Planning in my neighborhood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Planning in my neighborhood - Essay Example The neighbourhood has also been envisioned with curvilinear streets, its area about 160 acres, with 10 units per acre and with about 5,000 to 9,000 residents (Perry, 1948). It is also ideal that the neighbourhood has about 10% of its area as parks or open space for recreation and enjoyment, and the school should have a play area, a community centre and church. My neighbourhood – Darling Heights, a suburb in Toowoomba City, Queensland, has about 5,035 2006 population (Australia Bureau of Statistics). Darling Heights is bordered by Drayton in the west, Kearneys Spring to the east, and Harristown to the north. Its local government is the Toowoomba Region. Toowoomba is a mountain city located southeast of Queensland and about 127 km west of the capital Brisbane. The climate is pleasant and has an altitude of an average 700 metres above sea level (Toowoomba, 2009). *How was it developed: what is the history of your neighbourhood? Hall (1975) acknowledged that â€Å"Modern urban an d regional planning has arisen in response to specific social and economic problems which in turn were triggered off by the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century.† The earliest human settlements were near rivers or bodies of water. These are villages with houses grouped together around a square. The square served as a meeting place or for religious purposes. It may have a shrine and the settlement may be surrounded by a wall for protection. The water source provides water supply or fertile land if not rich hunting grounds. These were seen as early examples of town planning of which location and design suited the purposes of the community (Lecture). Morris (1979) suggested that the oldest planned settlements are Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in Pakistan. The history of Darling Heights is closely linked with Toowoomba. It dates back to 1827 when English explorer Allan Cunningham discovered a rich Farming Land and named it Darling Downs (Toowoomba, 2009). Drayton, a nea rby suburb, was settled as early as 1842. Toowoomba was earlier called the Swamp, and it was listed a municipality in 1860, a township in 19892, and a city by 1904 (Toowoomba, 2009). The Toowoomba Regional Council is tasked at planning and managing the Darling Heights and other areas of Toowoomba. They oversee building and development, infrastructure planning as well as delivery and local area planning. It consults with the community to ensure that council planning reflects their ideal vision for the region. Coverage includes the schemes and infrastructure for stormwater, sewerage, transport and water supply networks (Toowoomba Regional Council, 2011). *How well does it work – i.e. legibility, connectivity, accessibility, etc.? My neighbourhood in Darling Heights has a comprehensively planned lay-out. Within an estimated 170 acres area, this Toowoomba neighbourhood has a church, a school, some small commercial establishments, as well as a few large ones. Within the community, there are small streets that allow pedestrians. However, there are major streets that cross within the community which provides risks for residents. Connectivity is the ease or manner of which residents in an area move from one point to another or access areas which may have direct or indirect implication in their community life and existence (Saura and Pascual-Hortal, 2006). The