An urban and regional planner, as the name implies, is a trained professional who works to develop plans for the development, allocation, and effective use of land resources, as well as developing and implementing strategies to assist authorities in properly planning urban settlements. An urban and regional planner contributes to environmental protection conducting studies and making recommendations for the development of a specific area. He or she also helps with the application of formulas to make projections about any anticipated needs of a specific area in terms of population growth versus available resources. An urban and regional planner contributes to the improvement of a geographical area’s social infrastructure performing these functions.
One of the primary responsibilities of an urban and regional planner is to assess the available resources in a given area in order to make educated decisions about how to best allocate and use those resources. They do so using methods such as determining the current population size and projected population growth over time, as well as the expected pressure from population demand on available resources. As a result, if the projected population growth over time is not supported resources, urban and regional planners may make recommendations to relieve undue pressure. One suggestion they might make in such a situation is to develop another area with comparable amenities that will attract citizens, causing them to relocate to these areas and relieve the pressure on the other overburdened areas.
Another function of an urban and regional planner is to protect the environment developing plans to achieve this goal. They could, for example, designate some areas in the community as protected zones, which are under government protection due to a variety of factors, including the fragility of these areas. A coral reef, for example, could be designated as a protected area due to the dangers posed adverse human activities. They could also set aside industrial zones for the location of manufacturing plants, away from residential areas where emissions from such facilities could endanger people, animals, and plants’ health. Other potential health hazards, such as landfills, would be strategically located under this type of responsibility.