Human and Physical Resources Review

1 week
Objectives

Review the existing available resources to sustain the urban planning process in terms of human resources, data, equipment, expertise, stakeholders and partners, and identify critical gaps and potential support sources.

Results
  • Cultural, historical, political and background research on the context

  • Formation of a preliminary project team and identification of partners

  • List of available resources (data, physical, and human)

Description

This activity allows the project promoter to identify the human resources available to form a preliminary project team, and further experts and organisations that will potentially support the project. This preliminary project team will be responsible for the next activities, including the elaboration of the Guiding Document and the formation of the Project Office.

Before starting any urban planning process, the preliminary technical team must define the local context in terms of culture, demographic trends, biophysical environment, and historical background. Secondly, it identifies existing maps and data as well as the availability, sources, and potential costs of acquiring missing relevant information (especially cartography and demographic data), equipment, and physical resources (office space, internet connection, computers, software licences, etc.) needed for the planning process.

Consult T1 List Minimum Required Expertise and Partners tool to understand what are the basic requirements to conduct a planning process adequately. If the resources are insufficient, they can be completed at a later stage depending on the available budget, by capacitating the internal team, hiring experts, buying any missing equipment, or asking external stakeholders for support. While identifying key partners and alliances for this initial stage, political support must be ensured. The preliminary project team should involve political champions and key representatives of the public sector.

Steps
  1. Identify key experts, both internal and external, to involve in the planning process.
  2. Identify key political champions and decision-makers representatives to involve in the planning process.
  3. Form a preliminary technical project team.
  4. Do a preliminary research on the demographic trends, biophysical environment, cultural and historical background of the local context.
  5. List and evaluate the availability, reliability, quality and relevance of data (consult Block D Analysis and Diagnosis for reference).
  6. List and evaluate the availability of equipment and physical resources.
  7. Define any missing resources that should be addressed in the project document elaboration and the resource mobilisation activities.