Urban Planning for City Leaders - Cities Alliance

IntroductionThe planning system can be complex, time consuming and expensive, and may feature duplicationsand gaps. 7 The attempt to create comprehensive plans may take decades and plans could beoutdated before they are executed. On the other hand, plans that overlook institutional, technical,and financial constraints may eventually have to be abandoned. Adopting a demand-drivenapproach towards pragmatic and modular frameworks can lead to implementation that has animpact.Responding to real needs in a way that offers long term perspective and is at the same timeconcrete and well phased will help to ensure that plans will live to be implemented. Plans that lack avision and do not have a response to real problems are easily sidelined and forgotten when politicalagendas change. Choosing which are the key issues to address and assets to develop to support thecity development amidst constraints and challenges is not easy and requires insight and capacity toask the right questions.There cannot be accountability without concrete roles and targets and the resources needed torealize them. Not setting these from the beginning creates confusion and lack of accountability thatmakes goals unreachable.Transformative projects require holistic thinking to overcome governance bottlenecks andfragmented operations. Cities that promote a policy of integration and teamwork ensure thaturban development frameworks and sector policies are mutually supportive and that implementersunderstand that. Designating a specific group with responsibilities for strategic thinking andcoordination, and institutionalizing inter-departmental cooperation and day-to-day work alignmentmight require system and behaviour changes but will be more efficient.A plan that is approved by a city council is a binding document. Determining whether the localgovernment has the ability to implement a plan or whether it will rely on agreements with otherlevels of government or private partners is part of the necessary legal groundwork.21