Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the world’s largest cities. Shown here is Central, Hong Kong’s central business district.
Urban planning is the integration of the disciplines of land-use planning and transport planning, to explore a wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities. The focus is the design and regulation of the uses of space within the urban environment. This involves their physical structure, economic functions, and social impacts. In addition to the design of new cities or the expansion of existing ones, a key role of urban planning is urban renewal, and re-generation of inner cities by adapting urban-planning methods to existing cities suffering from long-term infrastructural decay.
Urban planning involves not just the science of designing efficient structures that support the lives of their inhabitants, but also involves the aesthetics of those structures. The environment deeply affects its inhabitants, and for human beings the impact is not simply physical and social, but also involves the emotional response to beauty or lack thereof. Thus, while ancient cities may have been built primarily for defense, the glorification of the ruler soon became a prominent feature through the construction of impressive buildings and monuments. Today, urban planners are aware of the needs of all citizens to have a pleasant environment, which supports their physical and mental health, in order for the city to be prosperous.