ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why current trends in planning settlements are unsustainable and the lessons that can be drawn if they are to be planned more sustainably in the future. Two main planning trends are examined: the dispersal of population and activities and the centralization of services and facilities. The chapter then identifies some of the environmental consequences of these two planning trends, and discusses ways in which land use planning might reverse these unsustainable trends. The chapter shows how a strategy of decentralized concentration may lead to more sustainable patterns of development, which has a number of implications for the planning of neighbourhoods. Although the focus of this chapter is primarily the UK, many of the trends in land use, impacts and recommendations are applicable in a wider context.
