SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

Code 3675

Lecture Three

PROF. DR. NOMANA ANJUM

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
ISLAMABAD
Unit 3 Unsustainable Settlements

3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends

3.2Environmental Impacts of Recent
Planning Trends
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and
Environmental Trends
 Unit 3 Unsustainable Settlements

3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends

Two main planning trends are examined:

a) The dispersal of population and activities
and
b) the centralization of services and
facilities
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The dispersal of population and activities
UK perspective

The population dispersal trends between 1981 and 1991

are a continuation of trends over a longer timescale of 30
years or more. Rural areas have experienced highest
population increases in percentage and absolute terms.
These changes in population have been accompanied by
shifts in employment and retailing but evidence
suggests that the dispersal is associated with longer
travel distances, fewer journeys by foot or bicycle and
the increased reliance on private transport.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The dispersal of population and activities
UK perspective
The development of out-of-town shopping centres and
retail parks has added to the use of greenfield land and
has also contributed to the decline of town and city
centres.
Large out of town retail centres (those with a floor space
greater than 5000 square metres) covered an
estimated 1.4 million square metres in 1985 and almost
4.7 million square metres by the end of 1990,
representing more than a three-fold increase in five
years.
UK Perspective: Land use Trends
Air Quality Index in Europe
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The dispersal of population and activities
Pakistan Perspective
Human beings like other organisms, have continuously
contaminated their environment with the byproducts of their
actions. With the world population about 8.5 billion people and
increasing by 220,000 each day, the concentration of
population in cities and resulting deterioration of environment is
sounding alarms.
The urbanization process has affected all parts of Pakistan,
villages, towns and cities. The intensity of impact is most
dangerous in the larger cities. Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad,
Gujranwala, Multan, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Sargodha and
Peshawar are suffering from environmental degradation and
quantifiable absences in basic local services. The municipal
organizations are badly failing to manage these difficulties.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The centralization of services and facilities
Pakistan Perspective
First, there is no planning for urbanization most of the cities
have developed randomly with no proper planning for the
kind of infrastructure growth that would make a centre of
population feel like an urban centre.
Second, most large and intermediate cities seem to be
undergoing vertical or horizontal growth, eating into the rural
areas or agricultural land that lies in their hinterland.
According to one estimate, over 60,000 acres of agricultural
land have been eaten up by urban sprawl.
Third, there is nothing that can serve as a melting pot as far
as the increasing class divide is concerned. Normally, it is a
public transport system which tends to bring people together.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The centralization of services and facilities
Pakistan Perspective
There is an acute shortage of houses in the cities and the
demand for the land is growing and the supply is limited.
Since the land is essential for urban growth, devising
equitable and efficient land development policies is one of the
major challenges facing planners and policy makers, who do
not seem to be aware of the seriousness of the problem. The
number of slum and katchi-abadi dwellers is on the
increase.
It is ideal if the human beings are dispersed evenly around
the countryside. But people have been coming to cities for
better economic and educational opportunities and better
quality of life.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends

Pakistan Perspective
Following are the biggest challenges facing urban
policymakers. (Hina Sheikh, Country Economist, Ijaz Nabi, Professor
of Economics, LUMS, 16 January, 2017)

1. Poor housing quality and affordability

2. Water and Sanitation
3. Transportation
4. Health
5. Education
6. Land Management
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The dispersal of population and activities

City
Suburb
Fringe
Shire Town
Rural Area

The ‘Counter urbanization Cascade’ of Population

 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The centralization of services and facilities
UK perspective
Many different types of services and facilities have
been centralized, where fewer, larger services and
facilities have replaced a large number of small-
scale ones. Examples include shops, schools and
hospitals.
The total number of retail outlets has declined by
more than 15 per cent over the last decade, whilst
the number and proportion of supermarkets has
increased (Central Statistical Office, 1997).
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The centralization of services and facilities

Many supermarkets are at edge of town or out

of town locations which are not conducive to short
journeys and encourage shopping by car.
Smaller schools have been closed and the
concept of school catchments has lessened as a
consequence of the increasing emphasis on
parental choice.
SimilarIy smaller hospitals have been closed
because it is claimed that larger hospitals are
needed to provide specialized treatment.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
The centralization of services and facilities
UK perspective

In addition to the centralization of existing services and

facilities, few new services and facilities have been
provided in major new residential developments.

A study of facility provision and travel patterns in five major

new housing developments in the west of England, each
containing more than 1000 houses, reveals a paucity of
provision (Farthing et al, 1997). None of the developments
had their own bank, only one area had a secondary school
and two developments did not have a post office or primary
school.
3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends

The dispersal of population and activities and the

centralization of services and facilities have clearly
influenced the self-containment of settlements.
Breheny (1992a) reports changes in the self-containment
of new towns in Britain and comparable towns in
southern England between 1951 and 1981, showing how
self-containment in settlements reached a peak in the
mid-1960s before the growth in mass car ownership
and how self-containment has since declined.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
Population trends (Pakistan Perspective)

The estimated population in urban areas has been witnessing

an increase from 37.9 per cent in 2013 to 40.54 per cent in
2017 and expected to touch 50 per cent mark by 2030.

In comparison, the population in rural areas is decreasing

from 62.1 per cent in 2013 to 59.46 per cent in 2017. The
population is expected to reach 242 million by 2030. The
official data showed on Monday that urbanization has
potential to drive the country towards prosperity and
competence.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
Population trends (Pakistan Perspective)
However, this process needs effective tackling of critical
issues like improvement in service delivery, provision of
infrastructure and housing, laws and regulations related to
land use, planning and observing building code and solid
waste environmental problems.
In Pakistan, the urbanization trend is not different from other
countries, as Pakistan is also facing a rapid increase in
urbanization caused by population growth, urban migration,
and refugees’ migration. Due to this, there is an expansion of
under-resourced urban settlements, which caused
unprecedented levels of economic, spatial, social, and
infrastructural challenges and climate change impacts.
 3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
Population trends (Pakistan Perspective)

The government is well aware of this issue and making

sincere efforts to improve quality of life of population living in
urban cities through planned urbanization. For this purpose,
Ministry of Climate Change and the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in Pakistan have been
working closely on various initiatives related to sustainable
urbanization and climate change.
These include policy formulation and implementation of
climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments and
urban-related initiatives that contribute to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) with focus on social,
environmental and economic development.
3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends
Summary
The dispersal of population and activities and the
centralization of services and facilities has led to a
number of impacts on transport and the environment.
Many of the impacts on transport have resulted in a
vicious circle of decline in which land use changes have
increased the need to travel and discouraged more
sustainable modes.
At the same time, higher rates of travel and car ownership
have led to less sustainable patterns of development
(Figure 3.2). Furthermore, the dispersal of population and
activities and the centralization of services and facilities
have led to social impacts such as the increased
difficulty of carrying out day to day activities for less
mobile groups of society (e.g. children and the elderly).
3.1Unsustainable Land use Trends

The planning of new development and its associated

infrastructure has traditionally been based on a demand-
led or ‘predict and provide’ approach, where trend-based
projections are used to plan for future demand. Trends in
the dispersal of population and activities and the
centralization of services and facilities have occurred due
to assumptions about continuing trends in travel and
mobility for example.
There are however environmental and social problems
associated with a predict and provide approach. It
assumes that there are no limits to growth and that
demand can always be met. There are however clear
limits to the growth of development in terms of resource
and pollution constraint
 Unit 3 Unsustainable Settlements
3.2 Environmental Impacts of Recent
Planning Trends
The environmental impacts of recent planning trends
are examined using environmental indicators to
illustrate changes over time.
There are also
social and economic impacts associated with current
trends in planning new settlements but these are not
examined here.
This section focuses on two main types of environmental
impacts:
 resource consumption
 environmental pollution
 Unit 3 Unsustainable Settlements

3.2 Environmental Impacts of Recent

Planning Trends

Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section: energy consumption, land
urbanized, water abstraction and minerals extraction
Resource Consumption (Deforestation)
 Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section: energy consumption, land
urbanized, water abstraction and minerals extraction
Energy consumption in the industry and commerce sector
has decreased, whilst domestic energy consumption per
capita have remained fairly constant. At the same time,
however, energy consumption in the transport sector has
increased.
The transport sector is now the largest and fastest
increasing consumer of energy, due principally to increased
travel distances, the growth in road and air transport and
the decline in more sustainable modes of transport such as
walking and cycling.
Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section:,
Land Urbanized
The use of land for development is an indicator of the
depletion of agricultural land. It is also an approximate
indicator of the loss of ecological habitats, public open
space and biodiversity. In 1985, over half of the area of
new housing was developed on greenfield land, whereas
less than 40 per cent of the area of new housing was
developed on greenfield land in 1995. Similarly, over
half of the area of non-housing development (mainly
commercial and industrial property) was built on
greenfield land in 1985, whereas less than 40 per cent
of the area of non-housing development was built on
greenfield land in 1995.
Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section:
Water Abstraction
Water abstraction is associated with environmental
impacts such as the loss of land for the construction of
reservoirs, and the possible loss of ecological habitats
and biodiversity. Water abstraction is also an indicator of
various impacts on the natural and built environment,
such as species loss or building subsidence, caused by
lowering of the water table.
Increased emphasis on demand management in the
water sector appears to have had limited effect to
date, and there is considerable scope for more efficient
domestic water use, such as the use of ‘grey-water’
systems.
Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section:

Minerals Extraction

The extraction of minerals has implications for the

depletion of agricultural land, the loss of ecological
habitats and biodiversity, landscape quality, nuisance
and disturbance (noise, dust, etc). Road stone and
sand and gravel are both extracted in large quantities
in the UK, the majority of which is used in the
development of settlements.
Resource consumption
Four environmental indicators of resource consumption
are examined in this section:
Environmental Pollution Three environmental indicators
of environmental pollution are examined in this section:
carbon dioxide (CO,), nitrogen oxides (NO,) and
particulates
Environmental indicator Environmental Impacts

Carbon dioxide global pollution -contributes to the

greenhouse effect

Nitrogen oxides local, national and transnational

pollution contributes to acid
deposition and the formation of
secondary local pollutants
Particulates local pollution contributes to poor
air quality and the staining of the
built environment
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends

A strategy for concentrating development in transport

corridors and nodes has the potential to reduce both
resource consumption and environmental pollution.

A number of complementary land use planning measures are

crucial to a strategy for concentrating development in
transport corridors and nodes, including issues such as
development density, accessibility to public transport, the
provision of local employment, services and facilities and
parking restraint.
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends Development Density

There are a number of reasons why development density may

promote more sustainable patterns of development.
Less land is required for development, there is the potential to
use energy more efficiently (by utilizing combined heat and
powe) and the need to travel may be reduced.
Higher density development may also assist the introduction
of the other measures that are part of a strategy for
concentrating development in transport corridors and nodes
(increasing the accessibility to public transport, providing
more local employment, services and facilities and reducing
the availability of parking).
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends

Development Density

Accessibility to Public Transport Ensuring good accessibility

to public transport, in combination with the provision of
walking and cycling networks, is crucial to reducing reliance
on the car and promoting more sustainable alternative travel
patterns.

Good accessibility to public transport also makes it possible

to reduce the amount of parking for development, which in
turn may help to promote the use of public transport.
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends
Local Employment, Services and Facilities
The provision of local employment, services and facilities may reduce
travel distance and increase the proportion of short journeys capable of
being travelled by non-motorized modes. By reducing travel distance and
reliance on the car, it also makes it is possible to reduce the availability of
parking.
Sustainable travel patterns through the provision of local facilities, which
include:
 clustering of facilities to maximize convenience and market;
 ensuring the most convenient location for facilities to minimize average
 giving priority to the design of high amenity footpaths and cycle ways,
 providing high quality environments in centres emphasizing pedestrian
travel distance;
 providing direct access to facilities; comfort and constraining cars.
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends

CONCLUSIONS
The dispersal of population and activities and the centralization of
services and facilities have resulted in settlements becoming less
sustainable and less socially cohesive. The planning of new
development and its associated infra- structure has traditionally been
based on a demand-led or ‘predict and provide’ approach, where trend-
based projections are used to plan for future demand.
The approach has contributed to the dispersal of population and
activities and the centralization of services and facilities, with
implications for increased travel distance and higher levels of mobility.
As a result, there are environmental and social problems associated with
the predict and provide approach.
The approach assumes that there are no limits to growth and that
demand can always be met. It is clear however that there are definite
limits to the growth of development in terms of resource and pollution
constraints.
3.3 Reversing Current Land use and Environmental
Trends