Urban Environment and Planning Branch (UEPB) of UN-Habitat supports countries in developing urban planning methods and systems that address current urbanization challenges. It promotes urban planning and environmental management approaches to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas, as well as urban biodiversity, urban mobility and energy in the context of sustainable urban development.
Cities face an enormous backlog of services and housing. There is indeed an urban planning crisis: the unplanned city is largely inefficient and requires increasing resources to make it more functional and liveable. In an era of growing oil prices and climate change challenges, low-carbon development also needs to be envisaged. Only those cities able to embrace different patterns of growth and address inequalities and inefficiencies will be able to provide better lives for their residents, while limiting ecological damage.
Urban planning frameworks have changed very little in the past 50 years, despite huge changes in the urban world, which is increasingly represented by developing cities and fast-growing centres. The Vancouver Declaration of 2006 provided a new charter for urban planning: 1) promote sustainable development; 2) achieve integrated planning; 3) integrate plans with budgets; 4) plan with partners and stakeholders; 5) meet the subsidiary principle; 6) promote market responsiveness; 7) ensure access to land; 8) develop appropriate planning tools; 9) be pro-poor and inclusive; and 10) recognize cultural diversity.
UN-HABITAT’s Global Report on Human Settlements (2009) identified new and sometimes overlapping approaches to urban planning, with common characteristics that are strategic, flexible, action-oriented, and stakeholder-driven. These innovations in theory and practice tend to exist outside the rigid traditional systems and generally have proven successful. However, they have not necessarily impacted broadly on urban planning as it is understood and pursued by national and local governments worldwide and even by urban planners themselves. In order to further advance innovations, five principles will be promoted:
- Plan in advance of population increase, with the view to remain basic but relevant and comprehensible but not necessarily comprehensive, and to leverage plans for revenue creation through value capture.
- Plan at the scale of the problem, particularly the projected growth of the urban population.
- Plan incrementally, starting with streets and following with water and sanitation, drainage, energy and lighting, transport, etc. This gives priority to improving the proportion of land allocated to streets and in turn supports service delivery and progressive taxation.
- Plan for density and mixed land use, aiming at vertical features that lower transaction costs, positively impact the economies of scale (and economies of agglomeration), and improve revenue from taxation.
- Provide for urban networks for sustainable mobility and sustainable energy.
This approach to planning will be cognizant of existing urban dynamics and endeavour to enhance urbanization economies (creation of value and its capture for further urban development) and agglomeration economies (through support to density and diversity in urban development and increased efficiency in mobility and energy consumption, etc.).
In view of the above, UN-HABITAT has recently initiated the implementation of a global programme on Urban Planning, Legislation and Urban Economy (UPLE) which envisages the development innovative urban planning tools for physical and strategic planning at the city-region, intermediate city and city-extension scales. It will also initiate their application in selected countries over the next 2 to 4 years. This programme aims at 1) helping cities develop practical, feasible approaches to implementing urban planning interventions and 2) assisting national governments to scale up successful local-level approaches, build the capacities of planning and facilitating institutions (cadastres, development control, construction plan scrutiny, etc.), and reflect the resulting lessons in national policies.
Given to the relative new focus provided by the UPLE programme to urban planning works of UN-Habitat, a consultant is required to provide technical support to this programme within UEPB.
2. RESPONSIBILITIES
The objective of this consultancy is to provide technical inputs for better place such new focus within UN-HABITAT and international good practices and lessons learnt and contribute to establish the body of knowledge required to both develop new tools and to promote them on evidence basis. In particular, UN-HABITAT intends to understand gaps and key areas of intervention where its work could provide distinctive value addition to cities interest and committed to address urban growth and to innovate urban planning interventions.
The consultant will work under the supervision of the Coordinator of the Urban Planning Component of the Urban Planning, Legislation and Economy Project (UPLE) and she/he will contribute to the implementation of the Project Component by performing the following tasks:
- Setting up the work plan of the project activities including its implementation, coordination, monitoring and reporting.
- Providing technical inputs to the policy and strategy development within UN-HABITAT related to management of growth, urban expansion and densification as well as on urban patterns for the city-region.
- Identifying and analysing tools on city-region planning, on strategic planning for intermediate cities, and for expansion and densification in order to evidence lessons and applicability in developing countries contexts, which will be used as the basis for further tools development in the area of quick in-depth and city-region profiling and of scenario development for urban planning.
- Coordinating of the consultants on the review literature and data on urban growth in developing countries, which is aimed at establishing documented evidence of expansion needs and demand on urban planning.
- Coordinating of the Quick Guides consultant and activities including the partnership programme with Siemens as well as the experts working on profiling and scenario tools development.
- Establishing broad-based policy dialogue with national, regional, and global constituencies, including consultations/interactions with country level, international partners, public institutions, civic societies, and private sectors.
- Conducting review of tools and good practices in urban planning and based on this review, provide an illustrated report on state of the art with a particular focus on developing countries cities’ needs.
- Providing inputs to local assessments and scoping and other activities aimed at urban planning, management, and strategy and programme development.
- Identifying key areas for intervention in human settlements within the framework of the Habitat Agenda, Habitat Country Programme, and sectoral reviews.
- Providing urban planning inputs in the development and review of project documentations and drafting programme documents with concerned parties.
- Undertaking technical support advisory missions to develop policy initiatives on urban planning issues; organizing and convening meetings of policy makers and technical experts to formulate, review, adopt and implement national action plans.
3. EDUCATION
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Urban/Regional Planning, or related field that is relevant for sustainable urban development. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
4. WORKING EXPERIENCES
A minimum of five years of experience in urban planning or sustainable urban development, of which at least three at the international level with substantial recent work experience in developing countries, a significant part of which should be directly related to different aspects of urban planning such as settlements infrastructure, community development, urban geography, cities and climate change, strategic planning or land management. Experience in activities of the United Nations, both in field projects and policy dialogues with member states of developing countries are desirable.
5. LANGUAGE SKILLS
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Although not a requirement, knowledge of a second UN official language will be an advantage and in particular good working knowledge of. Spanish or French would be a definite asset.
6. REMUNERATION
The total remuneration for this consultancy is US$51,000 including the daily substance allowance of Nairobi, Kenya.
Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period:
- 1st payment: upon formulation of the project work plan (30%)
- 2nd payment: by end November 2011 upon satisfactory submission of report on urban planning approaches and tools (30%)
- 3rd payment: by end February 2012 upon satisfactory submission of country reports on urban planning for the selected pilot countries (30%)
- 4th payment: by end March 2011 upon submission of final report on overall outputs achieved from this consultancy work. (10%)
| Applications should include:
All applications should be submitted to: Deadline for applications: 16 September 2011 UN-HABITAT does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org |
Consultant on Urban Planning (Tools, Best Practices, Scenario Development),(Nairobi,Kenya), DEADLINE: 18 September 2011
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