**2. Traditional planning system in the global south cities**

The discussion on the trend of urban planning will be incomprehensive without retrospection on the trends of human settlements/development. In fact, each stage of urban planning can only be effectively discussed within the context of the prevailing development era and so a better chronological order is to discuss the type and level of planning that prevailed in each human development era. The focus of this section though on planning in global South cities, needs to first discuss planning globally since most global south planning systems are bequeathed by their colonial masters especially in African cities and their contemporary planning practices still have its foundation on the inherited system. The following section therefore focuses on planning during the six major historical human development eras before the contemporary period.

The human settlement is an organized grouping of human habitation. The first stage of prehistoric human era known as the *Paleolithic era* was characterized by trial and error of the stone age-man. The Stone Age man at the experimental period had no definite settlement and moved from one place to another, it was a period of experimentation in virtually every facet of life [2]. At this point, planning was non-existent and actually irrelevant since man lived a nomadic life and the only moment of temporary abode was during very harsh weather and security threats in caves and cliffs. The next human development era was the *Neolithic era* which started around 6000 BC and was characterized by initial settlements first as temporary and gradually to permanent settlements. In this era, the first attempts at planning were identified where the people settled at different locations based on some criteria and definite situational l advantages. Planning at this point was informal but was obvious as the location of settlements was based on clearly defined advantages that such locations provided for the settlers. Some of the choice locations for settlements in the Neolithic era included near water bodies and cultivable lands. The next stage is called *Bronze Age* also known as Urban Revolution was an era when agriculture was the major source of income and so most planning attempts were to organize the available land for effective agriculture as well as set standards for the few towns that had come into existence then. The Bronze Age was a remarkable period and can actually be described as the real starting point of planning. The fourth epoch was called *Classical Age.* It comprises mainly Greek city-States and Classical Romans. It was at this stage that saw the laying of the many foundations for urban planning especially by Hippodamus regarded as the father of urban planning. The *Medieval Age* was a time of regression both for the planning and other aspects of life then and as such

**35**

*Future Planning of Global South Cities with Inclusive Informal Economic Growth in Perspective*

no progress was made. The *Renaissance era*, saw to the revival of planning and some more steps of progress made in the cities that existed then (mainly in the current global North). The features of Renaissance town planning include radial concentric town layout, carriage-way development and landscape planning ([2], p. 50). The Nineteenth century/Industrial Age had a lot of challenges for urban planning and gave the opportunity for planning to thrive and became a very relevant profession

In the global South, most of the locations known today as cities started as rural areas and had some form of informal planning. Typical examples are some communities in Nigeria (which are part of the global South cities) as Ile-Ife, Kano, Oyo and Bini. The planning practice then was characterized by the ordering of the community features in a radial form with the prime feature such as the King's palace

The contemporary urban planning is traced to the planning standards introduced by the colonial masters in many global South cities. In Nigeria, the 1932 Town and Country Planning Act of the United Kingdom formed the basis for the 1946 Nigerian Town and Country Planning Ordinance (No. 4) [3]. The current Urban and Regional Planning Law (1992) is also rooted in the former existing laws. Many other countries formally colonized in the global South share the same experience of Nigeria. Singapore is another typical example; its planning legislation was based on the British Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 [4]. The impact of colonial planning laws on the colonized global South cities is quite obvious in the physical organization of the cities right from the colonial era till date. The underlying factors that influenced the colonial planning legislations especially that of the 1930s and 1940s in Britain/Europe are no longer tenable even in the originating nations but unfortunately the colonized nations that were bequeathed with these planning legislations still hold tenaciously to them even in contemporary divergent situations [5]. Also the planning standards practiced in the colonial era had some design issues that were elitist, yet contemporary planning systems in the global South have rigidly upheld these standards till date. The Contemporary planning system is vividly

*Remarkably, much of the global South, as well as part of the North, still use variations of an approach to urban planning which emerged in Europe and the US in the early part of the 20th century, adapted to forms of government and urban* 

South cities' urbanization reveals their inadequacy and ineffectiveness.

**3. Urbanization and its effects on the global south cities**

The traditional forms of planning that have persisted in global South cities are opined to somewhat be driven by some forces [6] even the current trend of global

The global population reached the 7 billion mark in 2011 and is expected to get to the 9 billion mark by 2050. Urbanization, which is the influx of people from rural to urban areas, is a global concern. Globally, urban population reached the 50% mark in 2007 and has continued to increase ever since then with a projected 70% by 2050. Urbanization is a process predominant in the global North in the nineteenth century and has currently shifted to the global South [7]. It is predicted that 80% of the expected 70% urban population by 2050 would be resident in Asian and African cities [8]. The urbanization of the global North was accompanied by many positive effects such as new employment opportunities and poverty reduction. However,

especially with the contributions of Robert Owen and Ebenezer Howard.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89145*

or place of worship at the centre [3].

captured by Watson ([6], p. 2261).

*conditions which have changed significantly.*

#### *Future Planning of Global South Cities with Inclusive Informal Economic Growth in Perspective DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89145*

no progress was made. The *Renaissance era*, saw to the revival of planning and some more steps of progress made in the cities that existed then (mainly in the current global North). The features of Renaissance town planning include radial concentric town layout, carriage-way development and landscape planning ([2], p. 50). The Nineteenth century/Industrial Age had a lot of challenges for urban planning and gave the opportunity for planning to thrive and became a very relevant profession especially with the contributions of Robert Owen and Ebenezer Howard.

In the global South, most of the locations known today as cities started as rural areas and had some form of informal planning. Typical examples are some communities in Nigeria (which are part of the global South cities) as Ile-Ife, Kano, Oyo and Bini. The planning practice then was characterized by the ordering of the community features in a radial form with the prime feature such as the King's palace or place of worship at the centre [3].

The contemporary urban planning is traced to the planning standards introduced by the colonial masters in many global South cities. In Nigeria, the 1932 Town and Country Planning Act of the United Kingdom formed the basis for the 1946 Nigerian Town and Country Planning Ordinance (No. 4) [3]. The current Urban and Regional Planning Law (1992) is also rooted in the former existing laws. Many other countries formally colonized in the global South share the same experience of Nigeria. Singapore is another typical example; its planning legislation was based on the British Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 [4]. The impact of colonial planning laws on the colonized global South cities is quite obvious in the physical organization of the cities right from the colonial era till date. The underlying factors that influenced the colonial planning legislations especially that of the 1930s and 1940s in Britain/Europe are no longer tenable even in the originating nations but unfortunately the colonized nations that were bequeathed with these planning legislations still hold tenaciously to them even in contemporary divergent situations [5]. Also the planning standards practiced in the colonial era had some design issues that were elitist, yet contemporary planning systems in the global South have rigidly upheld these standards till date. The Contemporary planning system is vividly captured by Watson ([6], p. 2261).

*Remarkably, much of the global South, as well as part of the North, still use variations of an approach to urban planning which emerged in Europe and the US in the early part of the 20th century, adapted to forms of government and urban conditions which have changed significantly.*

The traditional forms of planning that have persisted in global South cities are opined to somewhat be driven by some forces [6] even the current trend of global South cities' urbanization reveals their inadequacy and ineffectiveness.
