Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning Using ArcView 3.x

This course teaches GIS techniques for effectively and efficiently carrying out urban and regional planning tasks. Students learn how ArcView 3.x software can be used to address social, economic, and planning problems. In course exercises, students perform urban management tasks using cadastral datasets and remotely sensed imagery, apply spatial analysis techniques to determine a suitable location for a particular land use, establish urban land use trends, work with various planning factors that influence a strategic plan, and evaluate different planning strategies to arrive at suitable policies and a final conceptual plan.

This course is designed for professional urban and regional planners working in either the public or private sector.

Those who complete this course will be able to

• Appreciate the underlying theory behind urban and regional planning processes.
• Recognize the different planning tasks that urban and regional planners undertake.
• Detect contributing datasets that formulate urban and regional plans.
• Undertake effective urban management using cadastral datasets and remotely sensed imagery.
• Establish urban land use trends.
• Use spatial analysis techniques to determine a suitable location for the siting of a particular land use.
• Utilize different impact assessment methods where required understand various planning factors that influence a strategic plan.
• Evaluate different planning strategies to arrive at suitable policies and a final conceptual plan.

• Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning Concepts: History of urban and regional planning; Overview of urban and regional planning theory; Four different approaches to urban and regional planning; The taxonomy of planning tasks
• Data for Urban and Regional Planning: Classifying planning data; What kind of data is used for urban and regional planning?; Manipulating data; Two-dimensional and three-dimensional planning data; Time: The fourth dimension
• Managing and Monitoring Urban Activities: Land use theory; Urban management technologies; Establishing land use trends; Managing land use changes
• Optimizing Your Site Selection Process: Understanding land suitability analysis; Organizing inputs for the site analysis; Applying spatial analysis techniques for site analysis; Undertaking the land suitability analysis
• Impact Assessment: An Essential Planning Task: Understanding impact assessments; Environmental impact assessment; Social impact assessment; Economic impact assessment; Visual impact assessment
• Defining and Mapping the Spatial Components of Strategic Planning: Understanding strategic planning; Sustainability in strategic planning; Socio-economic and physical factors of strategic planning; Finalizing a strategic planning project

Students should have completed Introduction to ArcView 3.x or have equivalent knowledge. An understanding of three-dimensional GIS data analysis and presentation and urban and regional planning theory is beneficial.

To complete course exercises, you need the following software:

(Trial software can be downloaded with purchase. Read the ArcView 3.x Trial Requirements)