Vacancies

 

Terms of Reference

 

 

Job Opening number      United Nations Human Settlements Programme - Consultant

Job Title                               Urban Planner

General Expertise            Human Settlements

Category                              Urban Planning

Department/ Office        United Nations Human Settlements Programme

Organizational Unit         UPDB -CPEDU – Urban Planning and Design Lab

 

Duration:                             1 Year

Start Date:                          19 February 2019

End Date:                            19 January 2020

Deadline:                             31 December 2018

 

Duties and Responsibilities

 

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. The main documents outlining the mandate of the organization are the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, the Habitat Agenda, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements, the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, and UN General Assembly Resolution A/56/206.

 

The Urban Planning and Design Lab (UPD-LAB) is an initiative from UN-HABITAT to promptly respond to the requests of national and local governments to support sustainable urban development. The LAB acts as the integrative facility of the Agency in which spatial planning is used as the tool coordinating economic, legal, social and environmental aspects of urban development, translating them into concrete and implementable projects that materialize the normative work of UN-HABITAT. The UPD-LAB is formed by a multidisciplinary team of urban planners, legal and financial experts providing a holistic proactive approach. Due to this, the UPD-LAB has become the team building facility inside the Agency where different areas of expertise come together to deliver concrete and integrated solutions.

 

The focus areas of the LAB are:

• Citywide strategies

• Planned city extensions (and new towns)

• Urban infill, densification and renewal

• Planning guidelines and capacity development

• Climate change and urban planning

 

The LAB is currently working in concrete projects joining international and local expertise in more than 20 countries and over 60 cities in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

 

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Urban Planning and Design Lab and the overall supervision of the leader of the City Planning, Extension and Design Unit. She/he will contribute to the implementation of the Lab and Units activities by performing the following tasks:

 

Specific Responsibilities

 

1. Provide planning and design inputs to ongoing planning initiatives, including citywide strategies, extension plans and urban transformation plans.

2. Develop clear planning proposals, drawings and related reports for partner cities.

3. Review of proposals and design prepared by local planners for various pilot cities

4. Develop critical analysis of existing planning documents and instruments.

5. 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.

6. Take part in field missions in collaboration with UN-Habitat's regional and country offices.

7. Develop and organize participatory, multi-stakeholder processes tailor made for the projects in a specific context.

8. Provide input to Urban Planning and Design Laboratory documents and publications.

9. Attend meetings and conferences within and outside UN-Habitat on behalf of the Lab

10. Develop the Lab and Unit project portfolio

 

Ultimate result of service

 

The consultancy will focus on:

1) support 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,

3) build the capacities of planning and facilitating institutions (development control, construction plan scrutiny, etc.)

4) increase Lab and Unit portfolio and contribute to the management of the Lab and Unit.

 

Travel Details

 

The consultant will be required to travel according to the requirements of the assignments

 

Outputs/Work Assignment

 

The main outputs that are expected are:

 

1.            Development of Strategic plans

2.            Development of urban plans, urban regeneration plans and urban city extension plans

3.            Development of planning and climate change / innovation related initiatives

4.            Development of participatory, multi-stakeholder planning processes

5.            Urban Planning and Design Lab and Unit portfolio development

6.            Development of normative outputs

7.            Comments and inputs to planning proposals, guidelines and implementation strategies.

8.            Development of training workshops

9.            Support with the coordination with UN Habitat relevant Units and Branches.

10.          Inputs to economy and legislation reviews related to urban planning.

11.          Development of project proposals and concept notes

12.          Contribution to the management of the Lab, Unit and Branch

 

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.

 

Expected Duration

 

1 year with possibility of renewal according to performance

 

Evaluation Criteria

 

Skills :

• 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

 

Academic qualifications: Advanced University degree in Architecture or Urban Planning, or related field that is relevant for sustainable 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.

 

Experience: Minimum 1 year experience in urban planning and design with direct proven experience in drawing and preparing plan graphical material using computer assisted design tools. Strong graphic representation skills required.  Good hand drawing / sketching is an advantage. The candidate has a portfolio of plans and designs of which he/she is the author

 

Language: For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Although not a requirement, knowledge of French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian will be an advantage

 

 

All applications should be submitted to:

UN-HABITAT

P.O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

Email:   maryann.kithome@unhabitat.org

Deadline for applications:  31 December 2018