Urban Planning / Transportation Engineering Project

1. Urban Planning / Transportation Engineering Project

2. Objective • Introduce students to the TDL Career Cluster: Transportation Systems/Infrastructure Planning, Management, and Regulation • Urban Planning / Transportation Engineering (Civil Engineering) • Introduce Students to Urban Planning Concepts

3. What is Urban Planning? • Urban Planners develop comprehensive plans and programs for use of land and physical facilities of local jurisdictions, such as towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.

4. City Zones • What are City Zones? • Zones regulate land use in various parts of counties and cities. • “Zoning” is the practice of designating what a specific section of land can be used for within a given geographical area. • mapped zones separate one set of land uses from another

5. WHY USE ZONING? • Primary purpose of zoning is to segregate different uses of land that are incompatible with each other. • Zoning is used to prevent new developments from harming existing residents or businesses.

6. EXAMPLE • Lets say you live in a low density housing area (suburb) of Omaha, and a new power company wanted to buy some of the houses in your neighborhood, destroy them, and put up a nuclear power plant in your back yard, would this harm your way of living?

7. ANSWER • By constructing a new nuclear power plant… • Housing values would go down. • Pollution (although within the required legal limits) would increase. • Higher traffic in and out of plant may cause traffic safety issues. • Noise levels would go up…if the plant ran 24/7, it would be difficult for families living in the area.

8. City Zones • Residential Zone (Green) • The areas in a city where people live. • Housing developments, Apartments and Condos. • Purpose of a Residential Zone • To reserve appropriate located areas for families living in a broad range of dwellings. • To ensure adequate light, air, privacy, and open space • To minimize traffic congestion and to avoid the overloading of public services.

9. City Zones • Commercial Zone (Blue) • Commerce deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer. • Example: Wal-Mart, Kum and Go, and Wendy’s • Purpose of Commercial Zones: • To provide areas for the development and operation of retail and service businesses in support of community needs.

10. City Zones • Industrial Zone (Yellow) • Industry is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods • The purpose of Industrial zones is to provide a location for Manufacturing plants. • Industrial Zones provide cities with large employers. EXAMPLE: Kellogg’s Plant, Omaha

11. City Zones • Utilities : • Refer to the set of services (infrastructure) provided by organizations that are consumed by the public: gas, water, electricity, and sewerage. • These organizations are usually owned or regulated by the government • Power Plants • Supplying Power to the city. • OPPD: Omaha Public Power District • Water Treatment and Gas • Supplying water and gas to the city • MUD: Metropolitan Utilities District

12. Transportation Engineering • Be mindful of how well you provide areas for people to move around and through your city. • Provide areas for road expansion. • You must be able to grow your highway and street system as your population grows.

13. How Would You Layout Your City?

14. Project • Using the SIM City software, you will develop your own city. • You will be graded on 3 things • How fast you grow your city (100 points) • How well you take stats on your city (200 points) • How well you put together your presentation of your city (200 points)

15. What You Will Be Graded On • 1st, City Growth: 100 points • Try to grow your city by 500 people a year. • You will start you city in the year 1900 and end in the year 1925

16. Where Would You Start? Start by a river or a body of water Using water ways was a major form of transportation in the early 1900’s and today is the cheapest means of transporting goods.

17. Topography • Be mindful of the surface features of a given area • Is it harder to build on bluffs or hills • Build on plains or flat areas. • Example: Council Bluffs Vs. Omaha

18. When Using the SIM software • Start on a flat surface near water. • Bluffs are hard to build on and will only cause you to run out of space. • Start with a power plant • Do not put residential around the power plant • Power Plants should be on the outskirts of the city. • One square equals 6 to 8 city blocks. • Do not build areas wider than 6 by 6 • Do not spread your city out too much! • Remember, you do not construct the buildings, you just zone the land for building.

19. Start with these settings: • Easy • $20,000 • 1900 • Do Not modify the land area.

20. What You Will Be Graded On • 2nd, Statistics: 200 points • Everyone will be required to take stats over how well you city is growing. • To take stats, you will use the excel spreadsheet given to you.

21. When Do I Take Stats? • You will take your stats every December • You will take stats every 5 years in December • December 1905, December 1910, December 1915… • Make sure to pay attention, points will be taken away if you take stats at the wrong time.

22. Taking Stats • Graph Button • Press the Graph Button to take stats for the first 13 rows on your stat sheet. (reddish orange area)

23. Taking Stats • Budget Window • Press the green money symbol to take stats for the last 12 rows on your stat sheet.(light blue area)

24. What You Will Be Graded On • 3rd, Presentation: 200 points • Everyone will be required to make a presentation using the MS PowerPoint Template given. • You must have pictures included in your presentation. • Presentations must be completed to earn maximum points • Presentations will be given to the class after cities are completed and all stats are taken.

25. Good Luck