This document discusses building types and residential planning considerations from a lecture on urban planning. It defines common residential building types like single-family detached and multifamily attached units. It also covers density measures, project sizes, and the role of housing in urban design. Key site planning factors are outlined, including zoning, infrastructure, open space, setbacks, density, and parking requirements.

1. Kandahar university
Engineering faculty
Architectural department
Course: Fundamental of Urban planning
Lecture 7: Building types
Lecturer: Mohammad Qasim Noorzai
Year: 1444

2. Table of Contents
➢Building types
➢Residential types
➢Role of housing in planning and urban design
➢Common terms
➢Other terms
➢Residential types
➢Site planning considerations

3. BUILDING TYPES

4. Residential types

5. Residential types
• The design and planning of residential development is a significant component of any planning or
urban design effort.
• Economic factors, such as cost of living, employment base, and disposable income, play a major
role.
• In addition to economic factors, architectural style is perhaps the next greatest determinant in
residential planning.
• Regional vernaculars, stylistic trends, climate, geography, local traditions, and other factors all
affect the type of residential development proposed for a particular site.

6. Role of housing in planning and urban design
• Residential development creates a core citizenry around which communities are structured.
• Housing defines a population base that determines the location of schools, employment centers,
and community facilities.
• Planners must be able to project long-term residential growth trends to provide adequate public
services.
• The successful planner and urban designer will understand and support a wide range of
residential development typologies.

7. COMMON TERMS
• The five basic attributes of residential development are
1) Building type
2) Style
3) Density
4) Project size
5) Location

8. BUILDING TYPE
• Building type refers to the arrangement of individual dwelling units and their placement next to,
above, or below each other.
• “Single-family detached” and “multifamily attached” are examples of residential building types.

9. STYLE
• Style refers to the architectural design of the dwelling unit.
• It is a subjective and qualitative attribute.
• “Contemporary,” “colonial,” and “prairie,” for example, are styles.

10. DENSITY
• Density refers to the number of housing
units per area of land.
• The most common measure of residential
density is dwelling units per acre
(du/ac).
• Particularly for dense urban projects,
density may be measured in floor-area
ratio (far), which is the ratio of the gross
building floor area to the net lot area of
the building site.

12. PROJECT SIZE
• Project size refers to the land area of the project.
• This can range from a single-lot, 2,000-square-foot urban infill project to a 3,000-acre new
community.
• Planners and designers must be conversant with the basic requirements of differing sizes of
development.

13. LOCATION
• Location refers to the context of the project.
• This can range from rural greenfield sites to projects in established suburbs.
• It can also include urban brownfield sites, projects in well-established transit-based communities,
and urban high-rises in a city center.

14. OTHER TERMS
• Planners use other common terms to describe residential development:
• Total project acreage: the total land area of a project
• Net developable area: total project acreage, minus open space and infrastructure acreage
• Gross density: number of residential units/total project acreage
• Net density: number of residential units/net developable area

15. Residential types
• Residential types can be classified into five basic categories:
• Single-family detached. Single-family detached dwelling units are physically separated from the
units immediately adjacent to them.
• Single-family attached. Single-family attached dwelling units share common walls with units
laterally adjacent to them.

16. Residential types
• Multifamily low-rise. Multifamily low-rise developments have dwelling units that share common
walls with the units that are laterally and vertically adjacent.
They typically range from two to four levels in height, with multiple service cores and either
structured or surface parking.

17. Residential types (Cont.)
• Multifamily mid-rise. Multifamily
mid-rise dwelling units share
common walls with the units that are
laterally and vertically adjacent.
• They are generally 5 to 12 levels in
height, with a common core. They
sometimes include structured
parking.

18. Residential types (Cont.)
• Multifamily high-rise.
Multifamily high-rise dwelling
units share common walls with
the units that are laterally and
vertically adjacent.
• They are generally 12 to 50
or more levels in height, with a
common core, and often
include structured parking.

19. SITE PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
• Zoning classification
➢Zoning typically determines the density of residential development.
➢In addition to density, zoning may also dictate height limits, required planted area, massing
criteria, and allowable ancillary uses.
➢ Planners must know the zoning under which a plan is to be evaluated or created and the relevant
zoning constraints.

20. Infrastructure design
• A major component of a residential development is infrastructure.
• This primarily includes roads, utility easements, and other rights-of-way.
• Also may include other elements such as accommodations for Public structures.
• Infrastructure may use 10 to 30 percent of a project’s gross land area.

21. OPEN SPACE
• Open space includes parks, plazas,
greenways, storm water
management areas, and any other
unpaved or undeveloped areas.
• Open space may use 10 to 30
percent of a project’s gross land
area.
• Where conservation is a goal, this
percentage may increase.

22. SETBACKS
• Often contained within the zoning code, and closely linked to density and massing considerations,
setbacks include front, rear, and side-yard setbacks.
• When density is higher, setbacks are typically
smaller.
• Urban conditions may not require setbacks.

23. ALLOWED DENSITY
• Density is often the primary determinant in the physical layout and appearance of a project.
• It will influence the housing type and perhaps the style of the project.
• Densities are calculated in dwelling units per acre (du/ac), and can range from 1 du/10 ac for a
rural lot to 100 du/ac for an urban high-rise.
• Typical densities range from 1 du/ac for single-family detached homes to 20 du/ac for
townhomes.

24. PARKING
• For many residential projects, parking must be provided within or adjacent to each dwelling unit.
• For higher-density projects (above 20 du/ac), common parking facilities are created adjacent to
the residential structure.
• The number of parking spaces required per
dwelling unit significantly affects site planning with
important economic and design consequences.