Urban Projects Manual: A Guide to Preparing Upgrading and New Development Projects Accessible to Low Income Groups (Second Revised Edition)

?THIS REVISED MANUAL is based on field experience in many countries but especially on the approach used in Ismailia, Egypt, in the late 1970s, in designing and implementing the first upgrading and sites and service project to be formally undertaken in Egypt. The major changes in this second edition are not technical but, rather, relate to who does what.
The manual is clearly organized and laid out. It opens with clear instructions on its use, explaining that the process is broken into five stages: feasibility studies; detailed studies; developing project options; detailed development proposals; and project implementation. Within each of these stages, four topic groups are dealt with: target population; project site; site development; and institutional and financial framework. This initial breakdown provides a framework for the whole project. The individual stages and topics are further broken down into a series of clearly defined “tasks”, each of them illustrated by diagrams or other graphics. All tasks labelled 1A, then, would relate to feasibility studies regarding the target population. All tasks labelled 1B would relate to feasibility studies regarding the project site B, and so on. Within each of these groupings there may be a number of tasks, which are identified at the beginning of that grouping. In some cases, there may be no tasks; for instance task group 4B (or detailed development proposals regarding the project site) indicates that no tasks are necessary at this point unless further land surveys are necessary.

Individual tasks include an explanation of relevant terms, guidelines on how to proceed and references to other useful material within the manual. Task 3D/2, for instance, is on land tenure. It defines the issues within this topic, includes a table that presents the characteristics of various forms of land tenure and offers guidance on selecting and obtaining appropriate forms of tenure for residential plots and for commercial and industrial plots.

The manual includes a section on technical notes covering topics such as interpreting aerial photographs, assessing layout efficiency, selecting appropriate scales for maps and plans, and figuring cost-benefit ratios. An appendix profiles a particular project in detail, and the manual closes with a list of useful resources and an index.