invitation to debate on strategic planning

[Sara Hoeflich]

 

 Dear all

The forum on social inclusion has been very interesting to all of us and during the following 2 weeks we will launch a debate on urban strategic planning (between 18 and 27 of October).

Your comments, thought,  contributions or links will be highly appreciated.

 

We want to enrich our UCLG world congress with ideas to be taken up  during some of the sessions. Some of the debates will refer to urbanism and to strategic planning in cities, by cities and for cities, and we would like to give more visibility to your ideas, and our networking, around the following questions:

 

1. What are the main needs for local authorities to lead a strategic  planning process?

 

2. How do you consider  the concept of  Urbanism is  changing, integrating other spheres than technical and physical planning , and can this be successful?

 

3. Strategies rely very much on support of stakeholders and being communicated well.  What is the role of the local government regarding participation in planning processes?

 

Feedback and suggestions  should be posted the following Google forum http://groups.google.com/group/uclgcongress/pendmsg?hl=en_EC  to which many of our members are subscribed and will follow and celebrate any comment provided which they all will see at the time it is posted. We will post our policy documents and terms related  strategic planning next week.

Please have a look to our congress page where you find more  information about the forum www.uclgcongress.com

 

I will be administrating the forum and be exited to hear from you soon!

Best regards

 

 

Sara Hoeflich de Duque

Project Manager

 

Local and Regional Leaders World Summit

17-20 November 2010

 

 

United Cities and Local Governments/Cités et Gouvernments Locaux Unis/Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos

Tel: +34 93 342 87 73

[Puvendra Akkiah]

thanks sara
will definitely contribute
please let me know how can i access the inclusive cities forum
i am doing my research on this topic and would like to get more info
please help
thanks

puven

Please read this confidentiality disclaimer:

http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/e_colophon/edisclaimer

>>> "Sara Hoeflich" <s.hoe...@cities-localgovernments.org> 2010/10/18
11:11 AM >>>

Dear all

<http://www.uclgcongress.com>

I will be administrating the forum and be exited to hear from you soon!

Best regards

Sara Hoeflich de Duque

Project Manager

Local and Regional Leaders World Summit

17-20 November 2010

United Cities and Local Governments/Cités et Gouvernments Locaux
Unis/Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos

Tel: +34 93 342 87 73

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[Sara Hoeflich]

Dear Puven,
Thank you this was the first response.
You can see the documents posted if you access through our congress page via forum, there are several comments posted on social inclusion.

Sara Hoeflich de Duque

Project Manager

Local and Regional Leaders World Summit

17-20 November 2010

www.uclgcongress.com

United Cities and Local Governments/Cités et Gouvernments Locaux Unis/Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos

Tel: +34 93 342 87 73

www.cities-localgovernments.org

[Arturo Ortiz]

Estimada Sara

Te mando la respuesta a la primera pregunta.

1. What are the main needs for local authorities to lead a strategic  planning process?

Creo que la principal necesidad para dirigir un proceso de planeación etratégico, es contar con instrumentos de gestión urbana eficientes. En ocasiones la burocracia y la normatividad responden a antiguas necesidades y no coinciden con las nuevas  condiciones de una ciudad.

Desde mi punto de vista, es importante lograr una nueva normatividad flexible, capaz de adaptarse a nuevos retos y a diferentes momentos de las ciudades, para ello es fundamental contar con estructuras de gobierno que tengan la capacidad de establecer una mirada técnica y no burocrática.

Saludos

Arturo

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[Nestor Vega]

 

Dear colleagues,

 

Enclosed please find an article which is meant to be provoking: Susan S. Fainstein (1999) Can We Make the Cities We Want?

 

It questions many things in the planning process. Can we define the objective? Do we really know, what is a better city? Do we have the tools and the capacity to reach the objective?

 

Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

 

Nestor Vega

UCLG

[Arturo Ortiz]

Envío las repuestas a las preguntas 2 y 3.

2. How do you consider  the concept of  Urbanism is  changing,
integrating other spheres than technical and physical planning , and can
this be successful?

Me parece que ante los nuevos contextos económicos, y los grandes flujos que delinean el contexto global (flujos de productos, dinero, personas e información), el urbanismo está participando en un nuevo ensamblaje de los territorios, en donde el reconocimiento de las nuevas dinámicas como la migración, la concentración económica, la dispersión del consumo, la distribución de la riqueza, las periferias informales y la volatilidad de la información, están transformando a las prácticas tradicionales de planificación y están incorporando multiples disciplinas a partir de las cuales se está generando una comprensión más amplia y flexible de las ciudades, a través de la cual, es posible tomar mejores deciciones dirigidas principalmente al fortalecimiento de la ciudadanía.

Me parece que la transformación del urbanismo en una práctica interdisciplinar es una consecuencia del nuevo ensamblaje que comenté y es posible que sea exitoso en la medida que tenga la capacidad de transformar sus modelos de gestión urbana a las nuevas realidades del mundo contemporáneo.

3. Strategies rely very much on support of stakeholders and being
communicated well.  What is the role of the local government regarding
participation in planning processes?

Me parece que los gobiernos locales deben marcar la dirección del desarrollo urbano a partir de la participación ciudadana, para ello se debe plantear a la "ciudad" como un tema de interés general y cultura cotidiana, en donde los ciudadanos tengan la posibilidad de concocer y tomar decisiones sobre su territorio. 

Para lograrlo es importante desarrollar estrategias de comunicación social en donde exista una comprensión de la ciudad como un sistema de equilibrios y que las decisiones que se toman en un lado de la ciudad afecta a otro, que los balances urbanos deben de establecerce mediante conceptos como la economía, la cultura, la cotidianidad, la calidad de vida, la sostenibilidad, etcétera.

También me parece que las diferente ciudades tienen procesos heterogeneos de desarrollo urbano, y cada gobierno local debe encontrar las vías de comunicación eficaces, que permitan por un lado la participación ciudadana, sin que ésto implique detener el desarrollo urbano. Otra vez, la gestión urbana es la clave!

Saludos 

Arturo

[Sogen Moodley]

** Proprietary **

Greetings all,

In response to the following question:

"Strategies rely very much on support of stakeholders and being
communicated well. What is the role of the local government regarding

participation in planning processes?" , please find an excerpt of a
piece that was done around the participation experiences in Durban. Hope
this is useful...

Contemporary texts in the fields of public administration, planning and
governance provide interesting arguments for and against active citizen
involvement in local governance. The view that citizens themselves can
best articulate their own needs, help improve ownership of processes and
improve legitimacy of government projects are cited as important reasons
for active citizen participation. At the same time, the delays,
increased costs and the energy required in determining who to involve,
given the complexities of local community dynamics are often cited as
factors that mitigate against active participation of stakeholders in
collaborative governance.

In our South African context, enabling and progressive national
government legislation that now includes communities as part of the
definition of local government, have effectively closed the debate on
the merits and de-merits of active citizen participation. It is now a
legislative imperative that citizens are actively involved in the
governance process. This new conceptualization of local government has
prompted local authorities throughout the country to change the
previously dominant mindset that viewed community consultation and
participation as a tiresome burden that slowed down delivery and had to
be merely factored into or added onto the strategy-making process.

Participation fundamental to achieving our Vision
For us in eThekwini however, stakeholder action has meant much more
than a legal imperative that had to be responded to. With the adoption
of a new Purpose Statement for eThekwini, the active involvement of
citizens is fundamental to achieving our outcome of improving people’s
quality of life. For, without City stakeholders themselves taking action
in a new enabling environment provided by the Council, the underlying
goal of the entire governance project, would never be realized.

Living up to the expectations of our new Purpose Statement that
redefines the very role of the organisation required that Council make
every effort to ensure that the strategic intent of its Purpose
Statement was translated into reality. This meant that City stakeholders
were to be involved in the process of planning, budgeting, implementing
and reviewing not just the overall City Strategy, but for key City-wide
as well as local community projects and programmes. In order to manage
such a daunting process, the Council committed itself institutionally by
establishing a fully staffed Unit to dedicated to ensuring that this
goal was achieved.

Improving the quality of Service Delivery
In looking back at our participation experience we have learnt that
investing in genuine collobrative processes is invaluable because the
quality of our service delivery is greatly improved when we consciously
integrate ideas from those we serve. As we demonstrate our commitment to
listening to City stakeholders and more importantly acting on their
ideas, more and more innovative local suggestions start emerging.

Participation can also therefore be a powerful tool to help everyone
understand the complexity of development problems and the need for
devising integrated responses to difficult challenges. A good
practical example to help demonstrate this learning point is the local
experiences from the iTrump Project in the Warwick Triangle area of the
Inner City. When the problem of the fat from the bovine head cookers
that was being poured into the City stormwater drains became a serious
one, engaging the informal traders and ensuring that they understand why
this was a problem was necessary.

As the
traders began understanding how it blocks up the storm-water
system when it hardens - thereby threatening their business site,
officials also developed greater understanding for their need of a
fat-disposal system that is not onerous for them as entrepreneurs. After
a shared understanding was developed and the problem defined, a solution
quickly emerged. Through the use of a specially designed strainer on
buckets that collected the melted fat that could be easily disposed of
when hardened, an integrated solution that dealt with the cause of a
problem through a participative approach was reached.

Helping to See the Bigger Picture
More than just improving the quality of service delivery, active
participation we found, allows City stakeholders to fully understand the
necessity to prioritise when they are confronted with all the needs of
the City. For example, during workshops in historically advantaged areas
(like Durban North and Westville) participants could see their need of
well maintained verges relative to the needs of creating parks and
playlots in underinvested areas which never enjoyed such recreational
amenities. Stakeholders appreciate the fact that local government has to
take care of and provide for the needs of the entire City, if they are
exposed to the “bigger picture” beyond their own neighbourhoods.
Presenting this information and explaining the needs of other
communities during the needs assessment workshops was very useful in
this regard.

Engendering a culture of taking responsibility
Furthermore, by directly involving stakeholders in the planning and
implementation process we found that they are prepared to take more
responsibility in solving local problems. Thus for example, local
communities in addressing the challenge of ensuring a safer living
environment – an issue that was common across all ward workshops, were
prepared to play a greater role in supporting police with crime
prevention because they could see reduction in crime as their
responsibility too.

Breaking down the barriers of “us and them”

A final observation and learning is that active citizen participation
allows communities access to the once “faceless bureaucracy”. As
stakeholders engage with City officials, the artificial barriers are
broken down. Mutual respect and a new spirit of working together becomes
enshrined as local solutions to problems are sought.

In summary then, for us in eThekwini the governance experience is an
incomplete one unless citizens are actively engaging with us. Without a
strong and vibrant partnership, it is impossible for us to achieve our
collective vision for the City.