Figure 1.32 Financial Instruments

5. The Global Environment Facility is a global partnership that provides grants to address global environmental issues in projects in six focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. An Eco2 project may qualify for a

Global Environment Facility grant if it focuses on one or more of these areas.

6. Climate Investment Funds, which provide concessional fi nancing, may be made available if projects contribute to the demonstration, deployment, and transfer of low carbon technologies, with signifi cant potential for long-term greenhouse gas savings. 7. By insuring investments against political risks, the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency may help certain developing countries attract private investment.

By integrating, sequencing, and linking these fi nancial instruments, the World Bank

may enable an integrated approach to the sequenced implementation of a city’s Eco2related fi nancing needs. Of course, all these instruments are not required in every case. Figure 1.32 provides a sample of how instruments might be mixed. The World Bank Group may also help national governments and Eco2 cities mobilize cofi nancing resources from other donors, as indicated on the far right of the fi gure. (The features of these fi nancial instruments are explained in part 3.)

Financial resources are important. They enable many of the initiatives discussed in this book. However, the reader should keep in mind that some of the most remarkable innovations and approaches profi led here have been implemented without the luxury of these complex external fi nancial resources. The true test of the Eco2 Cities Initiative will not be its ability to link cities with fi nancing, but to facilitate a process whereby cities may adapt and apply the four Eco2 principles to unlock their own full potential.

Figure 1.32 Financial Instruments

Source: Author compilation. Note: The World Bank Group’s fi nancial instruments and the instruments of multidonor facilities administered by the World Bank may be packaged and sequenced to support a more well integrated approach to the fi nancing of Eco2 projects. CTF=Clean Technology Fund; DPL=Development Policy Lending; GEF=Global Environment Facility; IFC=International Finance Corporation; MIGA=Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency; SCF=Strategic Climate Fund; SIL=Specifi c Investment Loan.

Notes

1. The World Bank Group consists of fi ve institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International

Development Association (IDA), the International

Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral

Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the

International Centre for Settlement of Investment

Disputes (ICSID). 2. International Bank for Reconstruction and

Development loans and International Development Association credit must also be covered by sovereign guarantees.

Part 2 is aimed at everyone who wishes to become familiar with the core methods that, together, provide cities with a decision support system. It explains the role of these methods in assisting cities in implementing more strategic and long-term management and decision making. The decision support system is part of a city-based approach because it enables cities to develop their capacity to render operational the core elements of the Eco2 initiative. Even if one does not expect to work with the methods directly, understanding what they accomplish adds to one’s understanding of the overall framework.

Each chapter deals with a diff erent category of the methods and tools. Chapter 8, titled “Methods for Collaborative Design and Decision Making,” is an overview of the operational and process methods that help cities undertake leadership and collaboration. Chapter 9, titled “Methods for Analyzing Flows and Forms,” provides an overview of the most practical analytical methods. The combination of analytical methods helps cities to develop the transdisciplinary platform described in part 1 by revealing the important relationships between the spatial attributes of cities (forms) and the physical resource consumption and emissions of cities (fl ows). Chapter 10, titled “Methods for Investment Planning Assessment,” is an overview of accounting methods; it includes details on ways to apply life-cycle costing and proactive risk mitigation and adaptation.

The methods support the typical planning process at diff erent times and in diff erent ways. Some methods may be used repeatedly. For example, the meta diagrams that summarize resource fl ows may be used initially to provide a base line for how a location is currently performing and, later, to help in diagnosing, target setting, scenario development, and cost assessment.

All the methods represent proven approaches able to accomplish the task. They are expected to remain relevant for many years. The fundamental purpose of the methods is to simplify the process of analysis, assessment, and decision making. They provide practical ways for cities to take leadership, collaborate, and analyze and assess various ideas for the Eco2 projects of the cities.

Wherever possible, the methods are accompanied by tools. The tools are instruments such as templates, checklists, diagrams, maps, and specialized software applications, that is, anything that is convenient to use and helps to eff ectively and quickly render a method operational. The tools referenced here are examples and are indicative of some of the practical options available to cities.

Part 2 is a good place to begin if cities are planning a process of capacity building with the methods and tools to achieve urban sustainability. It is mainly an introduction to the issues, and many cities may wish to follow through in more detail on suitable methods, obtain more information, acquire specifi c tools,

deepen and broaden their capacity, and apply the new methods through catalyst projects.

Capacity-building plans are usually developed in stages, beginning with the most simple tools and applications. The benefi ts are substantial. For example, sophisticated computer printouts are not necessarily more eff ective than maps drawn on transparencies by individuals with extensive ground knowledge (community mapping). Sometimes, computers and fancy presentations may actually get in the way.

All capacity-building plans should focus on tools that may accommodate varying levels of data and skill and allow for the capacity to evolve over time. Tools with the following characteristics may assist in this evolution:

1. Transparent: analytical tools must be easy to understand and adjust, so that even beginners may follow the rationale and the fl ow of information. Complex black box computer models are inappropriate.

2. Scalable: tools easily adapt to the level of eff ort warranted by the project and to the level of knowledge and skill of the user. As conditions change, the same tool should accommodate a larger scope or more precise inputs.

3. Web-friendly: by designing most tools so they may take full advantage of the Internet, one may more easily train people, update tools, share results, interchange data and results, and use the tools to enhance stakeholder and public participation. 4. Modular: experience with the use of tools for city planning suggests that it is a mistake to adopt models and tools that are overly general and all-inclusive in purpose (Lee 1973). Models work best if they are limited to specifi c tasks and suffi ciently fl exible to be applied on their own or in combination with other tools. A modular approach based on strong theoretical foundations, but allowing for changes in key assumptions, may be more easily adapted to the complexities of the real world and to changing user needs.

Acquiring capacity in particular methods and tools may appear challenging. Training seminars and user-friendly software may make the process more manageable. Despite the challenges, however, most cities in developing countries will need to adopt new methods and invest in capacity building. Problems in cities in the developing countries are often more complex and demanding than those faced by wealthier cities in developed countries, and, thus, the need for eff ective decision support systems is greater. The investment will yield compounded benefi ts.

Reference

Lee, Douglass B., Jr. 1973. “Requiem for Large-Scale

Models.” Journal of the American Institute of

Planners 39 (3): 163–78.

CHAPTER 8

Methods for Collaborative Design and Decision Making

Organizing and Managing Collaborative Working Groups

Adopting basic rules for collaboration

Collaboration is a method by which diverse groups join together for a common purpose without necessarily altering their mandates, relinquishing their authority, or sharing their budgets. Power structures are retained. In fact, the reason collaboration works is that nobody is forced to give away power. What changes is that information fl ows are greatly enhanced, and the potential is greater for joint action (fi gure 2.1). Collaboration is especially eff ective in the integrated design of urban areas because so many diff erent parties may infl uence the results. Any particular system may be signifi cantly aff ected by land use policies, private development projects, on-site systems, demand-side management programs, effi ciency standards, the use of shared rights-of-way, and so on. Collaborative committees begin by agreeing to a simple set of rules or principles. It also helps to have a common vision of the desired long-term outcomes.

One key rule is that, wherever agreement on strategies is reached within the collaboration, all the members must use their unique mandate and resource base in a more or less coordinated fashion to contribute to the agreed strategy.

Balancing the membership and structuring inputs of varying levels of authority

Ideally, a collaborative working group is composed of a balance of sectors: the government, the private sector, civil society, and academia (knowledge institutes). A balanced membership means that a collaborative working group needs to be carefully constructed to include a full range of perspectives: short-term and longterm, private and public. A convenient approach is to establish roughly proportional representation from various sectors: the government, the private sector, civil society, and academia. Each sector contributes diff erent priorities and perspectives that help create balance. For