What is UN-Habitat’s Our City Plans?
Our City Plans, formerly known as Participatory Incremental Urban Planning (PIUP), is a toolbox that allows local governments and urban actors to implement projects, plans, and planning processes. It guides them through a step-by-step methodology that includes the assessment, planning, operationalization and implementation phases, organized in blocks and supported by different activities and tools. Our City Plans will help different urban stakeholders better understand urban planning processes and effectively contribute to their city’s vision, policies, strategies, plans and projects.
What’s New?
Since its launch at WUF10 in February 2020, the toolbox has supported the planning process in 17 different projects in Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ethiopia, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe and Mozambique. The updated version includes new tools and lessons learned on digital engagement during COVID-19. Phases 3 and 4, Operationalization and Implementation, are currently under development.
Whom does the toolbox help? CITY PLANNERS
The toolbox provides city planners and urban planning practitioners with a step-by-step guide on how to run, identify gaps in and improve urban planning processes. The toolbox is incremental as it helps to prioritize activities according to the plan’s objective and the human and financial resources available, with a strong focus in participation.
CITY LEADERS
The toolbox is a resource for city leaders as it provides a comprehensive and strategic overview of the whole planning process and a clear understanding of their key deliverables (urban analysis, scenarios, concept plan, action plan, detailed plans, project feasibility studies, etc.)
CIVIL SOCIETY, INVESTORS AND PRIVATE SECTOR
The toolbox also allows civil society, investors and the private sector to learn and understand the complexity of how to implement inclusive planning processes. The tool helps identify critical steps in realizing projects and contributes to them, providing more transparency on urban priorities to better align public-private investments.
Our City Plans aims at creating a dynamic and continuous improvement process through user feedback, new tools, and building a community of planners from around the world.
The toolbox is a living methodology that guides implementation while gathering lessons learned, continuously improving itself. You are welcome to join our community and share which activities and tools you find useful, ask questions, provide suggestions, and partake in trainings organized by our team at UN-Habitat—even if you have not read the full toolbox!
Access the Our City Plans toolbox / more information
Access the Our City Plans toolbox on UN-Habitat‘s website.
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact UN-Habitat at ourcityplans@un.org.
