INTRODUCTION TO SITE

PLANNING
What is SITE PLANNING
Buildings
Roads
Walkway
Trees, garden,
pool
(landscape)
Water
Plaza
Pier
environment
Etc.
DEFINITION
Site planning is the art and science of
arranging the structures on the land and
shaping the spaces between, an arts of
arranging USES of land linked to architecture,
engineering, landscape architecture, and city
planning. Site plans locate objects and
activities in SPACE and TIME. These plans may
concern a small cluster of houses, a single
building and its grounds, or something as
extensive as a small community built in a
single operation.
 No matter sites are large or small,
SCOPE OF WORK they must be viewed as part of
the total environment.
Site Planners designate
the uses of land in
detail by selecting and
analyzing sites, forming
land use plans,
organizing vehicular
and pedestrian
circulation, designing
visual form and
materials concepts,
readjusting the existing
landforms by design
grading, providing
proper drainage, and
finally developing the
construction details
necessary to carry out
their projects.
RELATED PROFESSION
Site planning is
professionally exercised
directly by landscape
architects, but there are Urban
related profession Planning
involved which are
architects, urban and
regional planners, Landscape
engineers. Architecture Site architecture
On larger commissions planning
the landscape architect
often serve as a member
of a closely coordinated Civil
professional team, engineering
which includes
architects, engineers,
planners, and scientist-
advisors.
ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY OF
LIFE
 Site planning is the organization of the
external physical environment to
accommodate human behavior. It deals
with the qualities and locations of
structures, land, activities and living
things. It creates a pattern of those
elements in space and time, which will
be subject to continuous future
management and change.
 Spirit of place
 Character of the place
 Nature of the project
 Behavioral studies
BRIEF HISTORY
Four basic models of
site planning in history
1.Fixing the place
Fixing the Defining the
2.Defining the space enclosure
enclosure
3.Sense of order
4.Form of axial

The form of
Sense of
axial
order
 BRIEF HISTORY
The image and form of
the object building are
capable of fixing a place

Fixing the space

Brief History Defining the enclosure

A collection of independent
structures, which although
unattached, create a coherent
image of place

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 The form of a building
can be such that a place
Brief History may be fixed by the
enclosure of the facades

Sense of order
Brief History
Although the kinetic implications
of the word “path” are somewhat
contradictory, paths are
nonetheless capable of forming
coherent meaningful images.

The form of axial

11
Layers of Site Planning

Mass and
space

Zoning
Mass and space
Zoning
Circulatio
circulation n

Service & Service &

maintenance maintenance
The model of Site planning
process
In site planning, as in other
forms of problem solving, the
critical thinking process of
research, analysis, and
synthesis makes a major
contribution to the formation
of design decisions process.
 Objective
s
Need
Natural
Quantity Site
Program Site factors
Time User & information
analysis analysis Cultural
Behavior client
data factors
Aesthetic
Synthesis factors
Site potential

Cost Schematic Schematic Schematic

estimate
Site plan 1 Site plan 2 Site plan 3

Situation Evaluation Criteria

Selected
Site plan

Development
process
 Flow chart of
development process
Development
process

Project Project Project Project Project

 Defining the phasing 1 phasing 2 phasing 3 phasing 4 phasing…

problem
Design development &
 Site&program detail costing

analysis Contract
document
 Schemetic design
Bidding &
w/ prelim cost contracting
estimate Construction
 Design
development Project
inspection
 Development Occupation &
process management

Post Occupancy
evaluation
URBAN DESIGN AND SITE
PLANNING
SITE PLANNING

• THE NOTION OF SITE PLANNING

• SITE PLANNING PROCESS
• SITE ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS AND SITE
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
• PLAN GENERATION
• IMPLEMENTATION AND SITE MANAGEMENT
PLAN
The Notion of Site Planning

Definition: Site Planning is the deliberate and

systematic process of guiding development of
land through determination of the detailed layout
of an area in relation to the natural environment
and human requirements.

In the overall planning process, site planning

features after the strategic (overall) planning has
taken place and after location of land uses has
been decided in relation to social, economic and
environmental needs.
As an integral part of land-use planning, site
planning will take into consideration a given
range of land uses on the site in question and
others around it.

Site planning is essentially based on the

assumption that there is an interaction
between the social needs of users (space
required for different users, as well as their
physical comfort and psychological well-being)
and the physical and natural environment
characteristics of each site (slope aspect,
sunshine, soil, vegetation and fauna, etc).
Why do you need Site
Planning?
To gain an understanding of the manner in
which people’s actions are constrained and
limited by the physical environment.
To conserve what remains of the flora and
fauna that make up the natural world.
To provide for people’s primary needs such as
shelter, food and economic activity
To encourage the development of
environments which people experience as
satisfactory places in which to live, work or
play.
What entails Site Planning?
• What should happen on a given area of land –
actual land use and related transportation and
infrastructure requirements
• Where it should happen – suitability of location
• How it should happen – design of the site
• An evaluation of the vast range of
environmental, social and economic factors
which should have a bearing on the decision-
making process
• What it will cost to implement and manage the
project on that area of land
When to produce a Site Plan
A site plan becomes necessary when one or
both of the scenarios below prevails:
1.Whenever it is proposed to change the use of
an area of land or build on all or part of it.
This will include but not limited to :
 Housing development, industrial
developments, commercial developments,
recreational developments, infrastructure
developments, etc.
2. Whenever it is proposed to change the way
in which an area of land and its associated
landscapes is managed and maintained.
This will include but not limited to :

 Housing rehabilitation/renewal,
industrial area re-planning,
commercial area regeneration,
reclamation of derelict land,
afforestation, additional or
improved parks and open spaces,
etc.
Who needs to know about a site
plan?
Anybody involved in making decisions about land-use
change on specific sites and involved in considering
such change in relation to environmental, social and
economic factors needs to understand how the
physical and natural environment constrains what
man can do on an area of land
Site planning aims to take into consideration the
interests of society as a whole as well as those of the
developers, when determining what should and what
should not happen on the land. Developers and
politicians alike need to understand the benefits of
site planning by ensuring that unnecessarily
expensive development solutions are not chosen. It
equally assists in the reduction of the long-term
management costs associated with operating on a
site.
Site planning and the cost of
development
It is important to understand the actual cost of the
alternative solutions to the developer and also the
costs to society, which result from the proposed
development. Costs to society are incurred, for
instance, through:
1. The need to provide an adequate infrastructure.
2. The extra work, which has to be carried out to
protect adjacent natural resources.
3. The need to create new landscapes because of
damage to the visual resources caused by the
development.
4. The need to relocate people whose lives are
disturbed by an unacceptable land-use change, e.g.
one which increases the local noise levels, dam
construction, housing re-development
Site Planning and Environmental Planning
Environmental planning must form the basis for all site
development decisions if the physical and natural
environment needs are to be met.
Site planning is the planning process that has been
evolved to deal with this systematic decision-making
process of guiding the development of a site by making
detailed layout plan proposals, which take into
consideration the physical and natural environment
characteristics in relation to human/users’ requirements.
The fundamental principles, which establish the need for
environmental planning for site development include: -
1. Conservation of the environment, which is capable of
supporting human life.
2. Consideration of the basic physical requirements.
3. Consideration of the human well-being
4. Care in the exploitation of the earth’s non-renewable
resources.
Conservation of the environment, which is
capable of supporting life.
This is a basic requirement of all land-use planning which
is sorted out at the strategic planning level. The need for
food, clean water, clean air and shelter are fundamentals
to human survival.
1. Land-use planning requires that high-grade agricultural
land should be retained as a natural resource of the
highest long-term value to society in order to guarantee
food security adequately.
2. Clean and uncontaminated water supplies should be
protected as a scarce resource vital to human life.
3. Clean air must be guaranteed to reduce high levels of ill
health by controlling emission of contaminants, and
allowing for dense vegetation to reduce air pollution and
to clean the air.
4. Shelter -homes for people- should be built in
environments, which will support their social and
economic ways of life.
Consideration of the basic physical
requirements
Fertile soils
1. Good quality fertile soil should be conserved in
order to support future and/or present
agricultural activities. Physical fabric
development densities may therefore be
proposed on sites with low-fertile soils. Soil
conservation measures must equally be
proposed to limit the effects of soil erosion.
 Clean water
2. The site planners must check local
underground as well as surface water
supplies, to ensure that any effluent
produced on the site or chemicals applied, or
stored on the site, will not contaminate the
surface water or the sub-surface water.
 Clean air
1.The highest levels of air quality must be
safeguarded by eliminating or alleviating the
effects of air pollution and emissions from
factories, cars, heating and cooling systems. Free
flow of air through a site and the planting of
vegetation can help to clean the air if well
considered in the site planning process.

Shelter
4. Site planning must seek to provide shelter for
human beings to protect them from the
elements and the adverse effects of nature.
Consideration of the human well-being

The primary concern of all land-use planning is for

the human well-being’s quality of the environment
and the preservation or conservation of nature.
The planner’s role is to create and maintain an
environment, which ensures human well-being in
the face of constraints of the local environmental,
social and economic characteristics.
All sites are developed within the context of a
wider spatial area and the implications of the
strategies and policies developed for that wider
area have to be worked out by the site planner for
each site. The site planner has to take national,
regional and local policies into account when
working on the detailed development of an area
of land.
• Site planning must seek to consider and
maintain the cultural diversity of the people
within the planned environments. Part of the
site planner’s task is to establish what is
required to satisfy the people who live on or
use the site.

• Site layout and design that is sensitive to the

perception of a human being’s expectation of
a rich, diverse and satisfactory human habitat
may well be regarded as a successful site plan.
Care in the exploitation of the Earth’s Non-
renewable Resources
Non-renewable resources include soils, minerals and
certain specific habitats. Soils have to be conserved as the
medium for growing food. Minerals require to be
conserved since once extracted they are gone.

Habitats need to be conserved because they are impossible

to recreate because of their complexity and because once
an area is cleared, the soil rapidly changes so that the same
range of plants and associated animal life cannot be re-
established.

Such habitats include the tropical rain forests, which are

presently under the threat of felling in many countries e.g.
the Aberdare and Mt. Kenya forests.
Levels of Site Planning
Levels of Site Planning: different levels of site planning
depending on the size of a site
1. Unit/Plot
2. Cluster
3. Neighborhood [s]
4. Part of an urban area
5. Urban Area
Principles are the same but only differ in the amount of
details and the complexity of issues to be tackled.
Micro-level sites can be handled by the land owner, the
developer or a single professional person. However,
macro-level sites with complex and complicated issues
and with diverse environmental problems require large
teams of experts to work on problems posed by
developing such sites. An overall coordinator will have
to be appointed to link the work done by people from
different disciplines.
Multi-disciplinary Nature of
Site Planning
Multi-disciplinary nature of site planning arises from the
need to evolve a detailed design of the site.

The increasing complexity of a site requires the separation

of the site planning stages from the site design stage.

In effect this will be carried out by different professional

experts.
Multi-disciplinary Nature of
Site Planning contd.
The professions, disciplines and experts most likely to be
involved in site planning are:
Landscape architects, architects, urban designers, civil
engineers.
Environmental planners, town planners, land-use
planners, economic planners, social planners.
Building scientists, climatologists, geologists, ecologists,
hydrologists and archaeologists.
Estate managers, housing managers, recreation
managers, open space managers.
Public health, fire and safety staff.
Built environment conservation staff, natural
environment conservation staff, rural management staff.
Foresters, farmers.
The Site Planning Process: Producing a Site
Plan
CLIENT WANTS TO DEVELOP A SITE
TECHNICAL TEAM ASSEMBLED

KEY ISSUES IDENTIFIED ALTERNATIVE SITES EXAMINED

DISCUSSIONS WITH LOCAL PLANNERS

SITE INVENTORY PRESENT AND FUTURE USER NEEDS

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES SITE POTENTIAL ASSESSED

ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS EXAMINED

SITE PLAN

PLANNING APPROVAL SOUGHT BY CLIENT

DESIGN AND SITE MANAGEMENT BRIEFS DEVELOPED.

SITE PLANNING PROCESS
Initiating a site planning process
The owner of the area of land, or a person or
organization with an interest in the land, normally
initiates the site planning procedure.
The site planning process commences when the
client conceptualizes the need to develop a site and
hence determines the need for a site plan. The
complexity of the site and the problems involved
are the determining factors in the composition of a
site planning team.
Professionals such as land-use planners,
environmental planners, architects and/or
landscape architects may then be commissioned to
guide the developer on the financial,
environmental, physical, etc benefits and
advantages of carrying out the site planning
procedure.
A Site Planning Team

In the site planning team, many people are

involved in the decision-making process. They
include:-
The client-the developer, the builder, the
financier.
The technical team; landscape architects,
planners, architects, engineers, surveyors.
The community: the local community, the
future users, the local leaders (councilors, etc)
and the council officers.
 Differences between sites
Some of the major differences between sites, which
influence the composition of the site planning team,
are:

1.The different nature of physical and natural

environmental problems.
2.The different people who use it for different
activities.
3.The different groups that use it for different needs.
4.The ownership of the land by different people.
5.The payment of land by differing means.
6.The different ways of maintenance of the land.
 Why site planning requires a special
planning process?
1. To enable a systematic decision-making process in
thinking the whole range of issues that relate to what
should happen on an area of land. This guarantees
‘objective’ rather than ‘subjective’ analysis in the
production of a site plan.
2. To systematically analyze the interactions of the
complex man/environment relationships.
3. To reduce social, economic and environmental costs to the
society.
Site planning emerges with a Site and Layout Plan and is
inextricably related to the design of the site. The site
plan seeks to create the least damage to the physical
and natural environment while at the same time
provides adequate environmental settings for the
people who will be affected by the new development.
Brief formulation
The client’s brief is formulated from the point of the view of
1. What the developer wants to do – client’ goals and
aspirations.
2. Who will use the development;
3. What they will use it for;
4. When they will use it;
5. The location and size of site the client intends to
develop;
6. Any special requirements the client has about the form
and type and style and location of the development.
7. How much the client is intending to spend on the
development and the associated works;
8. The time-scale of the proposed development and any
proposals to phase it;
9. What the client and/or future users might reasonably be
expected to contribute in terms of long-term
maintenance activities.
Problem Statement
The site planning team proceeds to visit the
selected site and familiarizes themselves with it.
The local planning authority officials should
then be visited in order to determine the
feasibility of the project based on the strategies
and policies governing the planning of the
local area.
With regard to any other interested parties, the
planners knowledge of similar problems
elsewhere and of the area within which the
development is proposed, a preliminary list of
key issues to be resolved is prepared – this is
what is known as the problem statement.
Site Inventory
The inventory (mapping) of a site refers to the
documentation of the site’s character.
Documentation is mainly done through drawings
that are analyzed to provide informed decision-
making to the design process of a given site.
Without documentation of a site’s condition, the
designer’s site assessment is relegated to memory
and perceptual bias.
The accuracy and objectivity of the research and
data collection of the site inventory enables us to
investigate with credibility the conditions of a site’s
environmental quality and context and the
opportunity for change as it relates to the client’s
terms of reference, the user’s requirements and the
site planner’s decisions.
Base Maps
The recording of the basic information
gathered will be produced and presented in
the form of plans and/or maps and
supplemented by written statements.
The maps required include:
Regional context of study area 1:1 000 000,
1:500 000
Urban or Rural context of the site 1:250 000
A location plan 1: 10 000, 1: 20 000
A project area plan. 1:500, 1: 1 250, 1: 2 500, 1:
5 000
Legal requirements data
• Boundary line survey (ownership and
acreage, easements (Location, width and
purpose) or other encumbrances, rights –
of-way, scale, north arrow, bench mark
and date of survey.
• Restrictive covenants or deed restrictions.

• Existing land uses and buildings

• Zoning requirements (existing and

proposed), (permitted user or special
exceptions, density of development, set
backs/height limits, plot ratios and
ground coverage).
Local Planning Information
Adjacent land uses, building and other
infrastructure
Existing roads (Highways, primary arterials,
secondary collectors, tertiary streets, service
roads).
Names and location.
Rights of way
Bridges, kerbs, gutters, culverts
Location of utilities
Water and sewerage lines
Electricity and telephone lines
Street lights
Invert levels of sewer manholes, sewer profile
Public parks and open spaces.
Environmental Data
Physical and Natural Environment
Geology and Soils
Topography
Drainage & Hydrology – surface water
and sub-surface water
Macro-climate and micro-climate
Vegetation – plants (grass, shrubs, trees),
Relative ecological value.
Wildlife
Social Environment & User
Requirements
Population {size, population structure, age-sex
ratio and pyramid, gender ratio, population
distribution and densities, HH sizes}
Historical development
Landscape – views, vistas and scenery;
landscape types and characters.
Unique areas and features and landmarks.
Historic features.
The functioning of the site in terms of
Activities in buildings and Activities outside
the buildings
Movement patterns-circulation
SYNTHESIS
This stage requires critical analysis of both the
secondary and primary data including the
reconciliation of conflicting information. The
various constituent maps are overlaid to
emerge with the prominent constraints and
inherent opportunities of the site’s characters.
Further reinforcing documentation will be
documented in a report. These aggregate
critical emerging issues represented in written
as well as graphical/visual from culminates in a
design criteria form, which lays a firm
foundation for the site design process to
commence.
• The suitability of the site for the
various users’ activities are carefully
identified based on the information
analyzed of the site inventory. A
further assessment of the site potential
indicates the assets and liabilities and
the constraints, limitations, problems
and challenges towards the
development of the site.
SITE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Re-statement of the problem and Generation of
Site Development Concepts

This stage in the process requires a re-statement

of the goals and objectives, which is based on the
identification of fit between the site, the users
and the client’s terms of references. This permits
the reconciliation and review of the client’s brief
against the emerging critical planning and design
issues arising from the inherent constraints and
opportunities of the site’s character.
PLAN GENERATION
Site Design Process and Preparation of
Alternative Site Plans
At this stage the site planner evaluates
collectively and in detail the various
options available to answer the client’s
brief as close as possible by visualizing
various conceptual ideas for the
development of the site.
This is mainly carried out by preparing
bubble diagrams of how the general
relationships of the different human
activities, buildings and other infrastructure
should be developed on the various areas of
the site.

The site planner, through “trial and error”,

evaluates the various strategies of achieving
the goals and objectives of the client, by
developing, preparing and evaluating
various alternative plans, that reflect various
acceptable relationships between the land
uses and human activities, buildings and
open spaces, plots etc.
PREFERRED SITE PLAN
This stage entails the eventual resolution of
conflicts bearing in mind the satisfaction of the
various social, economic and legal requirements,
environmental requirements, meeting planning
regulations, client’s demands and user’s
requirements and incorporating the planning
and design vocabulary of the site planner. This
incorporates the most ideal user’s environmental
setting, aesthetic and functional qualities of the
land uses and/or activities. The site plan must
define all the existing features to be retained
and those to be modified.
It equally indicates the location for all the
required buildings and structures. The
position and width of roadways and
footpaths are defined, as well as the possible
routes for the underground and overhead
infrastructure services.
The preferred site plan should be tested
against the goals and objectives and
modified appropriately. It should then be
presented to the client and users in draft
form for their comment, after which a finally-
approved site plan is prepared.
IMPLEMENTATION
PLAN PROGRAMMING, SCHEDULING AND
BUDGETING
The site planning process is useful for coping with
the financial aspects of planning. It allows for a full
description of the work that needs to be carried out
on the site. This includes the preparation of the
site, the construction of the built elements on the
site, the planting of the vegetation and the
maintenance requirements. This information is
useful in evaluating the detailed assessment of the
cost of implementation of the scheme and of the
design costs. Costing of each aspect of a scheme
allows the site planner to provide information on
the total costs. It equally allows a limited attempt at
financial evaluation of alternative solutions to both
the design and the management of the site.
SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN
IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION
A site management plan takes into consideration
how the land and landscapes will be managed
once the scheme is implemented.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION &
COMPLIANCE WITH DEVELOPMENT CONTROL
REGULATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITS
It is the management of the land and elements
comprising the landscape, which, together with
the location and distribution of those elements
determine the appearance of the landscape and
whether it survives in its present form or
gradually changes.