The Role of the Master Plan in Controlling Urban Growth: A Planning Vision

Abstract

Amiriyat Al-Sumoud city in Anbar Governorate represents experienced unbalanced urban growth, leaving clear impacts in the form of accelerated land-use transformations within a defined master plan boundary. The research problem is embodied in the emergence of uncontrolled urban growth occurring within the limits of the master plan itself. The study assumes that deficiencies in the implementation of the master plan and its insufficient activation constitute the main factors behind this imbalance. The study aims to adopt a spatio-temporal approach that reveals where the city complied with the plan’s directives and where it deviated from them. To achieve this, the study relies on a descriptive methodology through reviewing and analyzing the literature related to the conceptual structure of the master plan and deconstructing its relationship with urban growth, in addition to a comparative analytical method between two time periods using satellite imagery. The results are compared with the most recent master plan to determine the extent to which actual urban growth conforms to the master plan. The study concludes that there are implementation gaps within the planned area that are reflected in land-use changes not limited to the text of the plan itself, but rather associated with weak activation and application mechanisms. This situation has allowed uncontrolled growth to occur within the master plan boundary. Accordingly, the study recommends reorganizing spatial monitoring tools, updating phased implementation programs, and aligning urban development standards with the dynamics of actual demand, in order to guide urban growth toward a more balanced and sustainable trajectory.