Why Strategic Development Planning Is Necessary
Strategic development planning is necessary for sustainable long-term development and project viability. Without such structures in place, most projects are doomed to failure and can cost developers (and in some cases, the taxpayer) millions they cannot afford to lose. An example of this is the construction of modern suburbs. While the concept of suburbs is nothing new, it poses a unique developmental challenge: ensuring people can easily access resources and critical infrastructure while keeping developmental costs down in order to ensure more attractive property valuations for potential buyers. Such a project will fall flat if any of these factors are not considered, which means the developers and spatial planners need to solve these problems with a solid strategy.
How Strategic Development Planning Overcomes Challenges
Adaptability is a core feature of strategic development planning. No matter how well-constructed your plans are and how many possible scenarios you considered when designing those plans, there is always a chance for something to go wrong and derail plans completely. This highlights the dangers of making plans too rigid, while at the same time emphasising why strategic development planning is necessary. A good plan is one that can be adapted to almost any situation or circumstance, even ones you cannot foresee in the beginning. It is therefore important to try and build plans around the aspect of uncertainty (although older plans can still be adapted in most cases).
Strategic development planning takes into account the needs of a population, but also factors in the capabilities and resources available to the developers. Being too ambitious with a project could lead to its downfall, as important resources may get assigned to the wrong developmental areas, which in turn will cause areas where those resources were needed more to fail when the budget starts to run short. No developer has an infinite amount of cash at their disposal, so it is important to ensure that resource allocation is optimal and has enough contingencies in place to prevent abject failure due to shortages.
Another hallmark feature of strategic planning is that it considers both short-term and long-term developmental goals during the initial design process. By taking a staggered, bottom-up approach to developing a new project, it can become more sustainable in the long run. Sometimes a long-term solution for a temporary problem isn’t necessary, but these problems need to be predicted before they occur so that they may be adequately addressed.
What We Do
The Practice Group takes an integrated approach to solving developmental challenges. This includes comprehensive developmental and spatial strategies, site mapping, and extensive project analyses. This makes us prepared for any eventuality and puts us in a position to manage crises effectively.
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