Senior Planner / Project Coordinator at UN-Habitat

RESPONSIBILITIES

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit, the Manager of the Urban Planning and Design Lab and the overall supervision of FSCP Outcome 2 Coordinator,. She/he will contribute to the implementation of the FSCP Head Quarter Planning Team activities by performing the following tasks:

• Manage the FSCP Head Quarter Planning Team as a team leader in the development of the following tasks:
• Coordination of the activity of the FSCP Head Quarter Planning Team activity in the accomplishment of the 17 City Profiles and 3 Demonstration Projects.
• Preparation with Outcome 2 Coordinator of the materials for the Integrated Rapid Planning Studio methodology application in the context of KSA.
• Participation to workshops, missions and technical meeting both in Nairobi and KSA.
• Provide planning and design inputs including regional and citywide strategies, extension plans and urban transformation plans in 17 cities.
• Elaborate 17 city profiles.
• Undertake review regional and city plans, strategies and reports to ensure that regional and national dimensions are adequately covered and interlinked;
• Develop clear planning proposals, drawings for 3 demonstration projects.
• Review of proposals and design prepared by local team of planners for various pilot cities.
• Develop critical analysis of existing planning documents and instruments.
• Provide inputs to guide or facilitate the delivery of relevant urban legislation reviews and financial mechanism in view of plan implementation and planning processes support.
• Develop and organize participatory, multi-stakeholder processes tailor made for the projects in a specific context.

• Manage and take part in field missions in collaboration with UN-Habitat’s regional and country offices.
• Represent the Lab at meetings and conferences within and outside UN-Habitat.
• Support the UN-Habitat Office in Riyadh in the planning activities related to the FSCP.
• Support the Integrated Rapid Planning Studio preparation and execution in 12 cities and regional level.
• Undertake any other duties to advance the work of the FSCP.

EXPECTED OUTPUT

The consultancy will focus on 1) helping cities develop practical, feasible approaches to implementing urban planning interventions through direct planning support; 2) assisting national governments to scale up successful local-level approaches through tools development, and 3) build the capacities of planning and facilitating institutions (development control, construction plan scrutiny, etc.)

8 main outputs that are expected are:

• Urban Planning and Design proposals.
• City profiles related with planning proposals.
• Comments and inputs to planning proposals.
• Presentations.
• Report on urban planning documents.
• Inputs to economy and legislation reviews related to urban planning.
• Participatory, multi-stakeholder processes and related sessions.
• Clear analytical drawings, design drawings and diagrams at various scales: region, city, and neighborhood.
• Reflective texts on projects, processes and best practices.

Output production will be documented regularly through interim reports covering the tasks above and one final report, summarizing the work done and presenting all outputs in electronic and hard copy format. Daily presence in UN-Habitat offices is expected.

Required skills:

• Professionalism: Knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to urban planning and design. Strong analysis of urban form, urban systems, underlying social, legal and financial mechanisms and the political context. Ability to develop strong graphic materials (concept plans, diagrams, street sections) as well as substantive reports. Knowledge of urban development issues. Ability to observe deadlines and achieve set goals. Ability to work and deliver under pressure.
• Communication: Excellent written and oral presentation skills in English. Excellent capacity to produce and manipulate graphic documents and drawings. Good presentation skills. Ability to communicate complex interventions in a clear language and convincing narratives. Sketching capabilities to effectively communicate in workshop settings and teams.
• Teamwork: Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve agreed goals.
• Planning and Organizing: Ability to prioritize activities and assignments and to easily switch between different projects.
• Creativity: Strong conceptual thinking. Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches, takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”, and offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs. Can easily develop clear plans in contexts with limited information and datasets. Finds ways to extract and combine data and information to create base maps. Is both able to reduce complexity as well as sensitive to specific urban form and the landscape.
• Management: Ability to manage smaller project teams, divide workload and sustain efficiency

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:
Minimum advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Architecture or Urban Planning, or related field that is relevant for sustainable multi scale urban development and urban planning and design. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience:
A minimum of 10 years of experience in urban planning or design, a significant part of which should be directly related to different aspects of urban planning such as territorial and regional planning, city-wide planning, urban extension plans, urban redevelopment, land management, landscape and public space design etc. A combination of practitioner/private sector, academic, and public sector experience would be considered an asset. The candidate has a portfolio of plans and designs of which he/she is the author. Experience of long-term engagements/consultancy to national/regional/local governments focused on implementation of urban projects.
Planning experience in Arab countries and/or planning in contexts of water scarcity and extreme weather conditions will be an advantage.

Technical Knowledge:

• Urban planning contemporary approaches.
• Team management skills.
• Able to represent UN-Habitat FSCP Head Quarter Planning Team in technical meetings and workshops.
• Research and analytical skills combined with good drafting and drawing skills, manipulation of graphic material and production of complex urban planning documents.
• Writing skills, in English and possibly another UN language.
• Able to manage a team and deliver on time under pressure.

Language Skills
For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Although not a requirement, knowledge of Arabic or other languages will be an advantage.

REMUNERATION
Payments will be on outputs basis, subject to satisfactory delivery of agreed outputs and targets within the consultancy work plans. The rate is determined by functions performed and experience of the consultant. The fees will be paid as per agreement.