Why Any Developer Should Always Work With an Urban Planner
Posted on: 17 June 2016
An urban planner is someone who works with a local city council or other municipality to help shape and design entire cities or towns. An architect may work to design one building, but an urban planner works to design entire cities and neighborhoods. This type of planner offers many benefits to a developer who is looking to build out a certain subdivision or put up a new strip mall or other such commercial facility in an area. If you're a developer, note a few reasons why you should be working with an urban planner from the very beginning of your plans.
Landscaping and design
When planning your development, you may be thinking of the buildings alone - their size, the amenities included, and their overall style and design. However, buyers or tenants will usually want to be in an area that is attractive overall, which means nice landscaping to go along with the development. An urban planner can help determine the best landscaping design that will work well with your proposed development; this might mean lots of trees in a residential area or the appropriate shrubbery that surrounds a commercial building and which is part of its parking lot.
An urban planner can also ensure that your development works well with natural features that are already in place, for example, if there are certain stands of trees in the area, you might build around those rather than clear them. You might also want to ensure that your development is not so tall so as to overwhelm a certain natural view in the area.
Water sensitive design
When planning your development, you will need to consider the plumbing and drainage for your new subdivision or commercial facility. However, that plumbing and drainage should take into account the storm water and groundwater management needed, not just wastewater. If your installed drainage systems do not take into account average storm fall in the area, those drains can get overwhelmed and then back up after every storm.
An urban planner will be able to work with you to create a water sensitive design that takes into account all features of plumbing and drainage, and also any type of water filtration or recycling feature you want to include. This will help ensure that you reduce the risk of floods, backups, and burst pipes in your developed area. This can also help to reduce the amount of freshwater your development will need, if you include water recycling or water reduction techniques in your new development.
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