1.
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Making Transformational Urban
Impact
A Framework for developing
innovative recommendations

2.
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Overall
Approach:
Developing
Recommendations
• Opportunity to shape Urban Planning
– For positive, enduring and sustainable and impact.
• Systemic Thinking informs the recommendations.
– Effective outcomes in sectors can be attributed to well-
designed and healthy systems.
– Correspondingly, dysfunction, and unsustainable
performance can be traced to not using Systems
approaches.
– Use Principles and Best practices of Systems Innovation
– Leverage knowledge of Systems Transformation and
Change for effective impact.
• Revisit Conventional Wisdom
– Recommend Paradigm-shifting, Visionary, and
Transformational Solutions
• Frame the Recommendations Exercise
– Identify Key Questions that guide the Discovery and
Analysis.
– Plan actionable use of Recommendations.
• Separate Analysis from Recommendations Report
– Leverage Data to support Analysis.

3.
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Analysis:
Context of Sector
• All Sectors are considered to be complex Systems-of-Systems.
– They serve the larger objectives of the City and therefore
deliver services that help the City achieve its overall
objectives.
– The purpose/objectives/goals of the Sector derive from the
overall goals of the City.
– Sectors are deeply inter-related to one or more of the other
Sectors that serve the City that are being considered during
the planning exercise.
• Opportunity to develop synergy among sectors for a more
effective systemic impact.
– Solutions and recommendations should be considered jointly
with other sectors in this light.
• Understand Trends and Forces shaping the Context and inter-
related sectors
– Impact/influence on the Sector under investigation.
• Understand the Role of the City in the Sector
– Platform Manager (Custodian of the Commons – Design, Plan and
Implement and Operate)
– Services Provider (Part of the Services Ecosystem alongside Private
and Citizen providers)
– Governance for the Sector (Policy-making and shaping)

4.
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Assessment:
A Reference Model
• Use a high-level Framework to describe and assess the
performance of the Sector
– Develop a Performance Assessment Framework and
Benchmarks to guide Assessment
– Describe what is expected of the Sector in Qualitative and
Quantitative terms.
• The following high-level model is adequate to highlight key
Issues, Concerns and Opportunities (Include all entities
including those not a part of the City)
– Targeted Stakeholders and their Needs
– Solutions and Services offered by the Sector (Public,
Private, and Citizen).
– Systems and Sub-Systems that serve the Sector
– Sector Management
– Sector Governance

5.
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Historical
Evolution of
Sector:
an Analysis
• Describe the Historical Evolution of the Sector. Identify:
– Key events,
– Entities involved
– Investments
– Big shifts or, tipping points.
• Use multiple lenses to develop holistic perspective
– Social / Demographic
– Technological
– Economic
– Environmental
– Political
– Values (e.g. – Sustainability, Equality of Access etc.,)
• Analyze and Understand
– Forces that have shaped the sector
– Conventional Wisdom and Core Perspectives that have
guided the development of the sector and how these ideas
might have changed over time.

6.
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Current-State:
Description,
Assessment and Plans
• Describe the current-state of the sector
– Using the reference model described earlier
– As much detail as possible.
• Critique and analyze current-state
– With respect to the objectives and performance expectations
– Identify Positive aspects of design and performance
– Identify Gaps and Dysfunction – and their criticality now.
• Identify ongoing and planned Interventions
– Ongoing Projects (refer to reference model)
– Planned Investments (refer to reference model)
• Identify Core Metaphors that inform the design.
– This step is critical to understanding the conventional
wisdom, paradigms, and thinking that drives current
performance and what will need to change if we expect a
different outcome in future.

7.
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Emerging
Issues
Expected
Future
Impact
Analysis
• Describe emerging trends
– Social / Demographic
– Technological
– Economic
– Environmental
– Political
– Values (e.g. – Sustainability, Equality of Access etc.,)
• Identify the Forces that are driving the trends
– Critically assess their strengths
– Potential Impact on Performance
• Conduct an Impact Analysis
– Describe and critique the expected Future
– With respect to current performance expectations
– Suitability for the Future.
– Identify Critical Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities.

8.
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Envision:
The Desired Future
• A Future Vision should inform recommendations
– Should foster alternative and paradigm-shifting
possibilities.
• Collaboratively develop Vision
– Involve stakeholders.
– Vision should be informed by visions for inter-related
sectors.
• Align with the Vision for the City
• Transition from conventional wisdom
– Ideas that have caused dysfunction or
– Ideas not in alignment with shifts in current
– Align with expected futures.

9.
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Developing
Recommendations
The Three
Horizons
Framework
STRATEGIC FIT
TIM
EHorizon 1 is challenged by changing conditions
and there is strong innovation opportunity taken by
Horizon 2. However, each wave of innovation is
captured by Horizon 1 and applied to extend its
life. This may go on for several cycles.
Horizon 3 remains in the background since it is so
different from Horizon 1 that there is no place for it
in the mainstream. It continues to languish in the
margins until a much more fundamental and long
term change occurs.

10.
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Recommendations
Solution Design
Principles
• Principles not Designs
– Design of complex solutions requires extensive effort
– Recommendations specify the principles to be used in
eventual design.
• Recommendations address
– Key Issues and Challenges
– Opportunities identified in Analysis activities.
– Future-shaping ideas
• Organized along lines of System Model:
– Stakeholders and their Needs including behavioral changes.
– Solutions and Services offered by the Sector (Public, Private,
and Citizen).
– Systems and Sub-Systems that serve the Sector
– Sector Management – Operational Solutions, Changes in
Management Structure etc..
– Sector Governance – Strategic and Policy-level
recommendations

11.
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Solutions
Evaluation and
Prioritization
• Assess Solutions along three dimensions
– Desirability
– Feasibility
– Viability
• Develop detailed Criteria for each of the three dimensions
– Qualitative – Give some numerical Value
– Quantitative
• Assess potential Impact
– To help comparing recommendations
– On Sector
– On other related Sectors
– On overall Goals of City
• Depict Solutions graphically.

12.
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thank you!
Sudhir Desai, Principal
www.livingenterprise.net