PARKS AND RECREATION FACILITIES

AR-309: ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN PLANNING (A&TP-B)
By
RAVINDAR KUMAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Planning
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi

LECTURE NO: 21
TOPIC: PARKS AND RECREATION FACILITIES

INTRODUCTION:
The theme of current lecture on is Parks and Recreational facilities. In order to understand this theme it is important to know about the terms; park and recreation. The term park means a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area or it is a large area of land preserved in its natural state as public property; then there are laws that protect the wildlife in this park.[1] The term recreation means activities which are relaxing to humans or provide diversions from their normal routine.[2] In town planning provision of parks and recreational facilities is a part of an overall urban planning scheme whether a new city is made or improved an existing one. However the provision of parks and recreational facilities is not an easy task and before understanding the process of its provision it is also significant to have clear understanding of both the concepts of Parks and Recreation. In the following these are described in details.

WHAT IS A PARK?[3]
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Wilderness parks are intact and undeveloped areas used mainly by wild species. Many parks are legally protected by law. Protected wilderness zones are required for some wild species to survive. Some protected parks focus mainly on the survival of a few threatened species, such as gorillas or chimpanzees. The term Park is also used for many other meanings for instance the term park is also used in reference to industrial areas, often termed as industrial parks. Some technology research areas are also called research parks. Small environmental areas, often part of urban renewal plans, are called pocket parks. The word park may also be used in community names, such as Oak Park or College Park. Sometimes the active recreational aspect may be expressed in the extreme of naming as an amusement park, usually privately owned. A car park is an area of land or a building in which cars are parked. An amusement park, or theme park is a generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertainment. Thus; the term park has various uses and meanings however the parks can be divided mainly in two categories i.e. Government owned or operated parks and private parks.

GOVERNMENT-OWNED OR OPERATED PARKS:
There are three main types of Government owned or operated parks i.e. National Park, Sub National Parks and Urban Parks.

NATIONAL PARK:
A national park is a reserve of land, usually, but not always declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. National parks are protected areas as established by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. In the United States the concept of preserving landscapes for the pleasure of the people was established on June 30, 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill creating the Yosemite Grant.

A policy of preservation, rather than co-usage as in the National Forests, where grazing, farming and logging are licensed, was implemented four decades later during the presidential administration of Teddy Roosevelt, and Yosemite became a national park. Tourism and, later, recreation were the intended purposes of the lands Roosevelt set aside in the system. John Muir was instrumental in this effort. These parks were termed national parks and today are looked after by the U.S. National Park Service. U.S. state governments have also set aside land to preserve for the enjoyment of the public. There are also national parks in many other countries.

SUB-NATIONAL PARKS:
In Federal systems, many parks are managed by the local levels of government, rather than by the central government. In the United States these are called state parks and in Canada provincial or territorial parks, except in Quebec where they are known as National Parks.

URBAN PARKS:
A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintained by a local government. Parks commonly resemble savannas or open woodlands, the types of landscape that human beings find most relaxing. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities. Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade. The world's first public park is claimed to be Peel Park, Salford, England opened on 22 August 1846.[4] Park can be divided into active and passive recreation. Active recreation is that which require intensive development and often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds, ball fields and skate parks.

Passive recreation is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and which involves a low level of development, including picnic areas and trails. Organized football matches take place in parks. Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around the world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. A linear park is a park that has a much greater length than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of a former railway that has been converted into a park (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation allowed to grow back). Parks are sometimes made out of oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that often become city neighborhood parks.

An urban park,[5] also known as a municipal park or a public park or open space (United Kingdom), is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of and visitors to the municipality. The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government, typically on the city level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a private sector company. The oldest Urban Park in the world, Phillips Park, is located in the English city of Manchester. Common features of municipal parks include playgrounds, hiking, running and mixed use trails or paths, bridle paths, sports field and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps and/or picnic facilities depending on the budget and natural features available.

In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1982), Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U.S. In the late 19th century, large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities were purchased by city governments to create "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents, especially the workers, to relax in nature. As time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land, the three most visited municipal parks in the United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and Balboa Park in San Diego, respectively.

In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U.S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II, new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia. These smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space was of secondary importance. As urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a play area for children. All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of the large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, they now serve as important wildlife refuges, and often provide the only opportunity for urban residents to hike or picnic in a semi-wild area. However, these parks can be targeted by city managers or politicians as sources of free land for other uses; Partly for this reason, some of these large parks have "friends of X park" advisory boards that help protect and maintain their semi-wild nature. The largest area of public parks in any city in North America is the North Saskatchewan River valley parks system in Edmonton.

PRIVATE PARKS:
Private parks are owned by individuals or businesses and are used at the discretion of the owner. There are a few types of private parks, and some which once were privately maintained and used have now been made open to the public. The most prominent of them may be Hunting Parks. Hunting parks originally referred to an area maintained as open space where residences, industry and farming were not allowed, often originally so that nobility might have a place to hunt such as medieval deer parks.

These were known for instance, as deer parks (deer being originally a term meaning any wild animal). Many country houses in Great Britain and Ireland still have parks of this sort, which since the 18th century have often been landscaped for aesthetic effect. They are usually a mixture of open grassland with scattered trees and sections of woodland, and are often enclosed by a high wall. The area immediately around the house is the garden.

In some cases this will also feature sweeping lawns and scattered trees; the basic difference between a country house's park and its garden is that the park is grazed by animals, but they are excluded from the garden. In some countries, especially the United Kingdom, the concept of the country park was popular in the 1970s, and many such parks were established with government support during that time. Country parks are often located near to urban populations, and provide recreational facilities typical of the countryside rather than the town.

WHAT IS RECREATION?[6]
Recreation is one (not the only) kind of stress management. Recreation or fun is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. While leisure is more likely a form of entertainment or rest, recreation is active for the participant but in a refreshing and diverting manner. As people in the world's wealthier regions lead increasingly sedentary life styles, the need for recreation has increased. The rise of so called active vacations exemplifies this. A few individuals view recreation as largely non-productive, even trivial. Excessive recreation is not considered healthy, and may be labeled as escapism. However, research has shown that recreation contributes to satisfaction, and that the stress management aspects of it contribute to quality of life, health and wellness, happiness, and that the use of recreation as a diversion may have clinical applications to individuals with chronic pain and other health impairments.

TYPES OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES:
There are various types of recreational activities such as art, computer games, cycling, dancing, Drawing, Eating and drinking, Hobbies, Hunting and fishing, Kite flying Music, Martial arts, Partying, Pet ownership, Reading a book, Recreational drug use, Sexuality and Dating, Sledding, Shopping, Singing, Sports and exercise, Travel and tourism Texting, Using the internet, Video games, Visiting an amusement park, Watching movies, Yoga, Painting. In recent years, more exciting forms of recreation have received more attention, such as skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, paintball, rock climbing, backpacking, canyoning, caving, BASE jumping, adventure tourism and motor sport.

PROVISION OF PARKS AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES IN TOWN PLANNING:[7]
One of the most critical components in maintaining and enhancing a community's quality of life is its system of parks, recreation, and open space. The careful location of parks and open space areas and preservation of the Town's natural resources as a complement to existing development can be a useful tool in guiding the Town's development into a logical, orderly and environmentally sensitive pattern. In addition to recreational and aesthetic benefits, open spaces provide a framework for various land uses. Properly located, they become boundaries and buffers between conflicting uses of land and a nucleus for building neighborhood areas. Natural features can be preserved as valuable scenic and environmental attributes of the Town.

A park system and recreational program can also go a long way toward resolving the age-old problem of a community offering nothing for young people to do. In order to provide parks and recreational facilities at first an inventory of existing Town parks and opens space areas is made. For instance in Karachi one of the first things that can be pointed out is that there are a fairly large number of parks and the people overwhelmingly use these parks. These two findings suggest that while Karachi has a lot of acreage for parks, much of it is undeveloped and/or underutilized. This represents an opportunity to proactively improve the availability of Parks and Recreation facilities/programs.

Recommended improvements as desirable by the citizens of Karachi included such things as a playground, bathrooms, water fountain, and picnic facilities. These are all amenities which are quite necessary that features the public desires, but that these amenities somehow fall short of their expectations. Perhaps there needs to be more of a particular amenity or perhaps another is simply in need of modernization and/or repair. The Visioning process identified the need for Karachi is to develop a park system in each town and union council. One impediment to this goal is the ownership of the parks and open spaces in Karachi.

There are a number of Town Parks, quasi-public parks and facilities, and, being the mega city and home to the largest population base, there are numerous issues such as encroachment, unavailability of due care to existing open spaces and parks. There are also private or semi-private recreational spaces like the golf courses, clubs and gyms etc. A park system would consider all of these lands and evaluate them as a whole as to their effectiveness in meeting the recreational needs of the residents of Karachi and environs. A second factor inhibiting the effective development of a coordinated park system is the way in which these spaces and facilities are managed. There is a Director General Parks in Karachi Municipal Corporation with not much additional staff and part time assistance or community backing which is the key factor in regular maintenance and management of existing parks and recreational facilities.

One step toward providing more direction and more active participation in planning, acquiring, and improving Karachi's parks was taken recently by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) in the form of road improvements and construction of signal free corridors in the city. However, there is still much work to be done as this organization of city is still struggling with determining its role and how it relates to the Karachi Master Plan 2020, in whom Law vests the authority to make "proposals for the most appropriate and desirable patterns for the general location, character, and extent of parks and recreation areas for specified times as far into the future as is reasonable. Nevertheless, having a group dedicated to examining and making recommendations on park issues shall be a positive step towards the development of a coordinated Town-wide Park system.

FUTURE PARKS:
One area, in which it is crucial for the CDGK to work hard, is the planning for future park sites. There must be a visioning committee to make several recommendations in this area. There must be a detailed map of Karachi with its complete boundaries, maps of towns and maps of union councils where parks are graphically depicted. These maps shall be publicly available for the citizens of Karachi as the locations reserved for parks so as they may create a check and balance system and cry for parks and recreational facilities if required. The following recommendations for future parks are highlighted for the reference.

GOAL:
To provide a coordinated system of parks that meet the recreational needs of all of Karachi's residents.

OBJECTIVES:
Create/preserve public access and recreational opportunities in every town and union council. Increase funding for the operation of a Parks and Recreational Facilities. Develop more of the parks which already exist in Karachi. Identify a site or sites for regional parks in future for annexation areas of Karachi. Develop Karachi's parks as a coordinated system in order to insure that all areas of City are equitably served with parks and that a variety of recreational opportunities are provided. Work with all town and union council administration to coordinate Town and Union Council Park Planning and eliminate unnecessary duplication of services. Examine and refine, if necessary, the policy of requiring usable park/open space during development review and approval. Provide for the contribution of fees in lieu of parks in subdivisions where such land is not available or is not needed due to the lack of appropriate lands or the proximity of other suitable parks or open spaces.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES:
The CDGK and all the towns should increase funding to Parks and Recreational facilities of approximately 2% of the budget. Town staff should rely upon the mapped recommendations contained in the Master Plan 2020 for future park lands during the development review process in order to obtain necessary lands for future larger-scale parks. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall be made and it should work with the D.G Parks to determine which of Karachi's existing parks should be improved and what types of improvements are needed therein as well as to develop a plan for future park sites. The CDGK should meet and coordinate planning efforts with Towns up until Union Council level in order to enhance/increase recreational opportunities available to city residents and in return to provide Karachi's fair share of Parks and Recreational Facilities. All the towns should utilize monies collected as fees-in-lieu of providing parks and open space for the acquisition of new parks and the improvement and/or maintenance of existing undeveloped or underdeveloped parks.

REFERENCES:
[1] http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=park
[2] http://www.newberry.org/K12maps/glossary/index.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks
[4] Salford City Council: Parks in Broughton and Blackfriars Retrieved on 2008-09-03 ; Papillon Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester: The Campaign for City Parks in Manchester and Salford Retrieved on 2008-09-06 ; University of Salford: Peel Park Retrieved on 2008-09-07
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_park
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreation
[7] http://www.town-eastonmd.com/Parks,%20Recreation,%20and%20Open%20Space.htm

URBAN ZONING & LAND USE CONTROL

AR-309: ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN PLANNING (A&TP-B)
By:
RAVINDAR KUMAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Planning
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi

LECTURE NO: 21
TOPIC: URBAN ZONING & LAND USE CONTROL

INTRODUCTION TO URBAN ZONING[1]?
Zoning is a device of land use regulation used by local governments in most developed countries[2]. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another. Zoning may be use-based (regulating the uses to which land may be put), or it may regulate building height, lot coverage, and similar characteristics, or some combination of these.

According to G. K. Hiraskar the zoning is defined as “process of making sections or division of city areas in different zones, to control the incompatible land uses, & prevent the misuse of land & buildings heights and densities of population at the initial stages”. According to Mr. Trevor Whitley who describes zoning in the Encyclopedia of Urban Planning; the zoning is the division of community into zones/districts as per present & potential use of properties for controlling & directing their landuse and development of the city.

According to W.PAUL Farmer and Julie A. Gibb, the “Zoning is the division of land according to building Design & use”. This definition is explained in the book “Introduction to Urban Planning” by Anthony. J. Catanese & James. C. Snyder. Definition they describe that, “comprehensive zoning is the division of total municipal land in to districts in which restrictions are imposed on the use of land.”

The zoning regulations are drafted & developed by the legislative authority and enforced by the municipal action. The legislative authority permits the municipality to apply constant and consistent pressure upon landowners to develop & use their land through the guidance of community plan and the public interest.

OBJECTIVES OF ZONING:
There are three major objectives of zoning i.e. conserving the value of its properties, assuring orderly community growth and safeguarding general public welfare. One of the major objectives of zoning legislation is to “Establish regulations which provides locations for all essential uses of land & buildings and to ensure that each use is located at most appropriate place”.

PURPOSE OF ZONING:
The main concern of zoning is with, the use of land & buildings, their height & volumes, proportions with the open spaces and density of population in each particular zone. The zoning is also used as an instrument for the implementation of plan on development of privately owned land & buildings rather than public land, buildings & facilities. The zoning attempts to group together the most compatible landuses.

SCOPE OF ZONING:
Theoretically, the primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible. In practice, zoning is used to prevent new development from interfereing with existing residents or businesses and to preserve the "character" of a community. Zoning is commonly controlled by local governments such as counties or municipalities, though the nature of the zoning regime may be determined or limited by state or national planning authorities or through enabling legislation. In Australia, land under the control of the Commonwealth (federal) government is not subject to state planning controls.

The United States and other federal countries are similar. Zoning and urban planning in France and Germany are regulated by national or federal codes. In the case of Germany this code includes contents of zoning plans as well as the legal procedure. Zoning may include regulation of the kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such as open space, residential, agricultural, commercial or industrial), the densities at which those activities can be performed (from low-density housing such as single family homes to high-density such as high-rise apartment buildings), the height of buildings, the amount of space structures may occupy, the location of a building on the lot (setbacks), the proportions of the types of space on a lot, such as how much landscaped space, impervious surface, traffic lanes, and parking must be provided. In Germany, zoning usually includes building design, very specific green space and compensation regulations.

The details of how individual planning systems incorporate zoning into their regulatory regimes, varies though the intention is always similar. For example, in the state of Victoria, Australia, land use zones are combined with a system of planning scheme overlays to account for the multiplicity of factors that impact on desirable urban outcomes in any location. Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variances (exceptions to the zoning rules), usually because of some perceived hardship caused by the particular nature of the property in question. Basically, urban zones fall into one of five major categories: residential, mixed residential-commercial, commercial, industrial and special (e. g. power plants, sports complexes, airports, shopping malls etc.). Each category can have a number of sub-categories. In Germany, e. g., each category has a designated limit for noise emissions (not part of the building code, but federal emissions code). In the United States or Canada, for example, residential zones can have the following sub-categories:

R-1: Residential occupancies containing sleeping units where the occupants are primarily transient in nature, including: Boarding houses, Hotels, Motels
R-2: Residential occupancies containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature, including: Apartment houses, Boarding houses, Convents, Dormitories
R-3: Residential occupancies where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature and not classified as Group R-1, R-2, R-4 or I, including: Buildings that do not contain more than two dwelling units, Adult care facilities for five or fewer persons for less than 24 hours.
R-4: Residential occupancies shall include buildings arranged for occupancy as residential care/assisted living facilities including more than five but not more than 16 occupants.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE AND NEED OF ZONING?
The zoning is important aspect of town planning because without zoning regulation, incompatible land uses occurs which causes problems of health & hygiene, environmental pollution’s congestion public safety & security etc. For example, industrial zone is mostly away from residential zone so as the residential areas should be secured from dangerous gases and smoke pollution, the business & commercial zone is also made away from residential zone so as the residential areas should be free from noise & road traffic. Simultaneously the population is also distributed in different zones differently so as the population should not be concentrated in one zone & situation of congestion or comity problems emerges i.e. utilities pressure etc. in addition the building heights are also controlled by zoning so as high-rise should not develop with low height housing because the high-rise cutoff the sun shine, & breeze which makes the life of residents uncomfortable i.e. in Chicago, New York, Bombay etc building cast long shadow. The zoning is important because it secures the orderly growth of town; promote heath & safety, increase utility, beauty and efficiency of town. Infect it is the very soul of successful Town Planning.

LANDUSE CONTROL:[3]
Land use is the human modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. The major effect of land use on land cover since 1750 has been deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of land use include urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, salinization, and desertification. Land-use change together with use of fossil fuels, are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant greenhouse gas. It has also been defined as "the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type" (FAO, 1997a; FAO/UNEP, 1999).

MUNICIPAL LAND USE:
Each designation, known as a parcel’s zoning, comes with a list of approved uses that can legally operate on the zoned parcel. These are found in a government’s ordinances or zoning regulations.

LAND USE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
Land use and land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals. Land use information can be used to develop solutions for natural resource management issues such as salinity and water quality. For instance, water bodies in a region that has been deforested or having erosion will have different water quality than those in areas that are forested. According to a report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation, land degradation has been exacerbated where there has been an absence of any land use planning, or of its orderly execution, or the existence of financial or legal incentives that have led to the wrong land use decisions, or one-sided central planning leading to over-utilization of the land resources - for instance for immediate production at all costs.

As a consequence the result has often been misery for large segments of the local population and destruction of valuable ecosystems. Such narrow approaches should be replaced by a technique for the planning and management of land resources that is integrated and holistic and where land users are central. This will ensure the long-term quality of the land for human use, the prevention or resolution of social conflicts related to land use, and the conservation of ecosystems of high biodiversity value.

HISTORY OF ZONING:
As far as the history of zoning is concerned, the origin /start & use of zoning took place in late 19th century. The first modern zoning ordinance was developed in New York City in 1916. However legally it was enforced n 1962 when us Supreme Court considered the legality of comprehensive zoning controls. They made a landmark decision in a case where the court discussed the need for and imposed pattern of landaus & concept of a comprehensive or Euclidean zoning. By the year 1930, several hundred localities has followed suit and had established their own zoning ordinances throughout USA.

ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF ZONING IN UNITED STATES:
Special laws and regulations were long made, restricting the places where particular businesses should be carried on. In the 1860s a specific State statute prohibited all commercial activities along Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn), setting a trend for future decades. In 1916, New York City[4] adopted the first zoning regulations to apply city-wide as a reaction to construction of The Equitable Building (which still stands at 120 Broadway). The building towered over the neighboring residences, completely covering all available land area within the property boundary, blocking windows of neighboring buildings and diminishing the availability of sunshine for the people in the affected area.

These laws, written by a commission headed by Edward Bassett and signed by Mayor John Purroy Mitchell, became the blueprint for zoning in the rest of the country, partly because Bassett headed the group of planning lawyers which wrote; “The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act that was accepted almost without change by most states. The effect of these zoning regulations on the shape of skyscrapers was famously illustrated by architect and illustrator Hugh Ferriss. The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld in 1926.

The zoning ordinance of Euclid, Ohio was challenged in court by a local land owner on the basis that restricting use of property violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Though initially ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, the zoning ordinance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. In doing so, the Court accepted the arguments of zoning defenders that it met two essential needs. First, zoning extended and improved on nuisance law in that it provided advance notice that certain types of uses were incompatible with other uses in a particular district. The second argument was that zoning was a necessary municipal-planning instrument. By the late 1920s most of the nation had developed a set of zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality. New York City went on to develop ever more complex set of zoning regulations, including floor-area ratio regulations, air rights and others according to the density-specific needs of the neighborhoods.

Among large populated cities in the United States, Houston is unique in having no zoning ordinances. Houston voters have rejected efforts to implement zoning in 1948, 1962 and 1993. However, land use is still very much regulated in Houston: up until 1999, single-family homes (which include 98% of all housing stock) had to occupy 5,000 square feet (460 m2) of land. Apartment buildings currently must have 1.33 parking spaces per bedroom. Some have argued that this sort of regulation has similar effects as zoning, and therefore can be regarded as a sort of roundabout zoning.

ZONING TYPES IN THE UNITED STATES:
Zoning codes have evolved over the years as urban planning theory has changed, legal constraints have fluctuated, and political priorities have shifted. The various approaches to zoning can be divided into four broad categories: Euclidean, Performance, Incentive, and Design-based.

EUCLIDEAN
Named for the type of zoning code adopted in the town of Euclid, Ohio, and approved in a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, Euclidean zoning codes are by far the most prevalent in the United States, used extensively in small towns and large cities alike.

STANDARD EUCLIDEAN
Also known as "Building Block" zoning, Euclidean zoning is characterized by the segregation of land uses into specified geographic districts and dimensional standards stipulating limitations on the magnitude of development activity that is allowed to take place on lots within each type of district. Typical types of land-use districts in Euclidean zoning are: residential (single-family), residential (multi-family), commercial, and industrial. Uses within each district are usually heavily prescribed to exclude other types of uses (residential districts typically disallow commercial or industrial uses). Some "accessory" or "conditional" uses may be allowed in order to accommodate the needs of the primary uses. Dimensional standards apply to any structures built on lots within each zoning district, and typically take the form of setbacks, height limits, minimum lot sizes, lot coverage limits, and other limitations on the "building envelope". Euclidean zoning is utilized by some municipalities because of its relative effectiveness, ease of implementation (one set of explicit, prescriptive rules), long-established legal precedent, and familiarity to planners and design professionals. However, Euclidean zoning has received heavy criticism for its lack of flexibility and institutionalization of now-outdated planning theory.

EUCLIDEAN II
Euclidean II Zoning uses traditional Euclidean zoning classifications (industrial, commercial, multi-family, residential, etc.) but places them in a hierarchical order "nesting" one zoning class within another similar to the concept of Planned Unit Developments (PUD) mixed uses, but now for all zoning districts; in effect, adding a third dimension to flatland Euclidean zoning. For example, multi-family is not only permitted in "higher order" multi-family zoning districts, but also permitted in high order commercial and industrial zoning districts as well. Protection of land values is maintained by stratifying the zoning districts into levels according to their location in the urban society (neighborhood, community, municipality, and region). Euclidean II zoning also incorporates transportation and utilities as new zoning districts in its matrix dividing zoning into three categories: Public, Semi-Public and Private. In addition, all Euclidean II Zoning permitted activities and definitions are tied directly to the state's building code, Municode and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) assuring statewide uniformity. Euclidean II zoning fosters the concepts of mixed use, new urbanism and "highest and best use"; and, simplifies all zoning classifications into a single and uniform set of activities. It is relatively easy to transition from most existing zoning classification systems to the Euclidean II Zoning system.

PERFORMANCE
Also known as "effects-based planning" performance zoning uses performance-based or goal-oriented criteria to establish review parameters for proposed development projects in any area of a municipality. Performance zoning often utilizes a "points-based" system whereby a property developer can apply credits toward meeting established zoning goals through selecting from a 'menu' of compliance options (some examples include: mitigation of environmental impacts, providing public amenities, building affordable housing units, etc.). Additional discretionary criteria may also be established as part of the review process.

The appeal of performance zoning lies in its high level of flexibility, rationality, transparency and accountability. Performance zoning can avoid the sometimes arbitrary nature of the Euclidian approach, and better accommodates market principles and private property rights with environmental protection. However, performance zoning can be extremely difficult to implement and can require a high level of discretionary activity on the part of the supervising authority leading to the potential for disenfranchisement among negatively affected stakeholders.

INCENTIVE
First implemented in Chicago and New York City, incentive zoning is intended to provide a reward-based system to encourage development that meets established urban development goals. Typically, a base level of prescriptive limitations on development will be established and an extensive list of incentive criteria will be established for developers to adopt or not at their discretion. A reward scale connected to the incentive criteria provides an enticement for developers to incorporate the desired development criteria into their projects. Common examples include FAR (floor-area-ratio) bonuses for affordable housing provided on-site, and height limit bonuses for the inclusion of public amenities on-site. Incentive zoning allows for a high degree of flexibility, but can be complex to administer. The more a proposed development takes advantage of incentive criteria, the more closely it has to be reviewed on a discretionary basis. The initial creation of the incentive structure in order to best serve planning priorities can also be challenging and often requires extensive ongoing revision to maintain balance between incentive magnitude and value given to developers.

FORM-BASED
Form-based codes offer considerably more flexibility in building uses than do Euclidean codes. Form based zoning regulates not the type of land use, but the form that that land use may take. For instance, form based zoning in a dense area may insist on low setbacks, high density, and pedestrian accessibility among other things. As another example, in a largely suburban single family residential area, uses such as offices, retail, or even light industrial could be permitted so long as they conformed (setback, building size, lot coverage, height, and other factors) to other existing development in the area. Form-based zoning relies on rules applied to development sites according to both prescriptive and potentially discretionary criteria. These criteria are typically dependent on lot size, location, proximity, and other various site- and use-specific characteristics.

Form based zoning also may specify desirable design features, however when form-based codes do not contain appropriate illustrations and diagrams, they have been criticized as being difficult to interpret. One example of a recently adopted code with design-based features is the Land Development Code adopted by Louisville, Kentucky in 2003. This zoning code creates "form districts" for Louisville Metro. Each form district intends to recognize that some areas of the city are more sub-urban in nature, while others are more urban. Building setbacks, heights, and design features vary according to the form district. As an example, in a "traditional neighborhood" form district, a maximum setback might be 15 feet (4.6 m) from the property line, while in a suburban "neighborhood" there may be no maximum setback. Since the concept of form based codes is relatively new, this type of zoning may be more challenging to enact.

ZONING ORDINANCES IN UNITED KINGDOM:
The zoning ordinances subdivide the city or town in Districts, each district then authorized with some specified uses, with building heights, bulk/volume, & set back requirements. In British planning no regulatory provision in made for zoning ordinance. They don’t have any general rules of zoning for potential application. However in the absence of any rules the local planning authority studies each zoning application on its merits with respect development plan. Development control or planning control is the element of the United Kingdom's system of town and country planning through which local government regulates land use and new building. It relies on the "plan-led system" whereby development plans are formed and the public consulted. Subsequent development requires planning permission, which will be granted or refused with reference to the development plan as a material consideration. There are 421 Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in the United Kingdom. Generally they are the local borough or district council or a unitary authority. Development involving mining, minerals or waste disposal matters is dealt with by county councils in non-metropolitan areas. Within national parks, it is the National Park Authority that determines planning applications.

ZONING IN AUSTRALIA:
Statutory planning otherwise known as town planning, development control or development management, refers to the part of the planning process that is concerned with the regulation and management of changes to land use and development.[5]

LAND USE CONTROL REGULATION IN JAPAN[6]:
In Japan, the zoning system is considered as the most important element in urban planning. Urban city planning area is divided into two areas: urban promotion area (UPA) and urban control area (UCA). UPA is the area in which the local government is to promote urbanization, and the rest are areas in which urbanization is controlled as UCA. There are a number of areas where zoning is not carried out, depending on the location. The development of such area requires permission from the government. In the UCA, development is basically prohibited, except for special cases such as agriculture and forestry. Japan has twelve different types of zones for commercial, industrial, and residential uses. Basically, Japan has regulations on the types of facilities that can be built in specific areas or specific zones. There are also regulations on floor ratio and building to land ratio.

CITY PLANNING AREA
City planning area is designated in the area to be planned and developed as a comprehensive unit. Approximately 100,000 Km2 or one quarter of the nation’s land (380,000 Km2) is designated as city planning area, which includes about 2,000 cities, towns, and villages. Some 114 million people or 92% of the total population live in the designated city planning area.

URBANIZED AREA AND URBAN CONTROLLED AREA
City Planning Area is divided into the two areas: 1) “Urbanized Area,” which includes existing urbanized areas and areas to be developed within next ten years; and 2) “Urban Controlled Area,” where urbanization is restricted. The urbanized and urban controlled areas are designated within the city planning area, which include three major metropolitan areas and the cities with a population of more than 100,000 persons. The urbanized areas amount to approximately 1.4 million ha in total, which occupies about 4% of the nation’s land area. Approximately 82 million people or 66% of the nation’s population live in the urbanized areas.

DEVELOPMENT PERMISSION
Any development with change of building/land form or use is required to obtain development permission. Technical standard of development permission is regulated in the City Planning Law. Under the Law, most of development actions are generally prohibited in urban controlled areas, with some exceptions. Demarcation of urbanized and urban controlled areas is occasionally reviewed.

LAND USE ZONING ORDINANCE
Land use zoning is designated on the basis of existing land use pattern and its future orientation. The zoning is classified into the three major categories: residential, commercial and industrial uses. There are twelve types of land use zoning. The type of building allowed to be developed is regulated by the zoning ordinance. The floor area ratio and building coverage ratio are also designated by the zoning ordinance. Land use zoning is designated in urbanized area, not in urban controlled area.

ZONING CLASSIFICATION:
The zoning is classified in three categories i.e. Use Zoning, Height Zoning and Density Zoning.

USE ZONING:
In use zoning city is divided into different sections/zones for various specific purposes. The use zoning is classified in six broad categories or sections i.e. Residential Zone, Institutional Zone, Industrial Zone, Civic Zone, Institutional Zone and Recreational Zone.

RESIDENTIAL ZONE:
It is the zone for housing of large number of people. The buildings developed in this zone are, detached single family houses, semidetached houses or duplexes, group housing, chawl, low, medium and high-rise flats or apartments and residential sky scrapers. This zone covers the area 40 to 50% of total away from business or Industrial zones. It needs privacy & use of green belt parks & fast communication facilities.

COMMERCIAL ZONE:
This covers area of 2% to 5%, having market, warehousing, storage spaces, go-downs, business offices, banks & residential spaces for employees. They should be located near traffic, transport & roadside.

INDUSTRIAL ZONE:
This covers area of % to 20%. This is most important zone after residential zone. This is located leeward of the town so that dangerous gases should not affect town population. This zone further divided in four categories i.e. Minor Industries, Light Industries, Medium Industries and Heavy Industries.

MINOR INDUSTRIES:
These are small industries, such as, bakeries, dairies & laundries these can be located near residential zone for the benefit of people.

LIGHT INDUSTRIES:
These are small factories such as glass, porcelain or Ice which only use electric power not solid fuel it’s not much real nuisance, so they can be located at the periphery of town.

MEDIUM INDUSTRIES:
These are large factories or industrial units such as cotton mills, oil mills, sugar mills which produce noisy environment & residential & commercial zone.

HEAVY INDUSTRIES:
These are large manufacturing industries or large heavy duty industrial units such as cement factory, steel factories and fertilizer plants that produce fumes & gases. Therefore these should be located in outskirts away forms town in leeward position.

CIVIC ZONE:
This zone covers area of 2% to 3%. It contains all public building i.e. town hall, courts, libraries, post office museum, auditoriums, banks etc. & housing for employees working there. These should be located at strategy locations where public access should be easier.

INSTITUTIONAL ZONE:
This is again located in a quite zone, having an area of 1% to 2%. It contains schools, college, university, & other research institutes etc.

RECREATIONAL ZONE:
This zone is located / planned with natural elements. This covers 15% to 20%. This provides healthy environment. It includes parks, play grounds, auditoriums, cinemas, theaters etc.

HEIGHT ZONING:
As discussed earlier, the height zoning is quite important for the purpose of good livable environment with appropriate sun light & Air movement. Simultaneously the control over height & volume of the buildings is also necessary for prevention from social evils and aesthetic beauty of the town that includes the cohesiveness among small & large buildings & to satisfy air / ground traffic rules. Because high-rises need specific considerations regarding movement of aero planes and to avoid narrow streets & traffic congestion.

Now there are various methods to control building volume & heights. Such as road widths / Air plane rules, bulk method rules etc.

ACCORDING TO MR. G. K. HIRASKAR:
The first major method to control building heights is through road widths / Air plain rule. Generally it should be 45o to 63.5o from the center of road to roof top edge of the building.

The other major method to control Building heights is bulk volume method in which building volume is controlled by making it equal to the volume of prism; where plinth area is considered as base & height equal to width of road.

=> 1/3 x AREA x HEIGHT

The third important method which is currently applied in most developed & underdeveloped countries are floor space index or (FSI). In this method the total floor area of building is controlled by relating it with the open space in the total plot area. In the building bye laws of KDA (in Karachi) it is termed as FAR or Floor Area Ratio.

The thumb rule in this regard is that “As much as the plot area as less is the covered area and as less is the plot area as much as the covered area”. It means that the covered area is inversely proportionate to plot area. If one read the KDA Building bye laws it will be evident that; for different plot size or at different locations different floor area ratios are applied.

DENSITY ZONING:
The density zoning is mainly related to population density, Gross density & net density; where the population density is population / unit area or acres of land, gross density is average density of population / unit area of residential zone including open spaces, schools, shops & institutions; Net density is average density / unit area of housing & roads.

The objective of density zoning is to control the overcrowding & concentration of population in some particular Area. In density zoning a town planner fix certain standards of gross & net densities for various areas which prohibit the collection of population in any particular zone. Now this control of population is achieved in three ways.

i) Fixing minimum size of plot for each house.
ii) Specifying nos. of houses per unit area.
iii) Fixing the ratio of total plot area v/s total buildup area.

ZONING POWERS:
The zoning power is mainly lying with local development authority, which enforces rules & regulations of zoning & makes changes in it from time to time. The zoning powers are mainly made at a liberal scale & they are not so rigid considering the benefits for the people living in a locality. For instance the existing industries which are not harmful for the health of people they are allowed as “Non-confirming” use even if they are undesirable.

However these industries are not allowed to expand in any case. In addition the policy will be to remove this industry by passage of time subject to provision of facilities in any industrial zone as an alternative. Some times it is necessary to have school, library, community hall, & shopping units in a residential zone. For which special permission is obtained form the local authority. However those factories / industries which produce noise & bad odors or smoke are strictly prohibited. Therefore conclusively the zoning powers are divided in three categories.

i) Uses permitted under “Non-conforming” Types.
ii) Uses which are permitted under “special approval by local authority.
iii) Uses which are strictly prohibited.

Finally the competent zoning authority should enforce zoning powers from time to time otherwise chaos will result in city which is evident in cities now a day. Zoning power is an effective tool available with a town planner to make his town-planning scheme successful.


REFERENCES:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning
[2] E.g., Lefcoe, George, "The Regulation of Superstores: The Legality of Zoning Ordinances Emerging from the Skirmishes between Wal-Mart and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union" (April 2005). USC Law, Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-12; and USC Law and Economics Research Paper No. 05-12. http://www.bmvbs.de/ Town and Country Planning Act 1990
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landuse
[4] http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/zone/zonehis.shtml
[5] Gleeson B. and Low N., Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges, New Agendas, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, 2000.
[6] http://www.gdrc.org/uem/observatory/land-regulation.html

STREET TRAFFIC AND DESIGN

AR-309: ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN PLANNING (A&TP-B)
By:
RAVINDAR KUMAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Planning
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi

LECTURE NO: 20
TOPIC: STREET TRAFFIC AND DESIGN

INTRODUCTION:
If one read the topic ‘Street Traffic and Design’ at a glance the initial thought that comes to mind and would be interpreted as “it is the theme that spells out about the design of traffic in a street.” Whereas; if the topic is carefully read again it can be further interpreted as “to understand about the definition, types, purpose, functions and activities of a street within a built environment, and design of pedestrian and vehicular traffic in it. In the following this second thought and interpretation is further explained in detail. It include; definitions of street, role of street in built environment, circulation within streets, vehicular traffic in streets, parking for vehicles in streets, pedestrian traffic and vehicular amenities in streets, interaction in streets, identity of streets, streets as distinct from other spaces, and finally the nomenclature of streets. In this way it is believed that the students would have a clear perspective about street traffic and design in Town Planning.

DEFINITIONS OF STREET:
A Street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A Street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic. Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.

ROLE OF STREET IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT:
The street is a public easement, one of the few shared between all sorts of people. As a component of the built environment as ancient as human habitation, the street sustains a range of activities vital to civilization. Its roles are as numerous and diverse as its ever-changing cast of characters. Streets can be loosely categorized as main streets and side streets. Main streets are usually broad with a relatively high level of activity. Commerce and public interaction are more visible on main streets, and vehicles may use them for longer-distance travel. Side streets are quieter, often residential in use and character, and may be used for vehicular parking.

CIRCULATION WITHIN STREETS:
Circulation, or less broadly, transportation, is perhaps a street's most visible use, and certainly among the most important. The unrestricted movement of people and goods within a city is essential to its commerce and vitality, and streets provide the physical space for this activity. In the interest of order and efficiency, an effort may be made to segregate different types of traffic. This is usually done by carving a road through the middle for motorists, reserving sidewalks on either side for pedestrians; other arrangements allow for streetcars, trolleys, and even wastewater and rainfall runoff ditches (common in Japan and India).

In the mid-20th century, as the automobile threatened to overwhelm city streets with pollution and ghastly accidents, many urban theorists came to see this segregation as not only helpful but necessary in order to maintain mobility. Le Corbusier, for one, perceived an ever-stricter segregation of traffic as an essential affirmation of social order — a desirable, and ultimately inevitable, expression of modernity. To this end, proposals were advanced to build "vertical streets" where road vehicles, pedestrians, and trains would each occupy their own levels. Such an arrangement, it was said, would allow for even denser development in the future. These plans were never implemented comprehensively, a fact which today's urban theorists regard as fortunate for vitality and diversity. Rather, vertical segregation is applied on a piecemeal basis, as in sewers, utility poles, depressed highways, elevated railways, common utility ducts, the extensive complex of underground malls surrounding Tokyo Station and the Ōtemachi subway station, the elevated pedestrian skyway networks of Minneapolis and Calgary, the underground cities of Atlanta and Montreal, and the multilevel streets in Chicago.

Transportation is often misunderstood to be the defining characteristic, or even the sole purpose, of a street. This has not been the case since the word "street" came to be limited to urban situations, and even in the automobile age, is still demonstrably false. A Street may be temporarily blocked to all through traffic in order to secure the space for other uses, such as a street fair, a flea market, children at play, filming a movie, or construction work. Many streets are bracketed by bollards or Jersey barriers so as to keep out vehicles. These measures are often taken in a city's busiest areas, the "destination" districts, when the volume of activity outgrows the capacity of private passenger vehicles to support it. A feature universal to all streets is a human-scale design that gives its users the space and security to feel engaged in their surroundings, whatever through traffic may pass.

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC IN STREETS:
Despite this, the operator of a motor vehicle may (incompletely) regard a street as merely a thoroughfare for vehicular travel or parking. As far as concerns the driver, a street can be one-way or two-way: vehicles on one-way streets may travel in only one direction, while those on two-way streets may travel both ways. One way streets typically have signs reading "ONE WAY" and an arrow showing the direction of allowed travel. Most two-way streets are wide enough for at least two lanes of traffic. Which lane is for which direction of traffic depends on what country the street is located in. On broader two-way streets, there is often a center line marked down the middle of the street separating those lanes on which vehicular traffic goes in one direction from other lanes in which traffic goes in the opposite direction. Occasionally, there may be a median strip separating lanes of opposing traffic. If there is more than one lane going in one direction on a main street, these lanes may be separated by intermittent lane lines marked on the street pavement. Side streets often do not have center lines or lane lines.

PARKING FOR VEHICLES IN STREETS:
Many streets, especially side streets in residential areas, have an extra lane's width on either or both sides for parallel parking. Most minor side streets allowing free parallel parking do not have pavement markings designating the parking lane. Main streets more often have parking lanes marked. Some streets are too busy or narrow for parking on the side. Sometimes parking on the sides of streets is allowed only at certain times. Curbside signs often state regulations about parking. Some streets, particularly in business areas, may have parking meters into which coins must be paid to allow parking in the adjacent space for a limited time. Other parking meters work on a credit card and ticket basis or pay and display. Parking lane markings on the pavement may designate the meter corresponding to a parking space. Some wide streets with light traffic allow angle parking.

PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC AND VEHICULAR AMENITIES IN STREETS:
Where vehicular traffic is allowed on a street, traffic and parking regulatory signs are often placed near the sides. Bordering the driving/parking sides of many urban streets, there are curbs. Usually, there are strips of land beyond the driving/parking parts of the streets owned by the government entity owning the streets. Sidewalks are often located on these public land strips beyond the curbs on one or usually both sides of the street. There may be an unpaved strip of land between the vehicle-drivable part of the street and the sidewalk on either side of the street, which can be called the parkway or tree lawn. Grass and trees are often grown there for landscaping the sides of the street. Alternatively, there may be openings in wider sidewalks in which trees grow.

Streets are often lighted at night with streetlights, which are typically located far overhead on tall poles. Beyond these public strips of land are bordered the front of lots commonly owned by private parties. Practically all public streets in Western countries and the majority elsewhere (though not in Japan; see Japanese addressing system) are given a street name or at least a number to identify them and any addresses located along the streets. Alleys typically do not have names. The length of a lot of land along a street is referred to as the frontage of the lot.

INTERACTION IN STREETS:
A Street may assume the role of a town square for its regulars. Jane Jacobs, an economist and prominent urbanist, wrote extensively on the ways that interaction among the people who live and work on a particular street—"eyes on the street"—can reduce crime, encourage the exchange of ideas, and generally make the world a better place.

IDENTITY OF STREETS:
A Street can often serve as the catalyst for the neighborhood's prosperity, culture and solidarity. New Orleans’ Bourbon Street is famous not only for its active nightlife but also for its role as the center of the city’s French Quarter. Similarly, the Bowery has at various times been New York City's main highway, theater district, red-light district, skid row, restaurant supply district, and the center of the nation's underground punk scene. Madison Avenue and Fleet Street are so strongly identified with their respective most famous types of commerce, that their names are sometimes applied to firms located elsewhere. Other streets mark divisions between neighborhoods of a city. For example, Yonge Street divides Toronto into east and west sides, and East Capitol Street divides Washington, D.C. into north and south. Streets also tend to aggregate establishments of similar nature and character.

East 9th Street in Manhattan, for example, offers a cluster of Japanese restaurants, clothing stores, and cultural venues. In Washington, D.C., 17th Street and P Street are well-known as epicenters of the city's (relatively small) gay culture. Many cities have a Radio Row or Restaurant Row. This phenomenon is the subject of urban location theory in economics. Similarly in Karachi there are various streets with an identity such as recent food streets developed at Burns road and boating basin area. Other examples may include Bottle Gali, Resham Gali of Hyderabad and Larkana etc.

STREETS AS DISTINCT FROM OTHER SPACES:
A road, like a street, is often paved and used for travel. However, a street is characterized by the degree and quality of street life it facilitates, whereas a road serves primarily as a through passage for road vehicles or (less frequently) pedestrians. Buskers, beggars, boulevardiers, patrons of sidewalk cafés, peoplewatchers, streetwalkers, and a diversity of other characters are habitual users of a street; the same people would not typically be found on a road. In rural and suburban environments where street life is rare, the terms "street" and "road" are frequently considered interchangeable. Still, even here, what is called a "street" is usually a smaller thoroughfare, such as a road within a housing development feeding directly into individual driveways. In the last half of the 20th century these streets often abandoned the tradition of a rigid, rectangular grid, and instead were designed to discourage through traffic. This and other traffic calming methods provided quiet for families and play space for children. Adolescent suburbanites find, in attenuated form, the amenities of street life in shopping malls where vehicles are forbidden. If a road connects places, then a street connects people. One may "hit the road" to see the wonders of the world—Jack Kerouac famously chronicled one such journey—but the latest bling will "hit the streets" before it ever appears on a road. It is "on the street" where one hears an interesting rumor, where one bumps into an old acquaintance, where one acquires smarts. One seldom sees a "road" vendor except of fresh produce, or a "road" performer. You'll never find yourself on a long "street" to nowhere or under assault by a violent "road" gang; hence politicians seldom view with alarm the prevalence of "crime in the roads". The street, not the road is home to the homeless unless they are hoboes, and even Kerouac's hero finally returned to find his friends on a New York street. A town square or plaza is a little more likes a street, but a town square is rarely paved with asphalt and may not make any concessions for through traffic at all.

NOMENCLATURE OF STREETS:
There is a haphazard relationship, at best, between a thoroughfare's function and its name. For example, London's Abbey Road serves all the vital functions of a street, despite its name, and locals are more apt to refer to the "street" outside than the "road". A desolate road in rural Montana, on the other hand, may bear a sign proclaiming it "Davidson Street", but this does not make it a "street" except in the original sense of a paved road. In the United Kingdom many towns will refer to their main thoroughfare as the High Street (in the United States it would be called the Main Street — however, occasionally "Main Street" in a city or town is a street other than the de facto main thoroughfare), and many of the ways leading off it will be named "Road" despite the urban setting. Thus the town's so-called "Roads" will actually be more street-like than a road. Some streets may even be seen as highways. Hurontario Street in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is commonly referred to as "Highway 10" — even though such a highway designation no longer officially exists. This is probably due to the fact that the street is a modern suburban arterial that was urbanized after decades of having the status and function a true highway, so people continued to use the number because of force of habit.

In some other English-speaking countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, cities are often divided by a main "Road," with "Streets" leading from this "Road", or are divided by thoroughfares known as "Streets" or "Roads" with no apparent differentiation between the two. In Auckland, for example, the main shopping precinct is around Queen Street and Karangahape Road. Streets have existed for as long as humans have lived in permanent settlements. However, modern civilization in much of the New World developed around transportation provided by motor vehicles.

In some parts of the English-speaking world, such as North America, many think of the street as a thoroughfare for vehicular traffic first and foremost. In this view, pedestrian traffic is incidental to the street's purpose; a street consists of a thoroughfare running through the middle (in essence, a road), and may or may not have sidewalks along the sides. In an even narrower sense, some may think of a street as only the vehicle-driven and parking part of the thoroughfare. Thus, sidewalks and tree lawns would not be thought of as part of the street. A mother may tell her toddlers "Don't go out into the street, so you don't get hit by a car."

Among urban residents of the English-speaking world, the word appears to carry its original connotations (i.e. the facilitation of traffic as a prime purpose, and "street life" as an incidental benefit). For instance, a New York Times writer lets casually slip the observation that automobile-laden Houston Street is "a street that can hardly be called 'street' anymore, transformed years ago into an eight-lane raceway that alternately resembles a NASCAR event and a parking lot." Published in the paper's Metro section, the article evidently presumes an audience with an innate grasp of the modern urban role of the street. To the readers of the Metro section, vehicular traffic does not reinforce, but rather detracts from, the essential "street-ness" of a street. At least one map has been made to illustrate the geography of naming conventions for thoroughfares; street, avenue, boulevard, circle, and other suffixes are contrasted against one another.

CONCLUSION:
Conclusively it is believed that by reading all above description of streets and its characteristics and use the readers would have pretty clear idea or background knowledge for street traffic and design in any town planning exercise.

REFERENCE:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street

COMMUNICATION (ROADS, RAILWAYS, AIRPORTS AND HARBORS)

AR-309: ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN PLANNING (A&TP-B)
By
RAVINDAR KUMAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Planning
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi

LECTURE NO: 16, 17, 18, and 19
TOPIC: COMMUNICATION (ROADS, RAILWAYS, AIRPORTS AND HARBORS)

INTRODUCTION:
Cities are the engines of our civilization, where specialized services are available for our living, working and recreation. It is a grave reality that no city can be termed as a good city which does not possess efficient communication system. Without good communication system even the concept of city can not be comprehended. It is such integral part of city which shapes the city dynamics & makes its morphology. Communication is the basis of the existence of city. It is the means of communication which defines the significance of any city.

According to John Rat Cliffe[1], “The greater the degree of specialization, development & growth in society, the greater the degree of dependence among urban activities, the greater the extent of movement between them; this movement and communication in city thus determines the location of activities and the use of land”.

Keeping this statement in mind it is quite significant for a physical land use planner to understand the means of communication within a city and location of activities accordingly or more appropriately it can be said that efficient communication is the key to direct landuse patterns in the city. Therefore the understanding of communication systems is a prerequisite for a good planner.

The second major perspective on communication is that, “Perhaps the greatest single factor upon which the success of human organizations depends is the ability to communicate. The revolution brought about by the development of communication means has had profound affects upon human society”.[2]

Because communication increased the centralization in business and government; they have stretched the vision of the communities and amalgamated culture, arts and techniques and regional communications facilities with all other national endeavors. The national, regional and local authorities always stress upon city planners to provide the components of communication in urban plans because by its very nature the means of communication makes the nervous system of the city.

Thus the aforementioned perspectives on communication lead us to variety of issues and the depth that possessed within the term communication itself.

The term communication, may refer to transportation, whether, road network, railways, airways or water ways. Communication may also refer to telephone, radio, telegraph, television, internet, mobiles & fax. The term communication can also be defined with respect to news papers, magazines, Journals, reports, books, professional papers and bulletin. However, the focus in current discussion is to evaluate communication as a whole in the urban planning context and a special stress is given to communication with respect to transportation.

COMMUNICATION WITH REFERENCE TO TRANSPORTATION:
For an appropriate and rapid growth and development of a city a good network of roads, railways, airways & waterways quite essential. As the parks, gardens & open spaces are the “lungs” of the city. Similarly roads & railways are the arteries of the city & Airways & waterways bring the blood circulation or the trade & commerce to the city. The layout of roads & railway within a city is determined by zones within a city, where as types of roads determines the shape & size of hosing plots. Thus the roads & streets plan can be considered as the foundation of a town plan.

RETROSPECT OF COMMUNICATION & TRANSPORT:
Similarly Airways, Waterways & Railways provides the reason for existence to the city. In early times, the transport was on head-loaded and animal loaded such as horses, bullocks, camels, mules & elephants etc. Then emerged the animal driven vehicles like bullock carts & Tonga’s in which the speed & carrying capacity was limited. Then with the invention of stream engine local trains came into being & there occurs mass transportation of goods & passengers. Then with electricity trains started running on roads & then emerged automobile industry & become the popular means of transportation due to high speed & flexibility. Then cities become crowded with these automobiles & all the open lands in cities are utilized for Railways, Tube Railways & Rapid Transit system. In all these development road system was always been the major aspect of transport system and in developed countries auto mobile population now reached up to half of the human population. Where as the space requirements of these automobiles become more than human beings themselves, & roads have failed to fit in with the requirements of vehicles. Thus the transportation problems are quite evident in each growing city.

ROADS & ROAD NETWORK:
The principle element of communication & transportation is Road.

FUNCTION & NECESSITY:
Roads has four basic functions i.e. Movement of People & Goods, Access to Residential Places, Provision of Air & Light to Building & Provision of Services & Utilities both over head & underground.[3]

CLASSIFICATION IN GENERAL:
The classification of roads occurs on four variables i.e. type of construction gives us names like, Earth, Murum Roads, Mettle Roads, Asphalt Roads and Concrete Roads. The jurisdictions give us names like Local Road, District Roads, State Highways, & National High Ways. Shape geometry defines roads like, rectangular road, ring road, diagonal road, radial road & circular road. The function of road gives us names like, residential road, commercial road or avenue, promenade (along sea side or natural feature) boulevard and park ways.

CLASSIFICATION IN URBAN CONTEXT:
Apart from these classifications the urban roads are classified specifically in four categories as per their significance. These include, arterial roads, secondary or sub-arterial roads, local roads & other roads. Arterial roads are those which connect the town with state highway or national highway. They pass through the city and made for fast moving traffic with heavy load of passengers & goods. They are especially planned straight by avoiding sharp curves with not less than 25-30 meters width. Secondary or sub arterial roads are known as major roads of city connecting major parts of the city. They are especially designed for comparatively slow moving traffic and act as link between arterial roads & local roads. The local roads are known as minor roads to provide access to buildings. They are not linked. They are not lined with arterial roads & processes no through traffic. They are especially designed as per contours of land with minimum 7-10 meters width. The other urban roads are bypass roads, outer & inner ring roads, express ways & free ways. The bypass roads are those which are made to avoid congested city areas, to increase the speed of vehicles with smooth flow & to save time & fuel. They are also known as loop-roads. The outer & inner ring roads are in the form of ring within & surrounding town to divert through traffic from city & act as bypass & reduce the traffic congestion from town. The express ways mainly function as arterial roads within mega cities to accommodate growth of traffic. They are especially designed with easy gradients & smooth curves to carry speedy & safe traffic & do not form a part of regular street system. They are comparable next to railway in cost and capacity of traffic. Free ways are special routes to carry fast moving traffic. They are specifically designed with high standard of alignment, clear visibility, wide carriage way, easy gradient & smooth curves; the free ways function as arterial roads passing around city with controlled access.

METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS:
Another major element of communication and transport is Railways & Rail Network. It is an evident fact that, railways gave impetus to industrial revolution, where as metropolitan railway was been a significant element of city today. It is a grave reality that, urban rail transport has played an important role and will continue to play a vital part in creating & sustaining the cities of today & tomorrow

DEFINITION & MEANING:
The term ‘Metropolitan Railways’ covers a great variety of facilities; Primarily it includes rapid transit facilities of railway which includes self contained right of way and stations located below & above ground level. The metropolitan railways are primarily designed to handle relatively heavy volumes of inner urban and suburban traffic over medium distance. Its major advantage is of higher speed (Commercial Speed) if compared with other public transport on congested roads of city. Its only disadvantage is the longer walks to and form stations.

TYPES & CLASSIFICATION:
“The metropolitan railways can be divided in various types, system & classifications. i.e. subways, underground, Metro, Metropolitano, U. Bahn, Tunnel – Bahn & S. B. Hahn Systems”.[4] These types & classification of metropolitan railways are based on speed facilities & mode of transport in each context. For instance the faster urban railways are related to main line suburban railways such as S. Bahn, Reseau Express Regional etc. Such as underground street cars, pre-metro, U-strassen bahn etc. in addition to there are some non typical modes of urban railway such as funicular and these are also known as inner-urban rapid transit facilities.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS:
After this brief background of metropolitan railways it is necessary to understand the modern development in the metropolitan railways. Basically there are four types of development occurred in metropolitan railways i.e. S. Bahn System, underground street cars, Non typical modes & subways.

S. BAHN SYSTEMS:
“S. Bahn” is a German term which is originally derived from the from the metropolitan railways system in Berlin. The original terminology of “S. Bahn”, emerged from “Stadt–Ring–und–Vorvobahnen”[5] which means, “city, circle and suburban railways”. However, it would be inconvenient to pronounce the term in totality therefore “S. Bahn” emerged as a generic term”. It denotes those railways that are associated with the suburban sections of the main lines. The S. Bahn systems mainly developed to promote the growth of conurbations or suburban growth. They are used to support the suburban commuter traffic along the radial lines to the central areas. Secondly these are developed to segregate the suburban and long distance railway services. With this system the commuters become able to reach their in town destination without any change. The S. Bahn Systems are also termed as cross links & inner urban transport due to their similarly of function with spaced stations & higher commercial speed. The S. Bahn systems developed in various mega cities of the world such as there are two links in Berlin and Hamburg, the junction lines in Brussels, S – Bane in Copenhagen, Schnell bahn in Vienna, Blue trains in Glasgow, new S. Bahn in Munich & Frankfurt. Similarly there are advanced S. Bahn System are built Ruhr region of Germany i.e. in Stuttgart, Manchester, Liver Pool & Melbourne.

UNDERGROUND STREET CARS:
The concept of underground street can mainly developed in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Oslo and Vienna. Basically underground street cars are developed to distinguish between subways and conventional street cars along the surface roads on the basis of speed & capacity scales. The underground street cars are promoted for “in-town tunnel sections” operations with or without signaling systems. These are also termed as short capacity. Though there is a great decline in underground street cars all over the world, however in Germany & Belgium these are mainly developed with an intension to serve as an intermediate stage to a full-fledged subway. Furthermore the concept of underground street cars can be understood with the notion that these are the low capacity underground railways which are intended to achieve sped and to save energy & resources.

NON TYPICAL MODES OF METROPOLITAN RAILWAY:
In few cases urban transport demands for non typical modes of Metropolitan Railway due to some geographical or topographical reasons; from these non typical modes of metropolitan railway the prominent examples are of “Schwebebahn above the river of Wuppertal, the funicular railways in Haifa & Istanbul and the rack railways Lausanne–Quehy etc”[6]. Mainly the list of non typical modes of Railways shall continue in the future due to revived modes of rail transport, however at present the mono-rails of various types & hover trains are few more examples of non typical modes of metropolitan railway.

METROPOLITAN SUBWAYS:
The metropolitan railways have always been termed as “fringe mode of transport”. From these fringe modes there is a great majority of subways or rapid transit railways. As the cities began to spread & the streets & road became increasingly congested the need arose for faster & unencumbered in town railways which were primarily designed to cope with heavy volumes of inner-urban traffic to heavily build up areas of city center. These rapid transit railways or sub ways were built booth above & below the ground. In many cases these in town subways or elevated railway lines were later extended to suburban areas. Initially these rapid-transit facilities were confined to only metropolitan cities, however later on it was also developed in smaller size cities due to three basic reasons. i.e. growth of traffic congestion in streets & roads, due to geographical and topographical reasons & due to concentration of commuter traffic on few corridors of city. The cities of Stockholm & Helsinki are the examples of such smaller cities where threes subways developed. Currently it is world wide recognized that, rapid transit facilities are most efficient means of moving great number of people safely & quickly through congested urban areas. Secondly the rapid transit facilities are not only of direct benefit to the passengers using them but it is also significant for community at large. Because it helps to alleviate street congestion, promote mobility of labor and revitalize the central business districts which are endangered with congestion & pollution. As the construction and operation of rapid–transit facilities is a mega project of mega activity; therefore increasingly it is regarded as the task of public authorities. Because the capital cost of such projects is quite huge & one can not insist on its commercial viability. However in recent years large corporate institutions & international funding agencies like World Bank are also interested in such project. Therefore there established such concepts like BOOT (Built, Own, Operate & Transfer) or BOT (Built, Operate & Transfer) through which such projects are made in even developing countries.

RETROSPECT OF SUBWAY DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD:
The first subways developed in 1863 in London which was stream operated. However after the advent of electrification soon the subway become universal mode of traction. With the passage of time there occurred technical & progressive improvement in subways. Such as Tunneling method greatly improved all kinds of tunnels i.e. deep level, open & covered, rock tunneling etc. Similarly rolling stock & performance improved with some innovations like rubber-tried traction, signaling & telecommunication. Through modern electronics highly sophisticated automatic train operation & fare collection process came into being. The track capacities also varied to great extent. For instance the track capacity reached up to 40 trains per hour however; for greater reliability & lower maximum facilities around thirty to thirty six trains per hour are often preferred. There train capacity also improved greatly with design and number of cars with crush load capacity of 1500 passengers per train or more during a full peak. Similarly the commercial speed depends on station spacing, rolling stock and performance which range from 15 to 25 miles per hour or 22 to 40 kilometer per hour. “In March 1973 rapid transit facilities of subway type metropolitan railway were in operation in thirty eight cities of the world. In addition to that, new rapid transit lies of subway type were under construction or in advance state of planning in 28 cities. Similarly at least twenty other cities have plans for rapid transit facilities”.[7] It also includes the city of Karachi Pakistan. Following are some interesting facts regarding subways development in the world. Among existing subway systems, London has greatest route length over 250 miles or 400 kilometers. Moscow had largest number of passengers approximately 1500 millions per annum. New York has greatest number of stations nearly 500, vehicles over 7000 and staff of 27000.

AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:
“Since 1952 world air passenger traffic has been increasing at the rate of 14.5 percent annually where as air freight traffic is increasing by 17.5 percent annually”.[8] It is a grave reality that growth of air transport effects the development of regional & national economics and promotes International trade. The travel & tourism industries are also a major influence on national economics and constitute the most valuable parameter of international trade.

TYPES OF AIR TRAFFIC:
Basically there are two major types of air traffic. i.e. air carrier traffic and general aviation. The details of which is as follows:

AIR CARRIER TRAFFIC:
These types of air traffic usually related to public sector of air transport industry which offer air services as regular scheduled services or as non-scheduled or on charter basis services for the carriage of both international & domestic passengers & freight traffic.

GENERAL AVIATION:
This type of air traffic covers all the other civil aviation which serves the specific private users, such as Business & Personal travel, agricultural spraying, aerial survey or self piloted recreational flying.

AIR TRAFFIC GROWTH:
One of the significant elements of air ways & air transport is growth of air traffic which causes both positive and negative impacts. For instance the advantage of air traffic growth is reduction in cost of air travel; which cause progressive improvements in air craft performance in terms of increase in pay load, speed and range. Where as the disadvantages of air traffic growth & increasing size and performance of the air craft are growing problems of airport congestion, loss of amenity and congestion of ground transportation between airports in major urban centers. Furthermore the planning implications of the size and location of major airports affects the size, location and traffic pattern of urban and regional transportation facilities. Additionally, a major airport is often a major feature in the local economy and becomes a strong determinant of local land use pattern & distribution of population and employment.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN AIRWAYS & AIR TRANSPORT:
It is an evident fact that, continued growth in air traffic and airport congestion creates an interest for the development of “Short take off – and – landing (STOL) and “Vertical – take off – and – landing (VTOL) air craft for wide spread use of air carriers. The commercial “STOL” and “VTOL” air craft would be smaller than the conventional short haul air crafts and would operate on inner city routes or forum special air ports which are more centrally located within a city. This it would reduce the travel time from city center to a major air port. The adoption of “STOL” and “VTOL” serve better if new short landing strips, air corridors and approach paths are developed separate from those used by conventional air craft. Currently the operating & development cost of STOL and VTOL is high than conventional air traveling. However in future, the further improvements in technology shall help to remove this difference and their may be tough competition. It is quite evident that the size of air craft shall increase in future for medium and long haul services. Whereas; it is uncertain that what would be the impact of super sonic passenger services.

AIRPORTS & ITS DEVELOPMENT:
The basic premise of an efficient air ways transport is air port & its development. Without understanding the air port & its development the concept of air ways & air transport can not be comprehended. Basically these are three major aspects of regarding air port & its development. i.e. Function, Location and Facilities and Airport.

FUNCTIONS OF AN AIRPORT:
The primary function of an airport is to provide safe & efficient means of interchange between air transportation and ground transportation. Secondly the airport is the center from which control is exercised over air traffic on defined air routes and on approaches to air ports. The airports differ in terms of size, nature of traffic handled and the types of air traffic control. “In USA the federal aviation authority (FAA) developed a classification of urban areas with respect to air traffic hub or the number of passenger handled at the airport”[9].

LOCATION OF AN AIRPORT:

The total land area required for an airport is based on three major determinants.

a) Nature and Scale of traffic handled and its rate of growth.

b) Physical and climatic characteristics of site.

c) Performance characteristics of current & future air crafts i.e. number, length and configuration of run ways required.

Similarly, for the acceptable location of airports there are three significant operational factors.

a) Air traffic control requirements i.e. minimal interference to and from traffic control operations of neighboring airports.

b) Height obstructions and other navigational hazards, i.e. tall buildings, smoke and birds.

c) Prevalent weather conditions including wind distribution and incidence of flog and snow.

Apart from these operational factors there are also some significant planning & social factors which affects the location of an airport. For instance:

a) The location of airport requires a balance between danger & noise disturbance.

b) Provision of good accessibility from the center of population it serves.

c) Travel time and costs of surface transport to the airport.

d) Connection to rapid transit system, highways and public private transport etc.

PLANNING & DESIGN OF AIRPORT FACILITIES:
From the view point of planning & designing of an airport facility one of the important goal is to arrange free flow of passengers and goods. There shall be a balance of capacity throughout in all facilities in airport; so as the risk of congestion may be minimized; because the congestion may affect the operating efficiency of entire airport complex. There are two types of functional areas within an airport i.e. Operational Areas or “Air Side Areas” and Terminal Areas or “Land Side Areas”.

AIR SIDE AREAS:
These include such facilities as runways, taxiways and aircrafts holding areas. In the design & performance of these facilities special care is given to system of air traffic control which determines the operational capacity of an airport, and the servicing and maintenance areas or the operational buildings of the airport.

LAND SIDE AREAS:
Primarily these include such buildings & facilities which provide a means of inter change for both passengers and goods or between ground transport and air transport. The design concepts for land side areas evolved from simple low capacity terminal buildings to high capacity layouts which are popularly termed as “Finger Terminals”. The current design concept is to decentralize certain functions such as, ticketing, baggage handling & passenger waiting & sorting areas into a separate smaller units or satellites. Secondly it is the main design criteria to provide the passenger terminals with a convenient and efficient access to both public & private land transport to adequate parking facilities by avoiding long walking distances within terminals. Thirdly now it is mandatory that, there shall be efficient baggage handling & smooth processing of passengers through governmental controls i.e. Customers, Immigration & Health. Finally a flexible layout that can accommodate rapid technological change & expression is a pre-requisite of contemporary airport design.

ROLE OF A CIVIL ENGINEER IN AIRPORT DESIGN:
According to “Professor A. K. Bhatti”[10] who describes in his book, “Town Planning for the Third World”, that, “A Civil Engineer has nothing to do any thing about the design & manufacture of an aircraft nor about its navigation as such; However, he is expected to do all about its landing and the accommodation of all the activities which are to be carried out with respect to the passenger and the cargo service. He has to design structurally very strong & durable pavement for very heavy wheel-loads of the aircraft. The present day airport design therefore involves various aspects of civil engineering. i.e. pavements, roads leading to airport, storm water drainage, water supply, building, hangers and a number of installations.” Thus a civil engineer is responsible for basic infrastructure for an airport and his responsibility is quite high with respect to security of passengers.

WATER WAYS, SEA PORTS, HARBORS & DOCKS:
It is a grave reality that, the economic planning of any region is profoundly based on the availability of commercial docks and harbors in the area because at micro scale it affects the Land use of an urban area & at macro scale location of major urban centers depends upon it.

NEED OF PORTS & HARBOR:
The Sea Ports are mainly required to boost any economy essentially for import & export of goods and due to increase in trade & commerce. Especially there is an abject need of deep water berths & dry are steadily increasing in size and dead weight of minimum 45000 tons. Apart from that there is a greater demand of docks & seaports due to oil cargo which cause phenomenal expansion of ports all over the western world.

RETROSPECT OF PORTS & HARBOR:
The earlier largest port of the world is developed at Rotterdam, for such vessels mentioned above; however after the Second World War harbors & seaports were rebuilt to accommodate the larger ships of at least 100000 tons dead weight. It is necessary to mentioned here, that after the construction of under water oil pipe lines the need for such larger ports reduced to greater extent throughout the world. However; whenever such pipelines are in evident the demand for larger ports increases.

IMPACTS OF PORT & HARBOR:
The major impact of large seaports emerges at the dockyard area in the city; because it creates congestion & change in landuse to evident need for large storage space and in land or up country transport facilities.

EFFICIENCY OF PORT & HARBOR:
The in land transport system contributes greatly to port efficiency because it is necessary to make earlier arrangements for delivery of exports & collection of impact from the docks as efficient as possible. Another major issue regarding sea ports and docks is the shift of goods transport from railways to roadways. It requires quite profound adjustments. A planner must make constant surveillance of the reversal of these trends and the landuse potentials around the port so as the surrounding sites can be utilized for taking best economic advantage.

DEFINITIONS OF PORT & HARBOR:
Furthermore, according to, “Akhter. K. Bhatti”[11], Harbor is an area of the sea so protected naturally or artificially, as to afford shelter and refuge to the vessels during storms. Thus it signifies the security provided by harbor to vessels. A harbor can also be termed as a place where vessels could be built, launched or repaired and where ships could lie at an anchor with safety & security during loading & un-loading operation of cargo & people.

PORT & HARBOR CLASSIFICATION:
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a harbor is a partly enclosed protected water area to provide safe and suitable accommodation for vessels seeking refuge, supplies, refueling, repairs or the transfer of cargo. Whereas; port is a terminus or an intermediate station in the sea-route port more appropriately it can be said that, “when terminal facilities are added to a harbor it can be termed as port”. The classification of harbors & ports can be made on three basic determinants, i.e. Nature, Function & Location.

NATURAL CLASSIFICATION:
The natural classification of harbor is of three types. i.e. Natural Harbor, Semi-natural Harbor & Artificial Harbor.

NATURAL HARBOR:
It is the harbor which is protecting from storms and waves through natural land contours & rocky out crops or Islands. The basic issue in natural harbor design is the formation of its entrance in such a manner to ensure calm in the harbor. The harbors of New York, London, Sydney & Bombay can be cited as natural harbors.

SEMI-NATURAL HARBOR:
It is the harbor which is protected on sides by head land i.e. Cape, Peninsula, Cliff, Bluff etc. The Semi-Natural Harbor may be in the form of Ply month or pocket in which the design issue is to protect only the entrance of harbor for navigation.

ARTIFICIAL HARBOR:
It is the man made harbor, which is protected from storms and waves through break water (i.e. which breaks the speed limit of waves). The artificial harbor can be created or design through dredging and for protection or break water a rubble mound or vertical wall is made.

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION:
The functional classification of harbor is again of three types, i.e. Commercial Harbor, Military Harbor and Harbor of Refuge.

COMMERCIAL HARBOR:
From economic point of view the commercial harbor is most significant of all harbor types because its main function is to accommodate mercantile marine, for loading / unloading of cargo and for transaction of trade. The commercial harbors have special requirements of docks, quays, transit sheds, ware housing, overhauling machinery and means of communication such as roads & railways. The commercial harbors are mainly developed long sea cots, mouth of rivers, inside estuaries and inside or along banks of rivers & canals. Most of the time commercial harbors are either the part of a bigger harbor complex or make independently as units of single commodity terminals such as oil terminal, coal port, ore port or fishery harbor for fishing trawlers. Some of the significant examples of these specialized unit purpose commercial harbors are Karachi Port, Bin Qasim, Gwadar Port, Sydney Port, San Francisco, London, & New York Harbors.

MILITARY HARBOR:
The military harbor is also known as naval Bas. The main purpose of military harbor is obviously to accommodate, Naval Crafts & to serve as a supply depot. The significant examples of Military Harbor are Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. In case of Karachi & Bombay the harbors are essentially a commercial complex with oil terminals, general cargo births and a naval base which is the unique examples.

HARBOR OF REFUGE:
Such harbors which provide shelter & security to vessels in case of sudden storms are known as harbors of Refuge. These harbors are developed & located along dangerous coast with easily accessible stations. There are three basic requirements of harbors of refuge i.e. ready accessibility, sea & commodious anchorage and facilities for obtaining supplies & to execute minor repairs. The size of refuge harbor is based on maximum number of ships to be accommodated and the size of largest vessels likely to visit the harbor. The harbor of refuge also used as naval bases during war times & equipped with adequate means of defense. The popular examples of Refuge harbors are, Sand Bay Harbor, on eastern coast of USA and outer harbor of Madras and Vishakhapatnam which are both refuge & commercial harbors.

LOCATION CLASSIFICATION:
From location view point harbors can be classified in four basic types. It includes sea or ocean harbor, river & estuary harbor, canal harbor and Lake Harbor.

HARBOR REQUIREMENTS & MAIN FEATURES:
There are six basic requirements of harbors and ten basic features. The harbor requirements includes, easy access, adequate accommodation, safe anchorage, repair facilities, supplies facilities and other requirements as Jetties, Breaths, Transit Sheds, Ware Housing, Cranes, Hotels, Banks, Post Office, Roads & Railways. The main feature of harbor are, appropriate entrance, approach channels both inner & outer, turning basin, Shelter Basin, Break waters, Wharves and Quays, Jetties & Piers, Lock & Located Basin, Dry Docks and Slipway and Ancillaries, including locating moorings, anchor, lights, transit shed ware housing, fire protection towers etc.

PLANNING & DESIGN OF HARBORS:
There are four major factors or determinants of harbor provision in a city. These include need, economic justification, expected volume of commerce and inland communication availability. The need of harbor primarily emerges due to military reasons. i.e. Naval Base or Air Base. Secondly the growth of town may reach to such extent when foreign trade & commerce become an abject need of city. Thirdly if the city, start producing certain products or commodity which requires to be exported then port develops. For instance port Bin Qasim in Karachi developed due to steel mill in the city. The economic justification is evaluated on the basis of income and social benefits above the capital cost & operating cost of harbor. The expected volume of commerce required extensive studies & surveys of city & its hinter lands produce. The inland communication availability is judged by existing roads, rail, air and inland waterway transportation system. For the decision regarding location of harbor various types of data is collected. It includes, site investigation, hydrographic charts, which consists information about depth of water, character of bottom and range of tides. The other data includes winds movement, temperature and rainfall, aerial contour mapping, etc. The final site selection is based on maximum natural protection from wind & waves, water depth to accommodate large ships, appropriate sea bed which could ship anchors with less capital, maintenance and dredging cost. After selection of site next step is to develop port layout & cost estimates. Though there is no specific rule to make the layout of the harbor; however the planner must consider the littoral drift, protection from storm water, wharves & jetties, and erosion and siltation process.

CONCLUSION:
On the basis of aforementioned discussions following conclusions are drawn. The term communication addresses a wide range of phenomenon; however for a Civil Engineer it is necessary to understand it from the view point of transportation & especially in an urban context. With respect to transportation in urban context communication deals with, road ways & road network, metropolitan rail ways, air ways & air transport, and finally water ways, sea ports, harbors, and docks. All communication modes in an urban context have its own dynamics and details. For instance the primary element in urban context is the roads and their classification. Secondly the metropolitan rail ways has become an especially domain of communication in urban context. It includes, S. Bahn Systems, Underground Street Cars, Non Typical Modes of Metropolitan Railway and Subways. Thirdly it is quite necessary that in urban context how the system of airways, air transport and air ports works. In these respect types of air traffic its growth and future development of air ways & air transport is very significant. Especially the air port & its development in an urban context is quite vital issue to be understood. It includes, function, location planning & design of airport facilities and role of a civil engineer in it. Finally with respect to cities of large size which are located along sea or ocean, rivers & estuaries, canals & lakes the major element of communication is Harbor, Sea port and Waterways. In this regard a civil engineer must understand the dynamics of harbors which includes its need, impact, types, classification, planning, design & construction of harbors.

REFERENCES:
[1] John Rat Cliff is the author of book “An Introduction to Town & Country Planning”, 1974, Published by Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd, 3 Fitzroy Square London WI, United Kingdom.
[2] For details please see, Arnold Whittick, “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” Published b McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974, USA.
[3] For details please see, G.K. Hiraskar, “Fundamentals of Town Planning”, 1993, Published by; Dhanpat Rai & Sons, Nai Sarak, Delhi 11006 India.
[4] For Details please see, “Metropolitan Railways”, by “Erwin Rock well, “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” by, Arnold Whittick, 1974, Published by McGraw-Hill book Company, New York, USA.
[5] Ibid No. 4
[6] Ibid No: 4.
[7] Ibid No: 4.
[8] For details please see, David Briggs, “Air Transport”, “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning by Arnold Whittick, Published by Mc Grew-Hill Book Company, New York USA.
[9] Ibid No: 8.
[10] Professor “Akhtar K. Bhatti”, was Professor of Civil Engineering at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan, & Author of the book, “Town Planning for the Third World”, 1993, Published by Feroz sons (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi Pakistan.
[11] Professor “Akhtar. K. Bhatti”, was Professor of Civil Engineering at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan, & Author of the book, “Town Planning for the Third World”, 1993, Published by Feroz Sons (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi Pakistan.