The Role of Planners in Community Planning

I.
THE ROLE OF PLANNERS IN COMMUNITY PLANNING
Communal existence is possible only when certain individuals agree to live together in a
geographical area with a sense of growth and development in creating a sustainable
community. Architects on the other hand need to integrate sustainability as a major
consideration for community development. In the rural setting there is usually undefined
precedence of development, therefore preparation for a sustainable built environment is
often neglected; hence the architect has a role to play in community development.
 Community architects as designers of “process”. For architects, the process of

getting to the product is as important as the product itself. Many architects
believe that achieving a good design solution is defined by the quality and
thoroughness of the steps taken to get there.
 Planners help the community visualize new possibilities and new solutions for
community transformation. These planners can quickly visualize a variety of
solutions and design possibilities when they are presented with a “design
problem or situation”. Having this skill is an enormous help to them when
guiding the people through the process of physical transformation of their
community. In this way, they can help the community to generate options for
development that are realistic.
 Helping to facilitate people’s thinking processes. They try not to judge what
option or solution may or may not be good for the community. Rather, they
help the people follow through with how they think a certain solution could
affect their way of life as a family and/or a community. They also constantly
encourage the people to keep seeking the solutions that could work best for
them, including building on, rather than dismissing, existing local solutions and
practices.
 Keeping a horizontal relationship with people and try to break the

professional–people gap. In a participatory planning process, the architect
plays the role of “facilitator” rather than “decision maker”, and therefore their
relationship with the community does not become a vertical or top-down
one. Conversely, the community cannot demand from the community
architect in the same way that they do from government agencies.
Community architects have to consciously work on narrowing down if not

removing the gap between professionals and the people. There are some
cultures, for example in the Philippines, where this gap is particularly wide,
which makes the poor and less educated regard themselves as being further
down the social and professional scale than the rich and well educated.
When working with communities, however, it is particularly important for
professionals to be conscious of this gap and to behave in ways that make
people feel less intimidated. This will allow them to reach a level where they
feel comfortable expressing their ideas and working with professionals as their
equal partners.
 Breaking people’s and society’s mental fixation that the poor are incapable
of achieving their goals. The main aim of every activity should always be to
allow people to gradually build up their confidence so that they can take the
lead role in planning, designing and building their own houses and
communities; and likewise, to have the confidence to know when to seek
technical help from architects, engineers and planners – and also how to
direct technical professionals from a position of authority, as leaders of the
process.
II. THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTS IN THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION
a. Mapping and surveying: starting point of social and physical transformation

Mapping and surveying are the first step for community members and architects in
understanding existing problems. The mapping process we discuss here is not simply a
gathering of information and data and arranging the analyzed data in a simple way
in order to inform people. The process of mapping itself also provides a good starting
point for all community members to reflect on how they live in the community, how
things relate to one another both socially and physically, and to identify the common
community problems that concern everyone. This opportunity also provides the
community with the chance to form working groups to help determine community
priorities.
b. Designing community upgrading
The community architect can play an important role in providing alternative designs
and finding ways to improve physical aspects of both housing and basic services at
an affordable cost to the communities. As in Nong Duang Thung in Lao PDR, the
design process started with a plan of the existing settlement of 84 households, and
then the people looked at how they could adjust the main walkway a little to bring in
a water supply, drainage and electricity for all. Only five houses had to be moved to
make way for the widened and straightened walkway. This process could be
achieved through the creation of guidelines for re-blocking designs, where every
household is part of the entire community development (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
c. Comprehensive site planning: weaving Nature and communities to live together
During the site planning process for communities that are to be relocated from their
old settlements to new allocated land or that move back to their homeland after a
disaster, the principal questions are what are the conditions that make a community
live together well and how can we as architects create the participatory design and
planning processes to create those conditions? Mandartola is an area of new land
allocated by the government to 346 families in Gopalganj municipality, Bangladesh.
The families had been evicted from their settlement to make way for the expansion of
a sports complex, and at present are living in temporary housing in 32 locations
scattered around the town. People have been organized by the Urban Partnership
for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR – an organization managed by UNDP) into
saving groups and have formed a community development council. The 346 families
have asked to move to this 4.16 acre site once land filling and plot allocations have
been completed. In order to achieve this, community architects, together with local
young architects and planners and UPPR and municipality staff, have been assisting
and encouraging people to be involved in the process of site planning and housing
design. The architects help find practical solutions to suit different site conditions – be
it in low-lying paddy fields, beside main roads or in flood-prone areas. In terms of
social and community organization on a citywide scale, the challenge is how to
share land between families that has been allocated by government
Blending design and planning with socio-political process is key. Every step of the
working process has to create a sense of working together. By starting with simple
things, people’s confidence is strengthened. Sometimes, people find small working
groups easy and comfortable, a place where they can share and discuss ideas, and
this is crucial in the earlier stages; and these small groups can gradually grow and
develop into a working taskforce in community development.
The architects have to encourage people to discuss and analyze the information
gained from mapping and surveying, and through this group analysis and discussion
many solutions will emerge and lead to a point where people will have to find the
consensus to proceed to the next stage of working. The architect helps to make the
abstract more tangible and visual, so that people can relate to their experience. But it
should always be borne in mind that the architect should not dominate the decision-
making.
When tasks are of a technical nature, such as producing estimates and construction
budgets or calculating the size of a tank producing biogas, the architect can link
communities with technicians so that knowledge can be imparted without actually
installing the facilities for them.

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I.

THE ROLE OF PLANNERS IN COMMUNITY PLANNING

 Community architects as designers of “process”. For architects, the process of

 Keeping a horizontal relationship with people and try to break the

Community architects have to consciously work on narrowing down if not

II. THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTS IN THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL

a. Mapping and surveying: starting point of social and physical transformation

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