"New approaches to urban planning that support sustainable development"

Translating the goals of sustainable development into the urban sector is complex, particularly when compared to the more straightforward urban planning practices of “predict and provide”, which has characterized traditional planning practices in the past. 

The complexity and interdependence of the issues and challenges related to sustainable development can only, however, be effectively addressed if a strategic framework for sustainable development is employed in urban planning.

Such a strategic framework would include the multiple concerns and demands of social cohesion and equity, gender equality, crime, safety, health, heritage and, of course, the environment. This would result in the imperative use of cross-sector programs and multi-criteria methods of analysis and appraisal for making the most effective decisions. 

This plethora of demands also poses institutional challenges as this approach often confronts obstacles related to silo thinking by powerful sectors/agencies, given the cross-sectoral programs pursued and the sharing of budgets. 

Integrating cross-sectoral policy objectives into physical planning objectives presents a complexity of trade-offs between non-physical and physical entities, which master planning does not encounter. This broader approach, furthermore, requires a far more complex kind of dialogue than that required by traditional practices. 

Despite this, new and clear common elements to urban planning exist, which are emerging and improving urban planning practices. These elements include an appreciation that urban planning needs to become more:

1. strategic rather than comprehensive;
2. flexible rather than end-state orientated;
3.  action and implementation orientated through links to common budgets, programs and projects and city-wide/regional-wide infrastructure;
4. stakeholder and community driven rather than expert driven;
5. sensitive to political time scales;
6. reflective of emerging concerns, such as global competitiveness, environmental risks, new visions and problems of local identity and sustainability;
7. active in providing an integrative role in policy formulation and urban management; and
8. focused on a planning process that has outcomes, which are highly diverse and dependent upon stakeholder influence or local policy directions.