What is Urban Development and How Does it Affect You?
Urban development can be an extremely controversial topic, but many people aren’t fully aware of what urban development is and how it impacts their lives. Being educated about the topic can allow people to create informed notions and opinions about the process and how to go about using it effectively.
In essence, urban development is a collaboration between civil engineers, architects, design engineers, surveyors, project managers, and environmental planners to create new living space in growing areas. Cities and towns use this process to create a systematic plan to deal with expansion. The main focus is on residential areas and creating housing for inhabitants. There are different aspects, however, that this type of development incorporates.
Natural Expansion
This is when the populace of the city naturally spreads out, with the highest population density in the center and lowest on the outskirts. In this instance, urban developers build housing and recreational areas outward as the city grows and the demand for space gets higher. The developers will use the wilderness as a foundation to build upon, which is often referred to as the destruction of wilderness. However, the need to provide potential housing for a growing area makes it a necessity. Despite the unfortunate nature of expansion, developers work closely with environmental protection agencies to ensure that wildlife and plant life are not eradicated unintentionally.
Renovation and Sustainability
When natural expansion is no longer possible, developers will begin looking to renovate certain areas to create space for the housing needs. This means utilizing unused or underdeveloped areas as well as decaying buildings. In this instance, the developers would need the compliance of the city residents. Sustainability refers to the balance between human requirements and environmental preservation. If the urban area is forced to develop in the wilderness, developers attempt to incorporate the wilderness into the city. Alternative energy, pollution reduction, and recycling improvements are all aspects of sustainability that a developer might integrate during renovation.
The methods and planning that this type of development involves can be complex and exhaustive. The overwhelming collaboration needed within areas such as water infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, civil engineering services, and other departments is incredible. The technology being used throughout the process such as lidar surveying and photogrammetry is also extremely invaluable. Photogrammetry — which is the process of analyzing and comparing multiple 2D photographs and images to construct 3D images, models, and measures — makes the developmental process extremely efficient.