This paper has been presented in International Federation of Housing and Planning Association Land Policy Working Party by Haluk Dogancay on April, 25th 2005

Public and Private Actors collaborating for URBAN TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS

An Administrative Body proposed for developing and managing Urban Transformation Projects

The most accepted management approach today, is to act like ‘partners’ in all aspects of the community and business life. We should not also forget the privatization’s strong position in the public regulations. These new trends give us the hints on how to realize intricate programs such as urban transformation programs, successfully.

As an independent private sector consultant, specialized in the management of urban development projects and serving both private and public sectors to establish the most suitable environment for the collaboration of public and private actors, I want to discuss with you today, a model, an autonomous, municipal yet private body that has recently been proposed to the Municipality of Istanbul.

The model has been developed within the context of Zeytinburnu Earthquake Focused Urban Transformation Pilot Project and aims to be a joint platform where public and private actors can work together to lead, to develop and to manage urban transformation projects.

As one of the oldest metropolis and aged cities in the world, Istanbul City has launched a transition program from urban development to urban regeneration or urban transformation. This is an opportunity for Istanbul City, to regenerate its unauthorized and unhealthy dwellings counting to 60% of the total stock, which cause a great risk because of the destructive earthquake expected within 10 to 30 years.

Today’s aged and no longer non growing cities, are now confronted with a transition from traditional urban development process to urban transformation process.

On the other hand, it is also evident that the community, who lost their confidence in the housing projects that were implemented by local “build and sell” and “co-op” type of regional entrepreneurs and the public as a consequence of the problems and unproductive results in the past, would not esteem the same type of projects in new Urban Transformation Programmes.

Today, it has become imperative that municipalities, who initiated an Urban Transformation
Programme, should make radical changes in their traditional and mere ‘time-, cost-, and quality-based project management’ understanding and approach. It is now time for municipal administrations to regard long-term, large-scale and intricate projects, such as urban transformation projects, from a wider perspective in every aspect that range from time to space, cost, and quality factors.

Attitudes, which regard time and cost factors through a perspective that bears absolute focus on money and project implementation cost issues should be abandoned, while approaches that prioritize sustainable metrics and valuate projects by their total life cycle cost should be adopted.

The practice of analyzing stakeholders’ expectations and stakeholder management of the contemporary project management approach, have become the key factors in the success of urban transformation projects. Despite the high attraction of the investments that are foreseen to the benefit of urban transformation purposes, the slightest mistake in stakeholder management can, in some cases, draw the project to a total failure.
Urban Transformation and Project Management are acknowledged as two closely related disciplines. Urban Transformation Projects, in nature, are unique and temporary endeavours, integrated wholes of inter-related activities. These projects are implemented in conflicting environments, under time and budget constraints, however according to pre-determined technical quality specifications.

Urban Transformation Projects, today, are implemented with a ‘people-focused’ approach that consider;

• the improvement of structural environment and housing standards,
• more effective land utilization through appropriate and well-planned infrastructure and transportation systems,
• structural systems and fire security,
• visual and finishing quality of buildings, and
• the preservation of historical and cultural buildings and territories.

Urban transformation, by nature, starts with research and strategic business planning. The cost of Strategic Planning activities, which also involve market research and stakeholder analysis, constitute an insignificant amount when compared to the benefits that are expected from these studies and efforts.

Today, it is apparent that contemporary municipal administrations can steer Urban Transformation Projects with an autonomous approach that nevertheless bear the administrative structure and formal Project Management attitude of the private sector, as well as a commercial perspective.

In order to implement successfully their projects, Municipal Administrations and their Development Partners, who take responsibilities in Urban Transformation Projects, have no alternative than to use the Project Management Body of Knowledge methodology of Project Management Institute and attribute special importance to project stakeholders, the organizational structure of the projects, the human factor and communication. The Project Management Body of Knowledge will support Project Managers in fulfilling their project’s requirements in line with the needs and expectations of their stakeholders.

Urban Transformation Projects are managed with a ‘Programme Management’ notion that developed in line with the improvements of contemporary economy and in project management discipline, such as limited resources and resource optimization.
For the purposes set out by all of these viewpoints, the projects, which will be implemented and organized in different parts of Istanbul at the scale of districts, zones and quarters, are foreseen to

• be disciplined and standardized under a wider upper administration,
• productively exploit shared resources,
• be receive support,
• be audited, and
• share the total experience that is gained from all projects.

It was proposed that project-type organizations would not be viable within the functional organizational structure of the municipalities, and therefore, a corporate structure of autonomous, transparent, multi-disciplinary, open-to-public-audit structure, in which working committees that are managed by prominent private sector professionals of the field and academicians are established under the leadership of the municipal administration. The proposition also foresees the structure to comprise engineers, architects, real estate, evaluation and finance experts, planners, communication specialists and social workers and other similar functions.

In order to achieve high efficiency in urban transformation projects, a ‘region-focused team approach’ and the following structure are foreseen in the targeted regions where project and programmes are planned:

• Project based organization,
• Sustainable designs produced with the notion of multi-disciplinary and integrated professional teams,
• Professional Communication Teams for communication with the community,
• Formal project management organization in order to achieve performance consistency among project teams,
• Professional Social Services Teams that are independent from the Urban Transformation Administration, and that will provide security and prevent conflict of interest.

Model: Organizational Structuring at Regional-Scale in Urban Transformation Projects

The central organizational structure comprises the following:

• A formal Project Management organization, formed by regional team members and other central officers, that targets at solving potential problems, supervising coherent performance as well as resource optimization and harmony among the regional teams,
• An independent Project Supervision Team that targets at managing the teams’ operations, making the correct decisions and providing the right answers to the benefit of the stakeholders and in strategic issues,
• A Project Support and Functional Consultancy Group that bears no executive authoritative and sanction power over the daily operations of project teams.

Model: Central Organizational Structuring in Urban Transformation Projects

The stakeholders to join the project first will be the groups that are constituted by ‘advisors, members of the administration and community, developing partners, social services teams, and pressure groups’.

The most appropriate type of relationship between an Urban Transformation Administration and consultants, political administrations, communities, project development partnerships, social services teams, pressure groups and contractors is ‘partnership’ or ‘acting like partners’ type of relationships.
According to the learning and experience curve, on the other hand, pilot projects should be implemented before initiating large-scale projects.
This kind of a Stakeholder Management will also add value to the long-term goals of the urban transformation and address issues of ‘sustainability, quality, and customer-focused approach’.
Establishing ‘Regional Advisory Committees’ will encourage the participation of community members and building of local knowledge, and which in turn will facilitate project implementations ?the most important component of urban transformation. Nonetheless, it is essential to build the mechanisms that will represent community members correctly.
Higher efficiency of communication, better-defined roles and responsibilities, stronger team spirit and motivation can be established through a ‘horizontal hierarchy’ in the organization.

Team members and project leaders will stand closer to the notion of ‘sustainability’ in urban transformation projects.

Project managers and leaders will embrace the system’s approach and thus create an ‘open culture’ environment by making good use of their general management skills, as well as their relevant technical skills.

In connection to all of the above, the team’s performance will improve; the efficiency and productivity of the project management team will increase.

Information Technologies will stimulate and strengthen the communication with stakeholders which is considered as a must for implementing urban transformation projects.

Web Based Project Management Information Systems should display all of the project data, maintain the data up-to-date and easy-to-use, and provide access at different levels according to the information requirements of different internal and external stakeholders.
The system should include a website, where all of the different types of stakeholders can access appropriate and controlled information of different nature and Web-Based Project Management application services.

This will encourage the communication among stakeholders in the context of the project transparency and participation of public authorities, and will consequently improve the implementation of the urban development project.

As a conclusion; Urban Transformation Projects should provide the political support of the political administration at the level of both regional project management teams and top management organizations of the project.

In projects, the team members should improve their general knowledge related to other disciplines and adopt a wider perspective in evaluating the project and social influences.

Project communication should be practiced at two levels ?local and general: First, the communication team in regional project organizations, and Second, the advisory group of communication experts in the central organization. Communication with the community should be primarily conducted by face-to-face communication techniques.

In order to provide for the success of the projects, an appropriate incentive system, and considering the environment of conflict, the employment of legal consultants should also be foreseen.