However, I do live in an area where town planning is in hot contention. There are wealthy developers who want to build along the last remnants of still wild beaches and coastal heathlands. That would lead to the creation of a vast megalopolis. So locals are worried about how to find enough fresh water to supply a larger population, how to design it so that the last remnants of wildlife don't become extinct, how to organise and supply transport and social services, where to put shopping precincts and how to prevent the increase of crime. Some people have done studies in urban town planning around the world, and have discovered that if the layout is right it can make a huge difference to the health and well-being of the population. Communal facilities like restaurants, cafés, halls, sports-fields, churches, schools etc all play a huge role in creating and maintaining communities - but the developers allow no space for them unless forced into it by State regulations. So how states and local governments think about these things makes a big difference to people's lives. And locals get to have a say during the proposal and planning stages.
You can't make community; it happens. Build houses and people will make them homes and create communities. You also can't make two people friends. It happens by itself.
But consider... People need spaces where friends and communities can meet at leisure, share interests, and get to know one another. All over the world, wherever architects put up high-rise tenement blocks with high-density populations, no green space, and no playgrounds or afterschool activities for children and teenagers, tensions rise and crime rates escalate dramatically. In dormitory suburbs where people must commute long distances to work, people have little or no time to get to know their neighbors. In places without buses and trains, the roads become choked during peak hours. In countries with high immigrant intakes, if the infrastructure of hospitals and schools does not keep pace with the population's needs, national educational outcomes fall and sick people in emergency wards wait for four hours on the floor for lack of hospital beds, while others die waiting for operations. Old people's homes are understaffed with only six minutes per day per resident allowed by management to shower, dress, give medications, apply prosthetics and make the bed. Planning has a massive effect on quality of life.
To consider what happens when there is no planning at all, think back to Slum Dog Millionaire and the slums of Mumbai, or consider the barios in the south-west.
This post was edited by inky at September 19, 2018 8:33 PM MDT
Nanoose 
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