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Flexibility in planning

Posts discussing issues of flexibility in planning approaches

20 March 2022

Learning from urban projects: why and how we should unlock the learning potential of urban development projects and programmes

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had been asked to put down some thoughts on learning from urban projects. The thoughts have now been published open source. Link to full text

Forbes Davidson (2022) Learning from urban projects: why and how we should unlock the learning potential of urban development projects and programmes, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, DOI: 10.1080/19463138.2022.2042305

The images below show how a project changes over time, but long term monitoring and evaluation and needed to learn the lessons.

Ismailia Hai el Salam 1982
Ismailia Hai el Salam same location 2007

For more information on the Ismailia projects see here for downloads and links , and here for a list of references. Photographs can be accessed here for early stages in the project and here for more recent images.

Here is the abstract:

Urban projects are developed partly to solve local problems but often have wider aims to influence policy and practise. However, there is very little long-term evaluation carried out, and few systematic efforts to link the experience gained in project development and implementation to wider learning and capacity building. I have written this opinion piece based on my experience both in practise in the public and private sectors and in teaching and research. The paper is divided into three parts. First, why urban projects and programmes are important for learning and capacity building. Second, how we learn from projects and the opportunities and barriers to learning. Third, how we could increase learning by explicitly including learning objectives in project planning and evaluation, strengthening links between practice and learning, and improving long-term access to project materials with learning potential.

I would appreciate any feedback and thoughts that you might have.

A small scale “capital investment project” supported by UN-Habitat in Kosovo to improve local conditions and build capacity in local communities and government. 2014

Filed Under: Approaches, Capacity development, Flexibility in planning, Ismailia, Ismailia projects, Papers, Participation in planning, Planning, Uncategorized, Upgrading, urban transformation Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
2 October 2012

Elasticity: resilient cities and Black Swans

How to make planning decisions that are clear now and robust in the future?

Black swans have been made famous recently through the pertinent book of the same name by
Nassim Nicholas Taleb . The main concept is that many of the critical events affecting development are unpredictable.  This doesn’t mean that there is no point in predicting, but rather that we should be more modest in terms of our abilities and thus need to plan for robust or resilient frameworks which can more easily adapt to changing and unknowable  situations.  The change factors are many, but recent examples include 9/11, Tsunami, Financial crisis, Iraq, impacts of climate change.   For example, in many countries urban development may be significantly funded by remittances from migrant workers.  Much building in Egypt was funded by those working in the Gulf as professionals or in Iraq as labourers.  A political change can send migrant workers home and at a stroke stop major sources of funding.  Interest in climate change adaptation and mitigation have given further impetus to the need for resilience in planning and design decisions.

However, it is easy to talk about flexibility. In development planning we need to propose locations, layouts, infrastructure levels, rules and regulations and institutional relations.  Hard decisions need to be made.  A road reservation needs defined lines.  We need to put more weight on making those decisions resilient and relevant for  situations that are likely to be much less predictable than we as planners and engineers  have been used to assume.

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7 September 2012

WUF Naples, the end

20120907-115050.jpgDay three was the end of the programme, barring the closing ceremony. I met a lot of people, so can only report on a few sessions. Here are the highlights for me.
The SIGUS programme of MIT ran a session looking at lessons  from incremental housing over extended time periods. The case of Lima was fascinating as it traced the changes over time related to political and economic shifts. The development was informal, but based on a technically sound plan. The case is interesting for me as what happened in Peru had been an important influence on the project in Ismailia, discussed elsewhere on the site. There was a link via John Turner and MIT.
A case from Chile highlighted the changing forms related to economic development and expectations. For me important points were:
1) The approaches were capable of responding to changing circumstances over time, a link to need for robust planning frameworks;
2)The planned framework allowed for a good and efficient development;
3)The long-term review allows us to learn and apply lessons.

Unfortunately I could not stay for the other presentations which included, from Egypt, the informal expansion of social housing and new efforts at incremental housing.

The second memorable point was during an award ceremony organized by IHS alumni. The former mayor of Medellin, Dr. Sergio Fajardo, could not attend to receive his award. This at first was disappointing,  but long-term was very good thing.  The former mayor, now Governor of the state, sent a video message explaining how and why he had entered politics and their strategy to help turn round his city and make it again livable.  This was one of the most inspiring communications I have heard from a mayor, and deserves a wider audience. I hope that IHS or the alumni will make it available on YouTube. If so, I will post a link.

Update:  I received links from Julia Skinner of the IHS Alumni Association.  The first was prepared for WUF in Naples, the others were filmed during the alumni awards presentation in Medellin in 2014

Presentation at awards ceremony in Medellin.  Good to catch the passion the former mayor shows!

 

 

Filed Under: Events, Flexibility in planning, WUF 6 1 Comment