This paper deals with participatory decision making and planning processes. It
critically looks at methods and tools that are practiced currently in Germany and in
particular in the city of Berlin, where the author has close relationship to and has
studied in depth the Berlin experience made during the past decades.
The process of public involvement that started in the 1970ies in Berlin and in
the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD) is going to be monitored continiously. Focus
is laid on the discourse on whom and how when to involve. Meanwhile the city of
Berlin has developed a handbook on public participation that is briefly presented and
assessed in this paper. Selected best practice cases where certain tools have been
successfully applied in Berlin will be presented and analysed.
This paper is meant to enlarge the knowledge about state of the art dicourse on
participatory urban planning, design and implementation and gives a brief outlook on
replicability of instruments for participatory urban planning and design in the Syrian
context.
The Master Plans are one of the main tools for sustainable urban development to
counter the effects of growing urbanization in the cities. But, at the same time, the process
of its preparing is the challenge to those concerned, especially in the ab
sence of standards
that embody the principles of urban sustainable. So, research started from the issue of
developing contemporary standards for preparing a sustainable master plan that achieves
the terms of Sustainability, and it adopted a reference study about the terminology and
theoretical concepts related to sustainable urban development, principles and sustainable
master plan and its objectives and areas of work. It adopted the International Planning
Standards adopted by various countries and international organizations specialized in
preparing Master Plans that contribute in creating more sustainable cities.
In the case of Latakia, it was found that the Master Plan, which was prepared in 2008
according to the Proposed Schematic Program for land uses, achieves only (51%) of the
conditions of sustainability; this figure does not meet the needs of Lattakia in the short
term and long term; it is also clear that the administrative side of the planning operation is
the main reasons that led to the unsuccessful master plan; in other words, the work,
according to the traditional planning standards and the limited laws and legislations, is not
enough, but must be accompanied by action planning and contemporary administrative
standards based on urban sustainability.
The water resources and water availability is main source for understanding the
threshold of Urbanism resources limitation; and any imbalance in water resources specifications reflexes a
crises for cities expansion, population growth, and activitie
s variety, mostly the planner depends on
providing some general recommendations about water uses and suggesting simple strategies for
correcting the deficiency without considering the needed consideration.
That drew the research to study ers Damascus the water of in city water future which should be worried
about, throughout a review on the former urban studies and look at the related balance water studies and
the adopted future population increase scenarios, and its impacts on the expansion areas; in order to
propose a system for planning, evaluating, and allocating the limited water resources, between the
agricultural, urban, and environmental uses; whereas full integration between supply, demand, and water
quality will be achieved , throughout compact indicators, manage building a model (Model) which will be
a tool for integrated planning method of water resources; can be adopted to study the future needs of
water in the short, medium and long terms.
The comprehensive and urban development has many of aspects in
saltanate Omman, these aspects correspond in growing and developing
these cities and in increasing is its size because of the natural growing for
population and the coming emigration .
