A small guide to reading plans

The general division of documents from the field of spatial and urban planning recognizes:

planning documents - spatial and urban plans,
documents for the implementation of spatial plans i
urban planning and technical documents.

One of the most important principles of spatial planning is horizontal and vertical coordination. Horizontal coordination it implies an integral approach to spatial planning - that the plan adequately relates to all aspects of citizens' lives, that planning solutions are integrated into the context of the environment and that they correspond to the wider space as well as the space that is the subject of the plan. Vertical coordination it implies the establishment of a link between all levels of spatial and urban planning (and spatial planning), from the national to the regional and further to the local level. That is, solutions given by higher-order plans are elaborated by lower-order plans.

Some of the relevant laws regarding urban planning are: Law on Planning and Construction, Law on Capital, Law on Public Roads, Law on Expropriation, Law on Environmental Protection, Law on Railways, Law on Water, Law on Agricultural Land, etc.

II Content and specifics of planning documents

The mandatory content of all spatial and urban plans can be divided into three basic units:

Arrangement rules primarily refer to the concept of spatial planning, then urban conditions for the arrangement and construction of areas and public purpose buildings, traffic and other infrastructure, the necessary level of communal equipment of construction land, conditions and measures for the protection of natural and cultural heritage and the environment, conditions for the accessibility of people with disabilities, etc.
Construction rules they contain the type and purpose of buildings that can be built in individual zones under established conditions, conditions for subdivision, sub-parcelling and the formation of building lots, the location of buildings in relation to the environment, urban parameters - the highest permitted occupancy or built-up index, the highest permitted height or number of floors, etc. .
The graphic part the solutions defined by the textual part of the plan are presented, and in this sense it should always be kept in mind that the graphic and textual part of the plan should be viewed side by side and that reading the textual part without an insight into the graphic presentation (and vice versa) is insufficient for understanding the planned solutions.

III How to read plans

The method of reading plans, that is, understanding the content of the planning document and the planned solution for the specific location that is the subject of our interest, can be divided into several steps.

step no. 1 – identifying the location of the plot

The first and basic step in reading the plans is to determine the position of the location or plot of land that is the subject of our interest in the graphic attachments, that is, to check whether it is included in the scope of the plan that we are looking at.

step no. 2 - viewing graphic attachments

Depending on our interest in certain aspects of the planning solution - purpose, urban parameters, traffic, infrastructure or something else, it also depends on which graphic attachment we look at. However, we almost always start from the purpose of the surface. The graphic attachment of the planned use of the surface is a representation of the surface on which the planned uses for the complete surface of the plan are marked with different graphic styles, colors and other elements.

step no. 3 – appropriate rules of arrangement and construction

When we have determined which purpose (or type of purpose) is planned for the area of our interest, in the text part we look at the appropriate rules of arrangement and construction for the purpose that we have identified through graphic attachments. In addition to the basic urban planning parameters that we read from the mentioned rules, such as the built-up index, degree of occupancy, the maximum height of the building and the minimum percentage of greenery, it is also important to pay attention to other rules that can significantly affect further implementation, such as the rules for (re)parceling, building rules (height, ground floor level, etc.), distance from neighboring buildings, etc.

step no. 4 – implementation of planned solutions

The last step in the series, but no less important, is to check the way of implementing the plan. Implementation in planning does not mean the construction of the planned purposes itself, but the definition of the procedures that follow after the adoption of the plan in order to realize it. The implementation of the plan is necessarily defined in the textual elaboration of the plan, but very often also in a corresponding graphic attachment. The implementation of the plan can be given through planning documents of a lower order, through an urban project (or an architectural-urban competition) or directly.

IV Description of the plan development procedure

Here, it is important to pay attention to when we as citizens can get involved, which is during the early public inspection, and then the public inspection of the Draft Plan, after which there is a public discussion, and then the adoption of the plan at the city assembly.

This is the moment when we send objections, but also verbally explain the objections we previously sent by mail. United, we can influence planners and decision-makers, our practice and actions have shown that, so we encourage you and claim that it is worth fighting.

Ceo A small guide to city planning you can download it at the link, or in the section Publications.