Environmental Sensitivity of Planning Practices in Bangladesh vis-à-vis Evolution of Planning Theories

Bangladesh has a long history of physical planning. It started with blueprint-based master planning approach in the 1950s. Since the late 1970s, it has slowly shifted to the rational planning approach following the path laid down by the United Kingdom. Lately, infusion of the North American planning thoughts is observed. Thus, Bangladeshi physical planning never had its own identity. Structure plans are loosely tied to the other tiers of planning packages that are used for development management. Though most of the structure plans address environmental issues, lower tiers of plans often lack their reflection. Often policies are laid down based on popular belief rather than scientific evidence. To establish these arguments, the evolution of the planning practices of Bangladesh is illustrated briefly in the context of the evolution of planning theory. Additionally, environmental sensitivity of a physical plan covering one of the most ecologically sensitive and economically potential areas of Bangladesh, namely Mongla master plan (MNP) is evaluated, as an example, considering the spatial dispersion of sulfur dioxide to be discharged by the coal-fired thermal power plant at Rampal. Unfortunately, MMP failed to stand out from all the rest to prove its soundness.

Substandard Housing Contributory Factors: Analysing Scenarios in Neighbourhoods of Port Harcourt Municipality,Nigeria

The study assessed substandard housing contributory factors of neighbourhoods in Port Harcourt municipality, Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to identify factors that are contributing to substandard housing in Port Harcourt municipality; assess the impact of contributory factors to substandard housing in the study area; and identify physical planning measures to improve substandard housing in the study area. The study employed quantitative research approach and experimental research design for collection and analyses of data in the study. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used for collection of data. Slovin formula was used to determine the sample size and a total of 399 respondents (households) were interviewed from three grouped neighbourhoods and communities (planned neighbourhoods, indigenous enclaves and waterfront communities). The revealed the contributory factors to substandard housing in the study area are low income, large household size, multiple households in a building, limited habitable rooms per household, building construction materials, rapidly deteriorating physical condition of buildings, and sharing of facilities by households in buildings. The study also revealed the impacts of these factors include urban neighbourhoods and communities are deteriorating into slum and squatter settlements and rapid defacing of the urban fabrics and landscape. The study makes the following recommendations to improve housing standards including regular physical assessment of buildings in the study area to ascertain their fitness for habitation; waterfront environment should be reclaimed and planned by government for residents’ easy accessibility and affordability; development control agencies should ensure residential buildings are developed according to approved plan and specifications; mortgage and financial institutions should grant soft and interest-free loans to low-income earners and the poor; government should prioritise the development of low-cost houses for low-income earners and poor citizens; social amenities and services should be provided to enhance housing and neighbourhood quality; and government and its agencies of urban development and physical planning as a matter of urgency carry out spatial reorganisation through urban renewal programmes and projects at various neighbourhoods and communities.

Evaluasi Peraturan Daerah Kota Pekanbaru Nomor 9 Tahun 2014 Tentang Pengelolaan Pasar Rakyat, Pusat Perbelanjaan dan Toko Swalayan pada Dinas Perdagangan dan Perindustrian (Studi Kasus Perencanaan Fisik Pasar Sail di Kecamatan Sail)

This research discusses the evaluation of the Pekanbaru City Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2014. Every people's market must meet the requirements starting from the supporting facilities and facilities that must exist in the people's market according to those already in the policy, while at Sail Market there are supporting facilities and facilities which are not available or many are not functioning due to lack of maintenance from the manager. The theory used is Riant Nugroho's evaluation theory which suggests an evaluation of policy performance. The place of this research is the Department of Trade and Industry of Pekanbaru City and Sail Market . The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2014 on the physical planning of Sail market. This research uses a descriptive qualitative method, this method is used to describe how the Pekanbaru City government manages and supervises the people's market, especially the Sail Market. The results of this study conclude that the Pekanbaru City government in dealing with people's markets managed by third parties to create a decent, safe and healthy people's market according to the provisions of Regional Regulation No. 9 of 2014 has not been effective. The Department of Trade and Industry has not been able to carry out its duties and functions as the agency responsible for managing the people's market. This is because the current condition of Sail market is that there are many supporting facilities and facilities that do not exist.

Conversion and sustainable use of abandoned military sites in the Zagreb Urban Agglomeration

The paper provides an overview of the state of abandoned military sites in the territory of the Zagreb Urban Agglomeration based on mapping, which was preceded by an examination of official digital ortho-photo maps, data from the Real Estate Cadastre and spatial plans, as well as consultations with physical planning institutes. Furthermore, previous brownfield conversion practices and optimum future use of military brownfield sites have been analysed, depending on their specific position in the urban agglomeration. The analysis is based on research that included semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in brownfield regeneration in the Zagreb Urban Agglomeration.

A WEB-BASED GIS PORTAL FOR SIMULATING GEODETIC CONTROL NETWORKS IN REPUBLIC OF KENYA

Geodetic networks development begun in Kenya and Africa as a whole at the dawn of 20th century. Consequently, enormous geodetic data has been realized. In Kenya, the data was recorded in form of paper trigonometric cards, paper topographic maps, and paper cadastral map sheets and centrally archived in the ministry of lands and physical planning headquarters in Nairobi. This was to assist locate and visualize suitable survey of Kenya geodetic pillar of interest to user. However, the user still has to commute to the headquarters in order to physically acquire coordinate information of any pillar in the country. This circumstance has fabricated a framework that has triggered accumulation of millions of paper records. The effectiveness and efficiency of serving the users is greatly undermined by the manual process. Therefore, an alternative solution is necessary to alleviate dependence on an outdated manual process. As a result, this study sought to fill this gap by designing a web geoportal for management of geodetic control networks and user access which incorporates making of payments of coordinates in different systems remotely. The geoportal comprises of an integration of a database management system, a server configuration and a website with an automated data access through a payment gateway. Java scripts and python programming languages were used. The final platform has the following capabilities: spatial visualization, co-ordinates system conversion, online payment, and request and access of data remotely. We foresee that the system will aid the ministry of lands and physical planning to disseminate geodetic information to users efficiently and effectively while tracking revenue payments.

PHYSICAL PLANNING AND GROWTH OF PRIVATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

In Kenya, the number of private schools has increased more than four times since the introduction of the Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in 2003. The number of children attending private primary schools increased from 4.6% in 2004 to 11.5% in 2007. With such increment, there has been challenges on the determinants of growth of education institutions. It is against this background that the study examined the influence of physical planning on the growth of private primary schools in Kenya. the study was anchored in the resource dependency view where the managers of institutions have the ability to acquire, Plan and maintain resources that are important to the growth of an organization. The target population in this study comprised of 7,418 private primary schools in all eight regions of Kenya. Cluster sampling technique was employed of 50% of the target regions were sampled, leading to four out of eight regions being selected. From these regions random sampling was then used to select 320 respondents who were either the principals’/Head teachers or deputy principal of the schools. A questionnaire was used to collect data and Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyse data. The study found a strong and significant correlation between physical planning and growth of primary schools. This study therefore recommended that physical planning was an important factor in determining growth of private schools. The study further recommends that owners of private primary schools should be aware of the facilities that are crucial and most important to students in the teaching and learning. This will intern influence the growth of the private primary schools in Kenya.