The Planning Coordinator's Manual
A concise guide to participatory projects: This manual provides essential materials and examples for preparing individual activities, tools, project briefs, tenders, and other necessary resources. It will assist you in planning projects, monitoring progress of activities, evaluating output quality, and facilitating effective communication with the IPR Prague team, city organizations, and their contractors.
Within the Planning Coordinators Program, it is envisioned that each participating city district will implement 2 - 3 pilot projects addressing their specific needs and challenges. These projects may include revitalizing public spaces, preparing a strategic plan for the district, thematic planning, participatory budgeting, and strategies for urban groups.
Each project is structured into 11 activities, with specific steps such as material preparation, meeting organization, and output creation. These steps are detailed in the manual. Activities are organized into different project phases, indicating the stage of the project you are in. While successful project completion typically requires partial fulfillment of each activity, the order is flexible, and some activities can be executed simultaneously as indicated in the ‘parallel activities’ section of each activity. See also this timeline.
Activity 01 - Identifying Stakeholders
At the outset of the process, identifying key actors and stakeholders is the most important step. Key actors and stakeholders are individuals or institutions/organizations tasked with investing, authorizing, consulting and deciding the final shape of the project (and process). Establishing a preliminary consensus with these key actors regarding the rough outline of the process and the project's objectives is crucial.
Activity 02 - Roundtables with Stakeholders
In the initial phase (Activity 1), you and the city district identified the stakeholders for the project. In the subsequent phase, Activity 2, you will organize one or more roundtable sessions with these stakeholders, the number depending on the project's scope.
Activity 03 - Expert Pre-participatory Studies and Site Analyses
During the roundtables with stakeholders (Activity 2) you have identified what expert studies and site analyses are required to prepare the project brief (e.g., dendrological survey, evapotranspiration survey, subsoil quality assessment, survey of potentials for overnight accommodation of homeless people, furniture inventory, demographic analysis, etc.) and designate the responsible party for their preparation.
Activity 04 - Community and User Mapping
One of the definitions of participatory planning asserts that it is a process involving the participation of individuals or stakeholders who are affected by the project. To engage these individuals and stakeholders effectively, we first need to identify who they are and understand their current or potential interests.
Activity 05 - Setting Up a Detailed Process Plan
A comprehensive process setup will help you in assessing whether external human resources are required and, if so, when they are needed, or if all roles can be managed by your team and colleagues from the city district/City of Prague. We therefore recommend creating a process plan with the awareness that it can serve as the foundation for a public tender. In this tender, you can hire a contractor to carry out Activities 6 - 11 or provide expert consultation to your office throughout the entire process.
Activity 06 - Analysis of Needs (1st phase of participatory planning)
The analysis (survey) of needs serves as an analytical foundation for the design creation. Essentially, it involves gathering information on how users engage with a given location, service or product, what problems or values they perceive, and what, in their opinion, needs to be changed, preserved, or reinforced.
Activity 07 - Development of the Design Concept Proposal
The design expert, responsible for the final output of the planning process (the design concept - e.g. Strategic plan, Revitalization concept for a square), will formulate an initial draft - proposal based on expert studies (Activity 3) and analysis of needs (Activity 6).
Activity 08 - Design Concept Proposal Consultation (2nd phase of participatory planning)
Consultation of the design concept proposal offers a chance to present the preliminary draft of the design concept (or various variants) to both (a) the public and (b) stakeholders. The objective is to collect their feedback, understand their perspectives, involve them in a comprehensive discussion, and identify any potential gaps or shortcomings in the presented proposal. Feedback from the broader public serves as a check to ensure that the design expert, investor or local government has integrated, addressed, and understood the initial input from residents and the findings from the analysis of needs.
Activity 09 - Addressing Comments
Collaborate with the design expert to review individual comments received during the design concept proposal consultation, assess their relevance, and incorporate them as appropriate. Reject comments and suggestions that fall outside the defined participation limits, providing sufficient justification. If there is ambiguity or a need for larger-scale changes, involve stakeholders at this stage.
Activity 10 - Presentation of the Final Design
Building upon the previous phases of the participatory process and public engagement, it is crucial to keep local residents informed about the final design concept, study or solution. Even if the final version contradicts the preferences of some users, transparent communication is always more appreciated by the public than keeping silent.
Activity 11 - Action Plan (Planning for Follow-Up Implementation)
The chosen participatory process (Activities 1 to 10) offers the advantage of involving stakeholders and the public in project preparation from the very outset. This significantly reduces the risk of overlooking a particular (significant) actor or process in the preparation of the design concept, thus preventing potential delays in overall project implementation. Consequently, Activity 11 serves more as the culmination of the negotiation process with key actors (those who invest, decide, and authorize). Through workshops or individual meetings, this activity aims to reach consensus, solidify the follow-up steps, documentations, and investment processes essential for the successful implementation of the project. It also addresses post-implementation maintenance.