Policy Instruments
Planning and design policies are essential tools for creating sustainable places, particularly in fast-growing cities that ambition to shape they urbanisation and infrastructure development towards low carbon pathways. Integrated planning of land use, transit infrastructure and urban containment are effective policies for reaching such objectives. Yet, implementing and developing sustainable neighbourhoods requires bundling policies and investments tailored to the specific political economic and social context of each city .
What type of instruments for planning efficiently?
Planning urban growth
Strengthening the role of strategic spatial planning and land-use regulation at city level to provide the strategic and regulatory framework for more efficient and effective planning of land-use, transport and urban infrastructure.
Pricing congestion, sprawl and pollution.
Reforming subsidies and pricing the negative externalities associated with poorly managed urban expansion to reduce and reverse the perverse incentives related to inappropriate pricing of land, new development and conventional motorisation.
Financing infrastructure
Unlocking financing for innovative, connected urban infrastructure to allow cities to redirect and invest capital in infrastructure that raises economic efficiency while reducing carbon emissions and increasing the quality of life for citizens.
What role for local authorities in ensuring policy effectiveness?
While plans should examine how urban design could help support the environment, crime and safety, well-being and education, interdisciplinary teams responsible for a development plan must ensure that adequate resources and skills are available where ecological principles complement the detailed design knowledge. If skills are lacking, then training should cover the basics of sustainable designs and ensure that team members understand their role and their influence in producing a good sustainable planning. This has to be supported by policy effectiveness in five ways:
Integrate green design…
… into all aspects of the local development policy framework
Treat Sustainability
…as a cross-cutting issue that permeates all other policy areas.
base Guidelines…
… on an understanding of the local context and the design process
use Ecological design policy…
… at various scales, ranging from sites to larger areas
ensure that Design…
… comprises social consideration, effective use of resources with visual and functional aspects