• Town planning is something that is extremely important to the everyday life of millions, but also goes almost unnoticed by most people. Ideally, town planning involves designing an area where people will live and/or work in order to maximize land use, opportunity and happiness for residents. In reality, it often involves dealing with a lot of disparate concerns and zoning laws, and trying to make the best decisions for the present and the future.
  
  

Design

• One of the most important aspects to town planning is in the design of an area. How a town functions has a lot to do with how it is laid out. Many older towns are laid out with a main street where most of the commercial activity is centered and many smaller streets where people live. Modern cities, and older ones in some cultures, are often designed in a grid pattern with crisscrossing perpendicular streets and avenues that go at different angles.
  
  The design of an area can have a lot to do with how easy it is for people to get around and access different sections of a town. In addition, planners are often asked to plan ahead and leave space for future development that can be easily incorporated into a town, depending on how fast an area is expected to grow.
  
  

Zoning Commercial and Residential Areas

• Town planners often have to work within existing zoning regulations, which govern what can be built in an area, but occasionally have a chance to shape zoning laws in concordance with public officials. The two main areas of concern are usually residential and commercial zones.
  
  Planners will often have to juggle the concerns of residents who might want to be near commercial areas for ease of use, but don't want lots of traffic going through their neighborhood, with the desires of business, who will want easy access to their commercial properties. For instance, if a commercial area is far away from main thoroughfares it might not be popular for business owners or customers, but residents might not like having a large commercial development in the middle of their neighborhood. Planners help decide the size and scope of commercial and residential developments, and occasionally help zone areas for future development.
  
  

Streets

• Another important function of town planners is in street layout. Straight roads with high speeds are necessary for quick transport and commerce, but are not welcome in all areas. In many suburbs residents do not want high traffic in their neighborhoods, so planners often lay out a series of twisting and turning streets to prevent fast-moving trucks from cutting through their area. Accordingly some areas have residential sections surrounded by main roads so residents can access them easily while maintaining slow, quiet streets near their homes.
  
  

Land Use and the Future

• An increasingly important part of the planner's job is to prepare for the future. While planners have always had to think about future development, because of worries over resource use, some planners are now asked to design areas that are more self-sufficient than previously. When gasoline was cheap developments could be spaced further away because people could easily reach them by car. Because of open space concerns and possible resource shortages, planners are now being asked to consider developments in different ways. One school of planning, New Urbanism, calls for walkable residential communities where a person's commercial needs (groceries, jobs, clothing, etc.) are available within a short distance. As populations continue to increase, effective planning for the future will only be more important.