the world level, largely through
United Nation Agencies. Planning is confined to the activities
agreed upon.
 …Cont.d
b) National Planning
• National planning is the highest level of planning in a
federation.
• It involves the physical, social and economic forms of planning
of a nation.
• It is a centrally directed allocation of resources (industries,
social institutions, public funds and utilities) to states or regions
in order to achieve balanced development, national
integration and stable political atmosphere.
• The successes of National Planning depend on its ability to
formulate goals that reflect the aspiration of the people and
achieve the articulated goals more successfully than would
unplanned activity.
c) Regional Planning
• This is the second level of planning in a unitary state.
• Within a nation, planning for separate region is described as regional
planning.
• The term ‘region’ can be applied to different countries or groups of
countries or different areas within the same country or even the world.
• Regional planning is considered as a sequence of programmed and
coordinated actions designed to solve current and anticipated problems of a
region.
• It is a kind of response to certain problems of urban region arising from
population growth, increasing urbanization, increasing cost of living and
personal mobility and problems of depressed industrial and rural regions
suffering from economic malaise.
• While urban planning integrates land use planning and transportation
plans to improve the built, economic and social environments of
communities.
• regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed
level.
d) State Planning
• This is the second level of planning in a federation.
• It is planning of a political region (state).
• State planning demands exploitation of resources within the
state and channeling of public investment funds and distributing
industries, public utilities and social amenities to the various
Local Government Areas in the state for balanced development.
• State planning is a useful component of the national planning.
e) Sub-Regional Planning
• It is the third level of planning in a unitary state.
• It is a process of exploiting and distributing resources among the
urban and rural areas in order to meet the needs and aspirations
of the local people.
• It addresses peculiar problems that cannot be specifically
addressed by the regional and national forms of planning.
f) Local Planning
• This is the third level of planning in a federated state.
• involves the preparation and implementation of
consistent plan that will guide the development of local
areas within the state.
• It also involves the exploitation of local resources to
meet the peculiar needs and aspirations of the local
people.
• It ensures orderly arrangement of land uses in both urban
and rural communities so as to check incompatible land
uses and haphazard developments.
• It is also concerned with the detailed layout of the
various districts contained in the Urban and Rural
Development Plans.
 The Need for Regional Planning
• Regional planning is a category of planning and
development that deals with designing and placing
infrastructure and other elements across a large
area.
• Planning zones may include several towns, cities or
even parts of different states or regions, each of
which could have its own "urban planning" office.
 
• Thus, it may help to bridge the gap between
“national development” in terms of “objectives” and
the effects on “local communities” in terms of
“actual” development.
 …Cont.d

The following are some of the reasons for undertaking

Regional planning:
• To avoid spontaneous development and create equal spatial
distribution of opportunities.
• To contribute for the overall strategy for sustainable national
development
• To ensure equitable share of the benefits of development
• To alleviate the problem of depressed areas
• To develop unique resources of an area
• As a necessary and permanent policy framework of a
nation’s development effort
• It is an integral part of the steps being taken to implement
the national plan and to raise industrial efficiency
 The Concept of Region
• Regarding on the idea of a region, there have been
numerous controversies and disagreements over its
meaning.
• To some the region is the real entity that can be
positively identified- a ‘natural region’; to others, it is
merely a product of the imagination, a method of
classification.
• The first action to be taken to outline the concept of
the region is to examine whether regions are natural
phenomena or merely mental constructions. There are
two divergent views one objective and the other
subjective.
 Objective and Subjective Views of a region

1. Objective Views of a region:

• A Region is a real entity, an organism that be identified and mapped
• The Natural Region is given as an example (Land configuration, climate,
vegetation, population density, etc.)
• Objective economic Regions also exist-(pastoral regions, industrial regions,
Enset regions, coffee regions, City regions, cultural regions, etc)
2. Subjective view of Regions:
• View the region as the means to an end, an idea, a model to help in the
study of the world.
• Is a method of classification, a device to segregate areal features
• Is a descriptive tool defined according to particular criteria for a particular
purpose.
• Therefore there are as many regions as there are criteria to define them
• The region reduces area of action to a meaningful, manageable size. For
example, instead of dealing with Ethiopia as a whole, one uses Awash basin,
Nile basin, etc.
 Typology of Regions
Homogenous/formal/uniform Region
• A spatial unit exhibits certain uniform characteristics that distinguish it
from other spatial unit.
• Marked by a certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena
• Also called a uniform region or formal region
• Homogeneity is either absolute or relative
• Homogeneity can be in physical, or cultural or economic or both terms
• Formal regions can be defined by measures of population, per capita
income, ethnic background, crop production, population density and
distribution, or industrial production, or by mapping physical
characteristics such as temperature, rainfall, growing season
• It is characterized by a common human property, such as the presence of
people who share a particular language, religion, nationality, political
identity or culture, or by a common physical property, such as the
presence of a particular type of climate, landform, or vegetation.
 Types of Homogeneous/Formal Regions
1. Physical Formal Region
 There are also various types of physical formal regions:-
a. Global Regions
• Global regions are those areas of the planet that are easily
distinguishable from space.
• are clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial
environments, land and water.
• They are divided into largest of land regions, known as
continents, and the largest of water regions known as oceans.
• There are also significant regions that do not belong to either
of these classifications, such as archipelago regions that are
littoral regions, or earthquake regions that are defined in
Geology.
 b. Continental regions

• Used to reduce very large areas to more manageable

regionalization for the purpose of study.
• As such they are conceptual constructs, usually lacking
distinct boundaries.
• Oceanic divisions into maritime regions are used in
conjunction with the relationship to the central area of
the continent, using directions of the compass.
• Some continental regions are defined by the major
continental feature of their identity, such as the
Amazon basin, or the Sahara, which both occupy a
significant percentage of their respective continental
land area.
 c. Geographical regions

• Geographical regions are representative of the

diverse sub-disciplines found in the discipline of
geography.
• They are based on the discipline defined by the data
collected through boundary transition that can vary
from thousands of kilometers at continental level to
a few kilometers at local level
• For example areas of distinct ethnicity habitats.
d. Topographical region
• This is a unique natural region that is homogenous
in terms of physical landscape and drainage system.
 e. Climatic region

• This is a geographical region that has the same climatic

conditions
• Includes areas such as amount, distribution and
reliability of rainfall; the lengths of dry and rainy
seasons; the prevailing winds; the amount and range of
temperature and atmospheric humidity in the air.  
f. Vegetation region
• This is an extensive physical region that has the same
natural vegetation cover.
• These vegetation are determined by the climatic
condition, soil types and distribution and the nature of
the topography.
 g. Edaphic region

• This is a natural region that has the same soil

type, conditions and characteristics.
h. Hydrological region
• This is an extensive area that shares the same
common physical characteristics in terms of
drainage system, landforms, soils, climatic
conditions and vegetation cover.
• For example hydrological regions are River
Basins, Lake Basins, the Watersheds and the
Extensive Deltas.
 2. Economic Formal Region

• This is an extensive geographical region that shares

homogenous characteristics in terms of Industrial
structure, Agricultural activities and Economic problems.
Types of Economic Formal Region
Agricultural regions:
These are vast agro-ecological zones in a country having
the same climatic conditions, soil characteristics and
agricultural land use.
Eg. Enset Region, cereal region, coffee region, etc.
Industrial region:
• This is an area of homogenous industrial structure
 Nodal/Functional/Polarized Region
A functional region is a geographical area that has
inter-dependence of parts and functional relationships.
A functional region or Nodal region or Polarized region,
has a defined core that retains a specific characteristic
that diminishes outwards.
To be considered a Functional region, at least one
form of spatial interaction must occur between the center
and all other parts of the region.
A functional region is organized around a node or focal
point with the surrounding areas linked to that node by
transportation systems, communication systems.
 …Cont.d
A typical functional region is a metropolitan area
(MA) as defined by the Bureau of Census such as
the New York MA with a functional region that
covers parts of several states.
It is linked by commuting patterns, trade flows,
television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, travel
for recreation and entertainment.
Other functional regions include shopping
regions centered on malls or supermarkets, area
served by branch banks, and ports and their
hinterlands.
 …Cont.d

• The nodal region is defined by a certain functional coherence

resulting in interdependent parts.
• As opposed to homogeneity, heterogeneity is its
characteristic identity.
• It suggests that there is a central space, a nerve center of the
activities of the area around which activities performed.
• Interaction is within the region and between the various
elements of the region
• Interaction between different regions is not emphasized in
defining the region though interregional interaction exists.
• Organized around a node or focal point with the surrounding
areas linked to that node by transportation systems,
communication systems, or other economic association
involving such activities as manufacturing and retail trading.
 Types of Functional Regions

A. Town-Region
Constitutes a relatively small-sized urban community
and its surrounding rural areas.
Areas are economically and socially interdependent.
The town provides high-order services such as local
administration, transportation, manufacturing, commerce,
secondary school education, health and entertainment
services for the rural inhabitants.
The countryside on the other hand provides surplus
food, potable water, industrial raw materials,
employment opportunities in agriculture and forestry,
leisure and recreation for the town dwellers.
 B. City-Region
It is also called Metropolitan Region.
is a vast amorphous urban sprawl, consisting of a
central city and many surrounding sub-urban areas,
and share functional relationships in terms of flows
such as people, goods, motor vehicles and mails.
The central city provides local administration,
employment opportunities, transportation,
communication, and wholesaling, educational and
professional services for the sub-urban areas.
In turn, the sub-urbanites serve the central city
dwellers by providing surplus food, pip-borne water,
raw materials, labor and residential accommodation.
 C. Megalopolitan Region
This is a complex urbanized region, which contains over 35 million people.
results from coalesce of urban centers of considerable sizes.
in USA, Megalopolis is a highly urbanized, heavily settled region on the
Atlantic Coast stretching from southern Maine to Virginia.
It is(USA megalopolis) one of the first sections of the nation to be settled and
grew rapidly in population over the years as waves of immigrants arrived in the
area.
Communities spread outward from the major cities and eventually the
metropolitan areas began to overlap, forming a corridor of thickly
concentrated urban sprawl.
This single urban complex of staggering dimensions is economically and
socially interdependent.
Examples of Megalopolis in Europe include the Midlands of England, Britain
where towns like Birmingham, Wolver Hampton, Coventry, Dudley, Walsall,
Oldbury etc., form a conurbation called the Black Country
during the 19th century the iron- and steel-producing western portion became known as
the Black Country, named for the black smoke from its factories
Example of Functional Region
 Planning/programming Region

 Planning Regions as geographical regions for designing and

implementation of development plans for dealing with the
regional problems Glasson (1974) .
 It Can be any of the types of region individually or in combination.
 It can be defined in terms of the coherence and unity of economic
decision making.
 And has unity or coherence to initiate economic development
decision making. E.g
• The development of river basin
• The development of depressed areas-industrial, agricultural
development, etc
• Telecommunication development zones
• Highway development zones
• Certain localized disease, pest, etc control/eradication zones
 Administrative Region

• The division of a country, area… in to administrative regions might

have not been based on homogeneity or nodality.
• The administrative regions of Ethiopia at different times of its history
were not curved out based on homogeneity or nodality.
• former Harer administrative region manifested the following
characteristics:
– Natural Feature: cool, humid climate on the plateau, hot and dry
climate in the lowlands
– Human: Mainly Oromo & Somali Speaking on the highlands
– Production: arable agriculture on the highland and pastoralism in the
lowland
• Nevertheless, because of one administrative structure over the whole
area, one often uses administrative regions. For instance:
– Data collected and assembled for the area
– Development projects administered for part or the entire region using
the administrative boundary as a framework.
 Overlap
• The four regions listed are not exclusive
necessarily :
• Homogeneous regions and programming region
or homogeneous region and administrative
region may overlap
• Nodal Region and planning Region may
overlap
• However, nodal and homogeneous regions are
mutually exclusive
 Regionalization and the Delineation of Region
• Regionalization is the process of delineating regions.
• This process may take several forms depending on; the purpose
of the regionalization, the criteria to be used and data
availability.
• The “natural regionalization” model is based on four criteria -
physical landscape, climate, vegetation and population density.
• If one adapts a subjective view of regionalization, the regions
are seen as descriptive features whose delineation is based on
specific criteria for a specified purpose.
• With this definition, there are as many regions as there are
criteria. For example, provincially we could have regions
delineated for the Purpose of labour catchment areas, service
sharing, retail trade or health care. In each case the regions may
take on different shapes and sizes.
 Cont.d
• From a research perspective, regionalization permits
researchers to properly assess labour markets, health care
requirements and demand for other public services.
• In this case the region may not be defined by a government
boundary rather they are defined by some methodology that
will group communities together.
• The recent focus on regionalization initiatives for sharing
services and/or operational costs may be classed as more of a
functional rather than a formal approach for delineating
regions.
• “Regionalization” in this context is the delineation of regions
that are larger than the existing municipal government
boundaries.
• These regions are formed to make co-operation, planning and
service sharing more effective and efficient.
 …Cont.d

• Thus, a resolution of the problem of economic malaise

may involve the delineation of formal regions using
certain relevant criteria, and similarly the resolution of
the congestion problem may involve the delineation of
functional regions.
• Regionalism- is a political ideology that focuses on
the interests of a particular region or group of regions.
• Regionalism centers on increasing the region's
influence and political power, either through
movements for limited form of autonomy (devolution,
states' rights, decentralization) or through stronger
measures for a greater degree of autonomy
(sovereignty, separatism, independence).
• Regionalists often favor loose federations or confederations
over a unitary state with a strong central government.
• Questions need to be addressed in the delineation of
regions:
• ? Delineation geographically appropriate size of region
• ? Actual cost of sharing service – in terms of accessibility
and transport cost
• ? Population distribution and density throughout the region
• ? Appropriate/sound methodology that is relevant an area
with considerations.
• ? Locational decisions –delineation of areas with dispersed
communities may not cost effective to share services.
 Approaches of regional delineation

Qualitative/intuitive
• Mainly used in the absence of adequate data
• Regional boundaries delineated via this way and results
to vague and ‘Misty’.
Quantitative
• Just analysed where there is adequate/ample data
• Now there is a shift to this approach of regional
delineation and identification
 Conceptually, for planning and development,
regionalization as a method of grouping communities
together is viewed as having two stages
 Formal Regionalization

It involves the grouping together of local units which have similar

characteristics according to certain clearly defined criteria
differ significantly from units outside the region based on the chosen
criteria.
The result formal region will never be perfectly homogenous, but must be
homogenous within certain clearly defined limits.
Simple criteria (land over 200 feet above sea level) result in simple
identification of regions.
• But, if there are a variety of criteria such as:
• Unemployment rate,
• Activity rate,
• Migration trend, etc…
• Which are dynamic and constantly changing, the task becomes more
difficult  
• Several methods/techniques have actually been used to delineate formal
regions, but the notable once are the Weight Index number method and
Factor Analysis method.
 1. The Weight Index number method

• It is used to delineate problem region ‘economic malaise’ by

considering more than one variable, which was first outlined by
Boudeville.
• For Example: Assume that an area contains 9 localities varying
according to unemployment rates and per-capita income levels. For
policy reason, there is a need to isolate problem region- area of
‘economic malaise’.
• Taking the criteria’s individually, it is difficult to isolate the main
problem region, but taken together and weight, region “B” can
be isolated.
• The problems implicit in this method are:
 The choice of the original criteria,
 The choice of weights, and,
 The determination of acceptable limits.
• Thus, because of its simplicity, it is a well-used method.
 …Cont.d
• The homogeneity of the method can be check
through using simple statistical variance and
standard deviation test.
 2. The Factor Analysis Method

• Is a more sophisticated method/approach to regionalization,

which owes much to the pioneering work of Berry in the
USA.
• It is the study of peoples’ size (height, weight) and life style
(hobbies, activities, income).
• Smith identified 14 industrial criteria on a local employment
exchange area base and 14 socio-economic criteria on a local
authority base.
• It contains large number of variable, interrelated factors and
thus, condenses/reducing into smaller number of factors.
• many of the criteria were interdependent and determined of
some underlying factors.
• The factor analysis method can be used to isolate these basic
factors and to group areas based on factor loadings.
 …Cont.d
• Smith has identified
Major industrial factors--- Industrial change
Industrial factors
VS---------used to delineate economic health region
Major socio economic--- Social structure
factors Population change
Economic structure
 Some of the variables in this method include:

Economic factors Demographic factors

• Economic growth • Migration
• Economic structure • Birth rate
• Income level • Population growth

Cultural factors Generally, The method is good

as the choice and quality of data
• Language
employed.
• Religion
The method would seems to have
• Ethnicity considerable potential, not only
for delineating regions but also in
the wider field of planning.
 Functional Regionalization
• It is the delineation of a geographical area where communities
are grouped together because there is some functional linkage
between the communities.
• For example, if a town is dependent on surrounding
communities for its workforce then those communities that
supply the workforce are linked to that particular town.
• The functional region would be a geographical area that
includes the workforce’s of resident communities.
• These functional regions are delineated by analysing the
structure of flows or human interactions that include socio-
economic criteria such as journey-to-work or shopping trips
that links employment or retail centres with communities in
the region.
• Two methods are employed to delineate functional region:
 1. Flow Analysis Method

• It is based on the actual observation of what people do.

• Build up functional region on the basis of the direction and intensity
of flows between the dominant centre and surrounding satellites.
• Each flow show increasing intensity as it approaches another centre
and the vice versa.
• volume of flows is high closer to the centre and progressively
decline with distance.
• The boundary of sphere of influence of dominant centre will be
where the flow intensity is minimum.
• The flow may be several types: Economic (cargo, passenger, freight,
rail or road), Social (Hospital patients, flow of supply), and, Political
(flow of government expenditure, information via telephone,
telegram, newspaper and other medias & so on).
 2. Gravitational Analysis

It is based on the theoretical observation of what people might do.

concerned with theoretical force of attraction between centers than
the actual flow.
It assumes that interaction between two centers is directly
proportional to ‘mass’ of the center and inversely proportional to
‘distance’ between centers.
 ‘Mass’ in the centers of planning development has been
represented by the following variables; (population, employment,
income, expenditure, retail and turnover) and ‘distance’ in
physical terms includes (prices, time and intervening opportunities.

 
Where; Tij  gravitational force between town i and j
PiPj  mass of the two centres
Dij  the distance between the two centres
K  constant  
It is used to identify the socio-economic or cost issues that may arise in the
newly formed region or how cost-effective is it for a group of communities to
form a region.
 Regionalization and the Administration of Regions

•Planning regions defined on the basis of formal and functional

problems/criteria, may not correlate with administration areas.
•Administrative regions are obviously important, if regional plans are
to be implemented.
• Thus, ‘planning is not really planning, if it is not related to
implementation programs and administrations’.
• To be administratively viable, regions must satisfy at least five criteria;
1.They must be large to support team of professional administrators
2.They must take the main commuter hinterland- for traffic control
3,They must take human catchment area- important for
public services
4. They must be able to provide necessary talents for their services.
5.They must consider topographical factors- important for
the administration of services such as sewerage system.
 
 ‘ Intra’ and ‘Inter’ Regional Planning

Intra-Regional planning
• Resource allocation within regions (with sub-Regions of a Region)
and between various policy fields –economic, social, environmental,
transport, etc.
• The purpose is to achieve a satisfactory relationship between
people, jobs, and environment.
• Social objectives: Provision of housing, social, cultural and
recreational facilities
• Economic objectives: Control of the diseconomies of the congested
cities and distribution of new investment
• Environmental objectives: Quality of urban form and the
prevention of urban sprawl
Interregional planning
• The allocation of resources between regions
• It is more economic, multi-objective, full employment and balanced growth
• The integration of economies of regions is another major objective
 Regional Planning and the Management of Regional Development

• Regional planning in its various forms, can be seen as an attempt to

guide the development of a region.
• The concept of development as applied to society is a complex one.
Thus, Development is not the same as Societal Change
Development
• Beneficial side of change in society progress or improvements
– Living standards
– Adaption of new technology
– Establishment of new institutions
• Involves implicit and explicit value judgment about direction and speed
of change.
• Meaning of development also varies from person to person
Societal Change
• Change in society which is detrimental and beneficial
 …Cont.d

• Development is much more than economic growth.

• It can be seen as multi-dimensional process,
including economic growth process.
• Social development process is concerned with the
distributional aspect of development.
• Political/administration development process is
concerned with the shift in the influence and power
of groups and individuals.
• All these processes are complexly inter-related and
interdependent- the distributional impact of
economic growth, the productivity effect of social
factors and so on.
 ..Cont.d

 Regional development in this sense can be seen as the

process of development in a particular area, a region.
 As Friedman, in J. Glasson (1978), regional
development can be defined as:
• “Regional development concerns the incidence of
economic growth.
• It is ultimately the result of the location of economic
activities in response to differential regional attractions.
• This definition includes several important aspects, but here
it is very much limited in scope because regional planning
involves a number of inter-related process; economic,
social and political that taking place within
supra-urban/sub-national spatial and temporal frameworks.
 Regional Development can be seen as
1. Relative Concept
• Compare problem regions within prosperous regions or with the national
contexts, on the basis of variety of socio-economic indicators.
2. Absolute Concept
• Looks at development within a particular region.
Who Manages Regional Development?
• Management in a social context involves power of decision to influence
social change.
• Thus, the management of development should include all power of decision
through which the multiplicity of agencies can influence the process of
development in beneficial way for a region.
• Therefore, if regional planning is expected to be effective, in guiding
regional developments, it must seek, to influence the various agencies with
the power to act via encouraging them to adopt and use regional plan and
policy guidelines.
• Regional development needs the involvement of stakeholders at large.
THANK
YOU