History of Town Planning
The modern profession of Town Planning was largely a response to the rapid industrialisation of the late 19th century. Industrialisation caused urban problems due to the sudden growth and modernisation of urban areas. Early Town Planners often came from a variety of specialised domains including architecture, surveying and engineering and to this day, the discipline is synergy of urban and regional planning, urban design, social impact assessment, architecture and landscape architecture.
What do Town Planners do?
Town planners could either design totally new areas such as suburbs and garden areas, or through urban renewal, re-generate existing urban areas suffering from long-term infrastructural decay. Planning today, whilst still retaining a commitment to creating ideal urban environments, is also shaped by the challenging political contexts of competing development, social and environmental goals. The emphasis of town planning is now predominantly directed at managing existing cities in more sustainable and innovative ways, than it is about creating new cities and urban areas.