ARC 4205

Project Economics (A2)

Level 4 Term 2, Fall 2021

Course Tutor: Zannatul Ferdous

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Topic 3: Basic Components of Formal Physical Plan
Physical Planning in its broadest sense refers to a set of actions aimed at
improving the Physical, Social and Economic welfare of a place and
its dwellers.
• Components of physical plan, Analysis of major
physical patterns
• Development of implementation strategy
• Determining the cost and benefits of physical plan
• Determining the cost effectiveness of the physical plan
• Scheduling and staging the physical plan
• Managing the implementation of physical plan
• Monitoring and evaluating the physical plan 2
Basic Component of a Formal Physical Plan

A formal plan is prepared by a local agency in which the

spatial distribution of objects, functions, activities and goals
are explicitly recognized and mapped.

The substance and plans varies among cities and may contain
some or all these components.

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1. First, there is an analysis of the larger problem to
demonstrate the potential benefit of a physical plan.

2. Second, there is a detailed analysis of major physical and

spatial patterns.

3. Third, there are specific recommendations for the spatial

distribution of goals, activities, functions and objects.

4. Fourth, there is a strategy for implementing, monitoring

and evaluating the physical plan itself.

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These four components are interrelated and they are
frequently reiterated in the course of plan development.

The planner may bounce back and fourth between examining

the larger problem, developing the recommended plan, analyzing
specific spatial patterns and preparing an implementation
strategy.

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Chart

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1) Analysis of the Problem-Solving Context

Most physical plans are not merely the of a problem-solving

process, but are the means to some larger objective such as
economic development, social welfare or neighborhood
improvement.

Consequently, the first step in analyzing the problem-solving

context of a formal physical plan is to examine the larger issues
to see if a physical plan is really part of the answer.

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The purpose of this examination is to ensure that the physical
plan will be relevant.

For example, let us assume that the overall objective is

neighborhood improvement and the appropriate neighborhoods
have already been selected. Now the physical plan will be
justified only if it is properly coordinated to the other activities.
The plan itself will not be useful unless it is integrated from the
outset with social, economic and political plans.

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This first task in delineating the scope of a physical plan is
primarily an analytical function.

The physical planner typically gathers information from a

variety of sources: census surveys and other published
reports, politicians, community organizations and other
government agencies.

Frequently this activity is interdisciplinary, requiring

coordination among physical planners as well as other
specialists in relevant fields, such as economics social welfare,
health services and real state development.

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This initial analysis of the problem situation is formalized in a
report or official document. Although there no hard-and-fast
rules about how such a report should be organized, several
subject usually are covered:

1. The history of the situation,

2. The existing situation,
3. Problem needs,
4. Resources for a solution and
5. Subsequent activities.

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a. History of the Situation:

Except for major catastrophes or crises, urban

problems do not appear suddenly out of nowhere.
Thus an explanation of the history of the situation
usually is necessary in the area of neighborhood
improvement, the history might include major events
that have affected the community for the past 20
years: new programs that have been implemented;
population changes in the area and shifts in the
surrounding neighborhoods. An accurate history of
the problem situation is a valuable technique in
identifying the root issues and possibly the solution.

Invasion of Non-residential Uses:

28% in 1984
35% in 1994
50% in 2004
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Land Use 1960 Land Use 1988 Land Use 2005

Expanding Dhaka Beyond Its Limit

Source: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/rspsoc2007/papers/115.pdf
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Flood 1988 (15 October) Flood 1998 (25 August) Floof 1998 (24 July)

Shrinking Dhaka during monsoon season

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Source: http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/rspsoc2007/papers/115.pdf
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2. A Detailed Description of the Existing Situation:

A wide range of existing conditions and activities are critical

determinates of the problem situation. Typically these include
socio-economic characteristics, physical conditions and
programmatic activities.

As for example, for a neighborhood improvement projects, the

socio-economic variables might include age and income
distributions, occupational and educational patterns and
residential mobility.

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Physical conditions in this example would include housing
characteristics and patterns, density, over crowding existing
utilities, vacant land, public improvement and commercial
structures.

The programmatic activities might include educational and

recreational programs, job training, social welfare, health service,
loan programs and similar government activities.

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c. Problem Needs:

Invariably the basis for analyzing a problem solving situation is

an articulation of the specific needs of the client population or
community.
These needs should be outlined and differentiated, by priority,
into manageable components.

The might be categorized as social, economic and physical or

according to population subgroups, such as elderly, youth,
handicapped, unemployed and low income. The identification of
needs usually provides the first major opportunity for asserting
the necessity for physical planning.
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d. Solution Resource:

In conjunction with problem needs, the analysis of the problem –

solving context should identify the resources that potentially
could be used to solve the problem.

These include the available financial, organizational, social

and political resources. The planner can specify here now
physical planning activities can be used to solve the problem.

For example, neighborhood improvement may be aided by an

outside consultant or new government agency or by
requesting central funds for new construction.

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e. Subsequent Activities:

Finally the analysis should include recommendations for

subsequent activities.

Although problem needs an solution resources have been

identified, they may not all be appropriate or feasible.

Moreover, they may not be match property to each other. i.e. a

particular need will not really be met by the available resource.
A strategy for taking the next steps must be described.

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These five components of an analysis of the problem-solving
context provide an example but are not necessarily useful in all
situations. However it is critical that the first step in a physical
planning activity include a board image of the context in a which
the activity will occur. If the analysis shows that physical planning,
is in fact unimportant or even unnecessary, this is important.
The physical planning process will be meaningless if its
relevance to larger objective is not established at the
beginning.

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2) Analysis of Major Physical Patterns
Although an analysis of the problem-solving context frequently
involves maps and graphic descriptions of the situation, many
other variables must be considered in the development of a physical
plan.

First, there is usually a land use map that denotes, for example,
residential and commercial activities, public uses, parks, institutions
such as churches and hospitals, factories and vacant land. Often
there is a map showing the infrastructure – streets, pedestrian ways,
sewers, gas and water lines and power lines. There may be a related
map of the transportation system, including traffic volumes and
mass transit routes.

Depending upon the problem, there may be a set of maps

representing important physical conditions.
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Example:

in a neighborhood improvement plan, there may be a map

locating structures in need of repair, those in good conditions
and those to be demolished.

In other problems the special conditions that are mapped might

be social or economic in nature.

When the planning problem is concerned more directly with

objects, there are often maps of the organization of existing
physical forms (e.g., showing the linear patterns, exterior
spaces, districts, vegetation patterns, three-dimensional
qualities of the area and critical architectural features).

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Finally, there is often a map describing the image of the physical
planning area.

This map would show the distinctive features that influence the
way people recognize and use the area.

One standard classification of image-making physical features

includes:
1) paths
2) districts
3) edges
4) nodes
5) landmarks

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1) paths – both major and minor vehicular and pedestrian routes,

2) districts – identifiable areas or neighborhoods, such as a shopping

district, downtown or an area with older, smaller homes,

3) edges – the boundaries that define districts, including

topographical features like rivers and mountains, special land uses
such as airports or industrial plants and major roads and highways;

4) nodes – central places with relatively intense concentrations of

activity, such as, shopping centers, parks, railway stations or major
street intersections and

5) landmarks – distinctive objects used to identify special places, such

as church steeples, unusual building, vistas, billboards or highway or
railway overpasses.
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3) Proposed Spatial Distribution of Goals,
Activities, Functions and Objects
Ultimately, the physician plan must make a specific
recommendation for what should be done.

Generating these recommendations is a function not only of the

preceding analytical phases but also of professional expertise,
intuition, tradition and critical judgment.

Often several alternative physical plans are prepared and

analysis recommends one alternative as the best.

These recommendations discuss goals, activities, functions

and objects.
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a. Recommended Goals

The recommended goals are usually derived from the analysis of

the larger problem – solving context.

However, the physical plan should show which goals are to be

assigned to different sub-areas.

For example, in a neighborhood improvement plan, several sub-

areas might be mapped for residential improvement, other sub-
areas designated for commercial development and still others for
aesthetic improvement.

Typically each goal is represented by a specific graphic pattern or

outline showing the places where the goal applies.
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b. Recommended Activities

Each goal is related to a specific subset of constituent activities.

Determining these activities is equivalent to operationalizing the

goals.

In the neighborhood improvement problem, a map might be

prepared showing how the goal of residential improvement is
differentiated into such activities as a new zoning regulation,
home repair and maintenance problem and new residential
construction.

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Similarly, the goal of commercial development might be separated
into such activities as consolidation of business, new
investment opportunities and business, new investment loans.

Alternative locations for these different activities might also be

identified.

Each activity is graphically correlated to its goal.

The audience for the physical plan can see how each goal
translates into alternative subsets of activities.

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c. Recommended Functions

Like the distribution of activities, the designation of functions is an

operationalization of functions of the basic goals.

Both the activities and functions related to one goal might be

represented on the same map.

The functions that would achieve a goal of neighborhood

aesthetic improvement might include tree planting, increased
sanitation service and street repair.

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Other possible functions in a neighborhood improvement project
might include construction of new roads, street closings,
provision of new utility lines and new boundaries for a police,
fire or school district.

Again, each function would be given a specific graphic

representation on the map correlated to a specific goal.

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d. Recommended Objects

Most physical plans recommended the construction or

modification of physical objects.

Most people think of this activity as the core of physical planning.

The established goals, activities and functions provide the

criteria or constraints for the physical design of objects.

Since physical design problems often require special expertise,

this activity is often a job for professional architects, landscape
architects and/ or engineers, whose plans go beyond the simple
location of an object to the detailed drawing of what the object will
look like, how it can be constructed and it is likely to cost.

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These professionals make sophisticated aesthetic and technical
judgment that go beyond the normal domain of urban planning.

The associated graphic representations of objects include artist’s

sketches, architectural models and engineering drawings.

It is the physical planner’s responsibility to ensure that the professionals’

designs of the physical objects fulfill the initial goals.

Alternative designs may be developed and the physical planner uses his
or her judgment to decide which design is most appropriate.

Although in many situations the physical planning team has the capability to
design physical objects, this activity must be recognized as a specialized
operation requiring many financial and human resources.
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4) Development of an Implementation Strategy

The feasibility of a recommended physical plan is as critical as its

substantive content. Feasibility is not determined after the fact.

How a plan is to be implemented must be considered from the

outset, along with the goals and specific features of the plan.

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There are no established rules for devising the implementation of a
physical plan.

Usually, however, reference is made to the

• plan’s costs and benefits,

• the scheduling or phasing of activities to implement the plan,

• the necessary managerial procedures and

• the manner in which the plan will be monitored and evaluated.

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a) Determining the Costs and Benefits of the Physical Plan

The most important tools of implementation are the capital

improvement program and capital budget.

Estimating the costs and benefits of a physical plan is a complex

task.

The costs, for example, include not only the initial capital
expenditures, but also the operational funds needed to
maintain the functions, activities and objects created.

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Cost benefit analysis is based upon the theory that
‘the selection of a project or program should be
determined by its net contribution to the economy or to some
clearly specified economic unit.’

Based on the economic concept of ‘marginality’, this contribution

is expressed in a benefit-to-cost ratio.

The benefit-cost ratio expresses total benefits generated by a

given option, in money, over its total costs means capital and
operating budgets include items such as personnel (specialized
consultant as well as regular staff), equipment, materials, labor
and the final.

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Detailed estimate is done by specially trained professionals in
the city government.

When cost include major construction items that will be built by

private firms (such as a hospital or a park) the costs may be
determined by bidding, in which the private firms who wish to
contract for the work submit their own cost estimated to the city.

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b) Determining the Cost-Effectiveness of the Physical Plan

In many public projects it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the

outputs in direct monetary revenues (such as increased property
taxes) but also considered in many intangible factors, such as
improved health, safety and welfare.

Cost-effectiveness analysis was developed as a tool for dealing with

this problem.

Cost-effectiveness analysis allows the evaluation and comparison of

programs with similar output without converting those outputs
into money.

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The utility of cost-effectiveness analysis in program evaluation is limited
to comparing programs or service with similar outputs.

It offers no way to aggregate the outputs of different types of programs

into a common, comparable denominator.

Therefore the project cost-effectiveness is the spillover effects of the

physical plan that will affect population groups and areas not initially
considered part of the physical plan.

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For example, a new public facility will create new jobs, change daily
patterns of transportation and affect levels of service at other facilities.

Typically, a physical plan contains a budget approximation that lists the

initial capital costs and short run operational costs.

If the project is sufficiently large or if there is significant political interest,

a cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness or any similar analysis may be
presented to demonstrate the overall effect of the urban area.

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c) Scheduling and Staging a Physical Plan

Time is as significant and complicated a resource as money.

If the numerous constituent activities in most planning projects are

not properly coordinated, the project will fail.

Frequently, for example if the planners of a certain project do not

understand fully the logical sequence of activities, they will miss
scheduled deadline.

Usually the scheduling of activities is coordinated with the budget,

especially since physical plans often take several years to complete.

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Many physical plan are initially designed to be accomplished in phases
or stages, with the implementation of final stages dependent upon
successful completion of earlier stages.

For example, in an urban renewal project the construction of a new

park might be scheduled to occur only after completion of new
residential units.

The staging of a physical planning project may become a major

political issue in that one group will not be satisfied unless the part of
the plan in which they have a special interest is given a high priority and
made part of an earlier implementation stage.

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d) Managing the Implementation of a Physical Plan

Human resources, as well as financial and temporal resources,

must be arranged.

The implementation of a physical plan depends on a careful

managerial structure to carry out the necessary activities.

The responsibility and the authority for different decisions must be

delegated in an appropriate manner.

Frequently, new staff, outside consultants or private firms are hired

to accomplish specialized tasks.

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The more difficult problem, however, is delegating responsibilities
and authority among all the various government agencies and
elected officials whose cooperation is essential to the success of a
projects.

Local agencies and official as well as those at regional, state and

national government levels are involved.

Management of a physical planning project also may require

structured citizen participation, so that special procedure for eliciting
and using citizen opinion must be devised.

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e) Monitoring and Evaluating a Physical Plan

The details of an implementation plan should include provisions for

both monitoring the implementation to see that it is done properly and
evaluating the final product to see if it matches the original intentions.

Typically the monitoring function is built into the managerial structure.

At any point during implementation activities can be deleted, modified

or added, either to ensure that the plan unfolds as desired or to change
it if the initial objectives have been modified.

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Most physical plans are not finally completed as first intended.

There are always unexpected events that prevents parts of the plan
from being the plan or show why some aspects of plan are
inappropriate and need to be altered.

Evaluation of a physical plan is carried out after the plan is completed

and operational.

An evaluation measures the extent to which the plan fulfills its original
goals and discovers any unpredicted positive or negative effects of
the projects.

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Equally important, the evaluation allows the planners to find out which
ideas were successful and which were failure.

Too often the evaluation function is eliminated from the implementation

plan because it seems like an unnecessary expense.

Recently, however, urban planners have come to realize that unless

they evaluated their projects property, they will not know whether the
thought processes and activities should be repeated, emulated,
avoided or discouraged in the future.

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