Zelfstudiepakket projectmanagement
1. Complex spatial projects: characteristics
A) The project mode
1) Projects versus plans and policies
- Generic policies versus projects
- Projects are actionable parts of plans
Usually you have strategic plans thinking about the long-term perspective of a region of city
and within that plan you will have a lot of projects trying to realise or contribute to that vision
(typical the method of strategic planning)
- Projects have a
o Specific timing (+/- 10-25y): start- and endpoint, projects in urban planning take a long time
o Specific place
Project zone = that zone where you have really physical interventions
Project study area = area where the project will have an effect on (environmental,
economic, social effect)
o Specific budget: you need financial resources to realise a project
- Making a plan is easy, but implementing it takes a lot of time
2) Terminology
- Strategic projects = they are usually part of a larger strategic plan
“Strategic” is also used for projects that have a huge leverage/effect on the environment or
surroundings
- Environmental projects: these projects can deal with water (flood areas), nature development, …
- Urban regeneration/ Renewal/redevelopment
A lot of cities have redevelopped former brown fiels (vacant industry sites) into new areas
Urban extention projects are getting rare
- Infrastructure projects: typically road projects, rail projects, new water ways, tunnels, bridges, …
Complex spatial projects (SDP’s) (wide area of different types of projects)
B) Types of CSP’s
- Scope
o Urban (hierboven)
o Business parks: zones that are specifically devoted to economic development
o Landscape projects like environmental projects → trying to contribute to landscape
o Infrastructure
- Public, private and public-private
o Public: roads, public spaces
o Private: development projects like retail development, housing development
o Public-private: collab between the 2 sectors, e.g. roads, government buildings
1
,- Single goal versus multiple goals
o Single: the project is trying to achieve 1 main goal, e.g. infrastructure projects
o Multiple: we try to combine more goals in 1 project, more robust plan because more people
benefit from it
- Greenfield versus brownfield
o Greenfield: projects that are developed on unbuilt land, e.g. housing extension areas and
new business parks
o Brownfield: generally much more complex and demanding
Often has to deal with problems of soil contamination, costly conservation & restauration,
fragmentation of ownership, and low market demand and high development costs
- Strategic versus operational
o Strategic: projects you do once
o Operational: projects on a routine basis, reoccurring project e.g. renewing the streets every
now and then
- Examples (zie ppt voor andere):
Schelde - Public: funded by the city of Antwerp and the administration
that takes care of water ways in Flanders
- Schelde
Used to be an economic area (docks)
Whole new public space: reason has to do with the
potential flooding of the Schelde
PAKT - Private
- PAKT next to Groen Kwartier (which was public –private)
Former warehouse that was transformed into a nice area
with restaurants and rooftop gardens
Nieuw-Zuid - Private developer financed it, but the masterplan was made
in close cooperation with the public authority
- Nieuw-Zuid
Former industrial land (activities from the port)
A masterplan was drawn up in 1993, now it’s implemented
Crossing of the Schelde - Started single goal, infrastructure project
Gradually into multiple goal
Chanses of succeeding with a single goal projects are very
small
2
, C) Management characteristics of CSP’s
1) What is meant by “complexity”?
- Complexity = different from complicated, which means difficult
- Complexity → complex systems theory: defines complex system as
o Systems with many components
o Systems with high distinction between components
o Mutual dependent between the different components to work
If one of the parts of the components fails, usually the whole system can fail
- Complex systems and complex adaptive systems usually have a non-linear behaviour
A small deviation in one of the components might have a large effect
Ex. airplane: al the components of the airplane has to work together in order for it to fly
2) Types of complexity
a) Technological complexity (design & engineering)
- Unicity and novelty of technology: unique projects, when a project is unique you can’t really learn
out of former projects (= “problem”)
Learning is very difficult
The effects of different projects on their surroundings are difficult to assess
Harder to realise the project
- Functional interdependencies: the more you have, the more complex the project becomes
- Uncertainty regarding the impact: we have models to predict, but the models are often
incomplete, they have to take into account certain parameters that are estimations and nobody
can look into the future, we’re always guessing (educated guess)
One of the weak points of bigger projects
- Technological dynamics during the project: see in a broader scope, can also refer to regulations
regarding (that can change during the project)
- Technical characteristics of projects affecting manageability
o Robustness and overdesign: for each system there is a backup system, different design
solutions in case one of the system fails, overdesign is also thinking of multiple uses that
could happen in the future
Ex. building a bridge, make it extra wide of when an extra lane is needed later in time
o Proven technology: use only technology that has been proven or has been used before to
learn from previous experiences (will less likely fail)
3
, o Divisible: independency between different parts, realization can be in phases
Loose coupling: parts shouldn't be connected to each other, are only loosely related
o Monofunctional: links between the functions can be problematic
o Incremental implementation: during phases lessons are learned and following phases can be
changed
- Ex. Kessel-Lo, Leuven railway station: tunnel under square for cars
o A lot of functions combined in the same buildings
o If everything is built at the same time not al functions will get
filled because of the market at the time
o It is better to have separate buildings for the functions and
reversible buildings to phase the development
b) Organizational complexity
- Public organisations, private organisations, civil society
A lot of people are involved you need private developers to contribute, private developers are
dependent on the local authority for permits etc.
- Mutual dependency (resource dependency): different actors with different resources that need te
be combined for the plan to work
None of the organisations is able to go for unilateral strategy, do it without the other parties
- Obliged to cooperate
- Example: Park Spoor Noord, old railway station, made to a park
Compromise: the land can be made to a park, but at the head can be high rise buildings with
residencies
c) Societal complexity
- Large societal impact: they have an effect on the environment, the economy, on social issues
Impact can be large
- Differential impact on society: each of this projects creates winner and losers
Those that lose (don’t benefit): can unite and challenge the project
- Projects result in societal struggles: action groups opposing the projects
If you don’t have action groups, there’s something wrong with the project
d) Political complexity
- Different political preferences: not all parties will agree with the project
- Political rivalry : political actors block each other
- Multi-level governance
- Effect of elections on projects (over-promising, upspeeding): before elections is the best moment
to announce a project
4
1. Complex spatial projects: characteristics
A) The project mode
1) Projects versus plans and policies
- Generic policies versus projects
- Projects are actionable parts of plans
Usually you have strategic plans thinking about the long-term perspective of a region of city
and within that plan you will have a lot of projects trying to realise or contribute to that vision
(typical the method of strategic planning)
- Projects have a
o Specific timing (+/- 10-25y): start- and endpoint, projects in urban planning take a long time
o Specific place
Project zone = that zone where you have really physical interventions
Project study area = area where the project will have an effect on (environmental,
economic, social effect)
o Specific budget: you need financial resources to realise a project
- Making a plan is easy, but implementing it takes a lot of time
2) Terminology
- Strategic projects = they are usually part of a larger strategic plan
“Strategic” is also used for projects that have a huge leverage/effect on the environment or
surroundings
- Environmental projects: these projects can deal with water (flood areas), nature development, …
- Urban regeneration/ Renewal/redevelopment
A lot of cities have redevelopped former brown fiels (vacant industry sites) into new areas
Urban extention projects are getting rare
- Infrastructure projects: typically road projects, rail projects, new water ways, tunnels, bridges, …
Complex spatial projects (SDP’s) (wide area of different types of projects)
B) Types of CSP’s
- Scope
o Urban (hierboven)
o Business parks: zones that are specifically devoted to economic development
o Landscape projects like environmental projects → trying to contribute to landscape
o Infrastructure
- Public, private and public-private
o Public: roads, public spaces
o Private: development projects like retail development, housing development
o Public-private: collab between the 2 sectors, e.g. roads, government buildings
1
,- Single goal versus multiple goals
o Single: the project is trying to achieve 1 main goal, e.g. infrastructure projects
o Multiple: we try to combine more goals in 1 project, more robust plan because more people
benefit from it
- Greenfield versus brownfield
o Greenfield: projects that are developed on unbuilt land, e.g. housing extension areas and
new business parks
o Brownfield: generally much more complex and demanding
Often has to deal with problems of soil contamination, costly conservation & restauration,
fragmentation of ownership, and low market demand and high development costs
- Strategic versus operational
o Strategic: projects you do once
o Operational: projects on a routine basis, reoccurring project e.g. renewing the streets every
now and then
- Examples (zie ppt voor andere):
Schelde - Public: funded by the city of Antwerp and the administration
that takes care of water ways in Flanders
- Schelde
Used to be an economic area (docks)
Whole new public space: reason has to do with the
potential flooding of the Schelde
PAKT - Private
- PAKT next to Groen Kwartier (which was public –private)
Former warehouse that was transformed into a nice area
with restaurants and rooftop gardens
Nieuw-Zuid - Private developer financed it, but the masterplan was made
in close cooperation with the public authority
- Nieuw-Zuid
Former industrial land (activities from the port)
A masterplan was drawn up in 1993, now it’s implemented
Crossing of the Schelde - Started single goal, infrastructure project
Gradually into multiple goal
Chanses of succeeding with a single goal projects are very
small
2
, C) Management characteristics of CSP’s
1) What is meant by “complexity”?
- Complexity = different from complicated, which means difficult
- Complexity → complex systems theory: defines complex system as
o Systems with many components
o Systems with high distinction between components
o Mutual dependent between the different components to work
If one of the parts of the components fails, usually the whole system can fail
- Complex systems and complex adaptive systems usually have a non-linear behaviour
A small deviation in one of the components might have a large effect
Ex. airplane: al the components of the airplane has to work together in order for it to fly
2) Types of complexity
a) Technological complexity (design & engineering)
- Unicity and novelty of technology: unique projects, when a project is unique you can’t really learn
out of former projects (= “problem”)
Learning is very difficult
The effects of different projects on their surroundings are difficult to assess
Harder to realise the project
- Functional interdependencies: the more you have, the more complex the project becomes
- Uncertainty regarding the impact: we have models to predict, but the models are often
incomplete, they have to take into account certain parameters that are estimations and nobody
can look into the future, we’re always guessing (educated guess)
One of the weak points of bigger projects
- Technological dynamics during the project: see in a broader scope, can also refer to regulations
regarding (that can change during the project)
- Technical characteristics of projects affecting manageability
o Robustness and overdesign: for each system there is a backup system, different design
solutions in case one of the system fails, overdesign is also thinking of multiple uses that
could happen in the future
Ex. building a bridge, make it extra wide of when an extra lane is needed later in time
o Proven technology: use only technology that has been proven or has been used before to
learn from previous experiences (will less likely fail)
3
, o Divisible: independency between different parts, realization can be in phases
Loose coupling: parts shouldn't be connected to each other, are only loosely related
o Monofunctional: links between the functions can be problematic
o Incremental implementation: during phases lessons are learned and following phases can be
changed
- Ex. Kessel-Lo, Leuven railway station: tunnel under square for cars
o A lot of functions combined in the same buildings
o If everything is built at the same time not al functions will get
filled because of the market at the time
o It is better to have separate buildings for the functions and
reversible buildings to phase the development
b) Organizational complexity
- Public organisations, private organisations, civil society
A lot of people are involved you need private developers to contribute, private developers are
dependent on the local authority for permits etc.
- Mutual dependency (resource dependency): different actors with different resources that need te
be combined for the plan to work
None of the organisations is able to go for unilateral strategy, do it without the other parties
- Obliged to cooperate
- Example: Park Spoor Noord, old railway station, made to a park
Compromise: the land can be made to a park, but at the head can be high rise buildings with
residencies
c) Societal complexity
- Large societal impact: they have an effect on the environment, the economy, on social issues
Impact can be large
- Differential impact on society: each of this projects creates winner and losers
Those that lose (don’t benefit): can unite and challenge the project
- Projects result in societal struggles: action groups opposing the projects
If you don’t have action groups, there’s something wrong with the project
d) Political complexity
- Different political preferences: not all parties will agree with the project
- Political rivalry : political actors block each other
- Multi-level governance
- Effect of elections on projects (over-promising, upspeeding): before elections is the best moment
to announce a project
4
