This document discusses using GIS tools like Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst in urban planning education. It argues that while GIS is common in planning, its full potential is often not realized. It presents three case studies using these tools for tasks like identifying suitable greenbelt housing sites, developing mapping apps, and modeling school accessibility. The document concludes that with available GIS tools and data, planning students can revolutionize how the field understands and plans the world, seeking better solutions if GIS is fully integrated into planning curricula.

1. Using ArcGIS
Spatial Analyst and
Network Analyst in
Urban Planning
Teaching
Ed Ferrari
Department of Town and
Regional Planning
The University of Sheffield

2. Starting point
• GIS offers us the most
transformative set of tools
imaginable for understanding
and planning our world
• But while GIS is commonplace
in planning offices, what do we
really do with it?
• What could we do with it?
• And what skills do Planning
graduates need to do this?

3. A crude
characterisation of
Planning
• Quasi legal
• Obsessed with process
• Bureaucratic
• Tokenistic engagement
• Lacking vision

4. In this context what do we
tend to expect of GIS?
• Document management
• Map creation
• Routinisation of
administrative tasks
• Basic thematic mapping

5. What could we do?
• Develop more sophisticated
understanding of migration and
travel to work flows …
• Assess site suitability for housing,
waste disposal, retailing…
• Estimate changes in aggregate
accessibility to schools …
• Visualise future development
options …

6. What needs to happen?
• Learn from the best of private
practice, academia, and forward-
thinking public sector
organisations
• A focus on applied applications
• Moving away from corporate IT
and data policies to embrace
Open Access and creativity
• Embed GIS throughout the
Planning curriculum, not just a
‘taster’

7. Case Study 1
Finding potentially
suitable areas for
greenbelt housing
development
• Context. Local authorities increasingly
see greenbelt review as a necessary way
of accommodating the growing demand
for housing.
• Problem. Identifying potentially suitable
areas for development within current
greenbelt land.
• Methods. Use of an array of Spatial
Analyst tools in order to solve this site
identification problem, on the basis of
multiple criteria including: flood risk,
availability of public transport and
access to local schools, services and
facilities.
• Data. All freely available online from a
range of open sources including
OpenStreetMap and DataGM, Greater
Manchester’s open data initiative.
• Outputs. A weighted overlay of all
criteria was used to produce a land
suitability classification in ArcMap 10.1.
The classification could subsequently be
overlain with backdrop imagery and
used to identify the location of areas
which best met the suitability criteria.
Client: Manchester-based planning
consultancy.
Matt Tapley, Simon Green, Ezza Zulkaflee,
Javad Koohpayma and Saad El Sakran

9. Case Study 2
Developing the
MyNearest app
• Context. ESRI UK Local
Government Solution
“LocalView Fusion” being
retired in July 2016
• Problem. Sheffield City
Council wanted to review
all local and district
authority websites for
mapping services.
• Methods. Review examples
of best practice compared
with ArcGIS online and the
MyNearest Application
(Beta). Feed best practice
back to ESRI UK
• Data. Local data sources;
ArcGIS Online
• Outputs. Prototype maps
created in ArcGIS online
and the MyNearest app to
fit in with Sheffield City
Councils requirements
Client: Sheffield City Council.
Simon Benten, Emma Holgate,
Yuhan Ma, Bader Takriti, Hafizah
Mohd Zaidi

11. Case Study 3
Travel to School
• Context. Education policy
promotes choice, but Planning
policy promotes sustainable
travel choice. Budget pressures
for schools. >50% of pupils
don’t go to their nearest
school.
• Problem. Develop spatial
models of school accessibility
and actual school attendance.
Assess hypothetical policy
scenarios. Estimate ‘excess
commuting’
• Methods. Build network model
of Sheffield – for road travel
and walking. Use OD Matrix
and Location-Allocation
problems for all pupils and all
schools.
• Data. SCC data from Pupil
Census; OS MasterMap ITN
• Outputs. Calculations of excess
commuting, CO2 emissions,
derivation of ‘de facto’ school
catchment areas, comparison
to house prices, etc.
Client: ESRC
Ed Ferrari, Sue Easton, MSc
Applied GIS students

12. Legend
Top 25 Primary Catchments on KS2
Pockets of deprivation: Young Families
Pockets of Deprivation: Older Households
Spacious Suburbs
Suburban Heartlands
Manual Working Class
University & City Centre Living
Young Professional Spread

13. Concluding thoughts
• Given the tools available to us in
ArcGIS, and the great strides in
data availability, there’s no
reason why tomorrow’s planners
cannot revolutionise the way we
see the world and plan for it,
seeking more effective and
equitable solutions to our grand
challenges.
• Education is the starting point.
• Becoming the intelligent
commissioner is the goal.