Sustainability generate revenues

During a master planning meeting , we spent one day discussing biking routes alternative and standards for bikers to safely circulate across the community . a hard edge conservative complained about the useless waste of time specially that we have not yet fixed road corridor widths.. I have to admit that as an urban designer i had a moment of self doubt .. Are we making a big deal out of it .. Today I learned that in fact it is worth it .. Dubai just announced its plan to rent visitors f it's downtown bikes to discover it .. This is not due to an instant decision .. Bike lanes and cycling master plans are part and parcel of the human dimension of Evan design .. Biking master plan are now though of in regional and metropolitan level .. I can imagine the planning team of dubai downtown master plan sitting in a meeting and arguing if it was taking too much of their time thinking about it .. Little did they know that it would make their development the first in the Middle east to offer online bike rentals .
Dubai rent a bike has its seed back Into those meetings .. Let us give some credit to the urban planners of the planning team who made this come true

Cityscape awards architecture 2011

Over the last few years the Cityscape Awards have developed into the world’s premier Architectural Awards for the emerging markets.
This year, being  part of the judging committee,i got the chance to view  more than 120 entries in 15 categories spanning from residential to community planning - islamic architecture to enviromental design.

The entries displayed creativity, innovation, efficiency and enviromental sensitivities .It was a difficult process especially that the entries all had eye on innovation, creativity but also functionality. Most of the entries showed high interest in customising their concepts to the context they are working with especially when it comes to street level. Urban design has become a major driver in shaping the architectural elements of the building . The other main trend that i have noticed in the entries is the use of energy efficiency systems to improve the functionality of the building- Sustainability is no longer a trend - there is an increasing demand on it as an essential criteria of design evaluation by clients.

i was highly impressed by two categories:
1- the young architects category- the entries showed an edgy approach that brings optimism in the pool of futureregional  talent we have-  it also showed an increasing blurring of boundaries between architecture, urban design and planning which means that our educational systems need to be redesigned to tackle it more.
2- islamic architecture- although i have heard many debates on the qualifiers of islamic architecture, i have to say that the entries showed a transformation of the way islamic architecture is viewed- Some of the entries transcended the past meanings and presented it under a new light.

Design Awards have always been an effective tools to spread awarness over the importance of quality in designing of our built enviroment and more than ever, it represents an incentive to gain recognition.
It recognises Architects and community planners and their projects that have shown outstanding designs, performance, vision and achievement in key areas of architecture.thething about design is that when it is done with a holistic approach , it benefits on many dimensions the context and that is where the categories in the awards provide a direction on which one can perceive the value of the project For example a good residential project might be as beneficial to the community and a well designed mixed use conplex might contribute to the local tourism.

the shortlist is out and you can check it on below link 

just click to view  the Cityscape Awards shortlist 2011

I am looking forward for a heated deliberation .

a theoratical review of the elements of Planning system and the current trends in improving its design

Planning System Design

The creation and establishment of a planning system depends on the context drivers such as:

• Legal system which is a byproduct of the  political governance system 
• Institutional system  that stems from the government agencies mandates and  responsibilit
•  Development Proces and its various actors
• Existence of a defined urban planning professional bodies

Public administration efforts focused on managing new developments and improving the built environment through improving and defining the planning system. Local governments had no separate identity and were strictly controlled through a central system .presently, decentralization is happening progressively – central and local governments are partnering although power and responsibilities are being transferred, it more has to do with responsibility and expenditure .Resources and ability to make key decisions still lie with central governments.

A Systems  

The planning systems can be structured in three patterns:

1-Centralized pattern distributed in one or more planning tiers

2-Balanced responsibility distribution over different tiers

3-Decentralized system with high degree of autonomy on each tie

Planning operates within legal frameworks that are either Regulatory framework with strict public policies and rigid controls. Or Discretionary framework that are flexible and open

B Functions 

Planning systems differ in their scope, methods of operation from country. But, they are formed by three main functions:

Strategic planning-Focusing on long term vision that integrates the drivers based on an evaluation of strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities  of the built environment and its different dimensions.

Plan Making  

Providing spatial frameworks based on which developments are planned on the national, regional, city, neighborhood and specific locations. Plans may have different content such as :Strategy ,Policy ,Statutory measures ,Project, Structure Land use, Settlement pattern,Housing, Retail, Leisure and Tourism ,New planned districts 

Development controls 

Legal and administrative procedures operating at the local level aim to control the location, form, character, activity of the urban development and may include the use permutations within the building affecting the site use.

Urban planning profession is now becoming more open to address beside land use infrastructure programs and integrate more with the sectoral processes responsible for urban finances. It is producing a more open, flexible and proactive planning that takes into consideration community inputs.

C Types of plans

 Structural plans:

 Originated in the United Kingdom – their flexibility and general guiding principles enable diverse solutions Operating usually at the regional and sub regional level, they are broad in scope covering in addition to land use, infrastructure, landscape, social considerations and economic goals as well as the institutional analysis. Structural plans require intersectoral integration and a robust financial analysis.

Master Plans:

Oldest version of city planning going to 3,000 BC, the plan aims at specifying at the municipality on  local level the land use zones for an administrative area whether it is a planned district or general zone. 

Local plans:

 Usually providing detailed and specific spatial design plans for a specific area, they focus on short term goals either putting in more controls where it is needed or specifying changes spatially where changes are about to happen .

Action Plans:

Based on community participatory processes outputs. It responds to an immediate need or negotiation over specific issue or challenge. They lack the legal status of a plan and in that case highly depend on the municipality management team to support it

D Range of Urban Planning Tools

Planning tools: techniques and information to plan transport, residential housing, landscaping

Information tools: baseline and periodical data as well as impact monitoring and exchange of information through networked

Policy Tools: general or specific guidelines or indicators

Fiscal tools either incentives such as tax relief or  disincentives such as tax subsidies, lifecycle costing, procurement policies

Decision making tools assessment, mediation sessions, workshops, stakeholder engagement

 Educational tools conferences, workshops, task forces, case studies, training,

 

Participatory tools:

• §  Participatory mapping of settlements for inhabitants
• §  Community lead socio economic analysis,
• §  collective modeling of housing,
• §  collective analysis of trends in life histories of residents,
• §  collective goal and priority ranking,
• §  inspirational individuals life stories,
• §  formal community champions

reflections on ecological design

The human being is a living creature. He is a part of  nature itself thus follows a defined and known life cycle; this lifecycle is  the sequence of day, month, year through out the different seasons .

The cycles of a man's life  consisting of birth, up-bringing, marriage, fatherhood, retirement, death is the complete path for one’s life leaving away for his children and his grandchildren to continue this journey.This is the definition of sustainability on the inidvidual level.

His successors will also draw other cycles for their life that connects with who they are and their personas but also connected to their fathers, family, tribe , communities, nation.

These multiple life cycles form  society and through them and their lives that the continuity of the historical, cultural aspects of a society is preserved.

These social cycles have been the foundation of anthropology in understanding how communities and societies are formed.

These interrelationships unveil  the invisible connections of the communities to the way it constructs meanings of the space  with time through its activities  

In designing our  plans and thinking about our development frameworks of design schemes, wether we are practitioners,

planners,policy makers, there needs to be more awarness to the mental plans of the city as a reflection of  these cycles .

The city becomes an ecosystem that through obeservation will reveal to us  the interaction of the different activities within it.

Sequence is  in the ecological cycles of earth, flora and fauna as well as in the sequence of the day (dawn, noon, sunset, late night) and the seasons ( winter , spring , summer, fall). 

 Our urban ecosystem is connected to the wider ecosystem in nature and thus a bigger picture also needs to be considered when we talk about enviromental consideration - it is not only how much we are impacting the enviroment around us.

it is about also how the cycles inside our masterplans link to the bigger cycles of the context we are living in and to think about how we will reflect these nodes of linkages without making the plan too rigid that it can not allow for the community to retrace meanings and emabed it in the framework.

 

The human life cycle is centered on the individual by excellence .As a living creature, the human being moves, migrates, grows and changes and by consequence is not static.

So, the concept of human life is one that does not accept state in one location and one era. We need to under-stand this flexibility ,resilience and adaptibility as it becomes crucial to strive to it since it is at the core of sustainable development.

One must not confuse stillness and presence with statism because it is in stillness that one observes his achievement and contemplates its proceedings. 

Therefore, he must be present to do so meaning being alert and conscious .Consciousness in this sense is a faculty that one uses to optimize his cycle. Our plans become more tolerant in  providing the community places of stillness. 

places of meaningfull meditation as people strive not only to be engaged but also to disengage , not only to connect but also to disconnect.

 The human life is a journey through out space and time- it the series of small choices we make , which route we take, which district we live in - most of our choices are affected indirectly with the planning challenges and opportunities that our city provides.In this sense, the plan needs to be in line with the choices that the community is making on daily basis and call for also a reevaluation of these choices mitigating the one chosen by constraints and putting weight on opportunistic choices- ones that may enhance the experience of one's life inside the city.

This motion through out space and time begins from the moment the human being is reflected in his small travels such as his day going to work and leaving his home. Our plans need to account for the small journeys , how they will look like , what they will mean to the community.

So, Respecting cycles of activities, of flows,of seasons, of time and space would allow our plans might to last  more than the next generation. 

So What is Accessibility for Public Spaces?

Public space should be accessible to and used by all. (Arendt ,1958) It is particularly important, as Fraser (1990) and Hartley (1992) argue, that by claiming that public space as an embodiment of the public realm, it should include and foster interactions between different groups of the society. It should also offer excluded groups an opportunity to claim their rights of representation within the general community.

Demographic accessibility refers to the link between the production activities of the space and the output generated to the entity operating it whether it’s a public or private agency. The production activities,  such as retail, can be analyzed through the formal and informal programs that the implemented design generates as well as the one designed for [N1] [N2] .The inclusivity of the public space is established collectively through the diverse groups that uses is to engage in dialogue, debate and oppositional struggles. Key aspects of inclusive public space are its suitability for gatherings and encounters and its accessibility as an arena through which privacy is contested (Mitchell 1995)>Inclusive public space also encompasses the range of wage groups it serves and being served to. Demographic accessibility is important since it allows for various perceptions of the space to surface. In fact, (Ramon, 2004) advocates that variables such as age, sex, social class and ethnic identity affect the way urban life is perceived[N3] .

Physical accessibility is defined by the nature of the network that links the urban space to its surrounding urban fabric. The nature of these networks , highway or a pedestrian street, can change their role from  linkages to obstructions facilitating or preventing exchange processes and therefore the inclusivity as a quality of Publicness. “Environments, individuals and/or groups perceived either as threatening, comforting or inviting may affect entry into a public space” (Tiesdell and Oc, 1998: 648).

Symbolic accessibility can be distinguished by the degree of users’ engagement with the space in terms of active/passive engagement. The nature and the scope of activities incorporated in the public spaces can either allow or prevent the emergence of spaces of representation. The impact of the spaces of representation vary depending on the flexibility of such a representation. If it is narrow, it would only allow for representations of selected groups, if it is wide, it would allow for overlapping representations and increase its circle of influence beyond the development to the city scale.

This could even extend to national scale especially in extraordinary events such as the place de martyrs in Beirut in becoming an arena for multiple representations for Lebanon over the past two years. By outlasting mortal lives, it memorializes and thereby conveys a sense of history and society (Arendt 1958). Public spaces are defined in terms of the social encounter and exchange “where groups’ interest converge ’( Borja and Muxi ,2001;Glazer and Lilla 1987;Vernez Moodar 1992;Sorkin 1992;Tibbalds 1992;Worpole 1992). It reinforces the collective identity of the community (Valle Del,1997; Franck and Paxson,1989;Gehl,1987;Lynch 960;Whyte,1980;Kenstler 1993;Ruddock 1996). 

Reinforcing residents’ feelings of belonging to the city is attributed to the actions that can be carried out in public space which reflects an opportunity to urban justice (Borja, 2000).

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Review of World Bank PRACTICES IN LAND TITLING AND REGISTRATION (adapted) PART 2 and 3

SOME TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Systematic title registration

A systematic adjudication and registration covers all of the parcels in a jurisdiction block by block, village by village, plot by plot basis.
The target is built upon issuing titles to all eligible land holders processing them through a public land registration office- the task duration is built around the completion of the assigned area being mostly the most important target.


Most of the efforts in systematic adjudication and registration revolves around identifying the existing rights of occupied parcels using officially issued deeds or through private conveyance
Thailand issued over 5 million title deeds in about half of the provinces in the country impacting 33 percent of its population.

Systematic registration demand extensive field based search and a simultaneous running of a wide publicity guaranteeing maximum community participation. The timing of the project depends largely on the proactivness of the government in encouraging land holders as some of them may not be ready especially if issues such inheritance or mortgage is involved.

Most of the costs involved accrue to government because of the large capital costs logistically and in staff. Countries have mostly chosen not to avoid charging the full cost of systematic registration on the land holders in order not to lose their participation. However, they have chosen to recover some of the cost at the time of the next transaction. Systematic methods may bring the costs to $40 per parcel that may be recovered over a period of over 10 years and mostly used for rural area.

BEST PRACTISES_ LAND TITLING AND REGISTRATION

Review of World Bank BEST PRACTICES IN LAND TITLING AND REGISTRATION projects

adapted from

PART 1

Introduction

Based on a review of 13 World Bank implemented land titling and registration projects with a total loan value of about US$550 million, the paper has examined the different major objectives and scope for these projects, the institutional considerations, the legal and technical issues faced, training and education that needed to be provided, the information technology dimension that was tackled and analyzed in particular the traditional and community land rights; and transparency and ethics in land registration operations.
Scope and objectives


In terms of general objectives, most of the countries have
solicited support for existing titled issues accuracy and regularization relating to either providing and building accurate spatial database through mapping, surveying and recording cadastral information as well as building the necessary information technology infrastructure for that.
Regularizing the title status is an important driver which involved also building local capacity and the support of international advisory skills. for the land holder, the most important aspect of the project is to get official accurate documentary evidence of ownership especially that recording successionary ownership is Omni-absent in some countries.