Use this catalog when the decision concerns land, settlement structure, public space, infrastructure networks, urban growth, or territorial coordination across parcels, neighborhoods, municipalities, or regions. Geospatial analysis supplies spatial data and models; construction supplies delivery and asset handover; this catalog owns plan-making, spatial governance, land-use choices, and place-based implementation.
- Planning frame and evidence
- Spatial strategy and land use
- Urban form, mobility, and infrastructure
- Participation and implementation
- Evaluation and resilience
- Composition patterns
- Research anchors
| Candidate | Type and output | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban/territorial system diagnosis | planning-analysis method | demographic, economic, ecological, institutional, spatial, and infrastructure conditions must be understood together | treat a descriptive profile as a plan or ignore informal, peripheral, and regional systems |
| Strategic spatial planning | planning methodology | a place must align a few transformative spatial priorities, actors, resources, and review points | produce a static master plan disconnected from implementation and political authority |
| Urban profile | diagnostic framework/artifact | a city or neighborhood needs a shared evidence base before priorities and projects are chosen | compare profiles without common definitions, time, geography, or data quality |
| Place-based analysis | cross-domain appraisal method | outcomes and constraints depend on local assets, inequalities, institutions, and spatial relationships | apply national averages or sector plans without local causal and distributional analysis |
| Land-use suitability analysis | spatial decision method | competing uses must be screened against constraints, opportunities, hazards, access, and policy | call a weighted map a final land-use decision without rights, ownership, feasibility, or public authority |
| Scenario planning for urban growth | spatial foresight method | demographic, economic, climate, infrastructure, or policy uncertainty could change urban form | present one growth projection as an inevitable plan |
| Candidate | Type and output | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Integrated urban and territorial planning | governance/planning framework | urban, rural, peri-urban, ecological, economic, and administrative relationships must be coordinated | draw a municipal boundary around impacts that operate across the territory |
| Compact city / urban containment | spatial-strategy family | infrastructure efficiency, land consumption, access, and service viability are material objectives | impose density without capacity, affordability, public space, safety, or displacement analysis |
| Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) | land-use and mobility strategy | development, accessibility, mixed use, and transit investment should reinforce one another | label any project near a station TOD without multimodal access, governance, value capture, and equity analysis |
| New Urbanism / walkable neighborhood design | urban-design framework family | street network, mixed use, public realm, and human-scale access are design objectives | use visual principles as proof of affordability, safety, inclusion, or transport performance |
| Green and blue infrastructure planning | ecological-spatial planning method | ecosystem services, stormwater, heat, biodiversity, and recreation should shape networks and projects | count disconnected amenities as a functioning ecological or resilience network |
| Urban regeneration / area-based development | place-transformation strategy | concentrated physical, social, economic, and governance interventions are needed in a defined area | use property uplift as the only outcome or displace residents without safeguards |
| Value capture and land-based finance | public-finance mechanism family | public infrastructure changes land value and a lawful, transparent mechanism can recover part of it | assume uplift, ownership, market absorption, or distribution without a financial and legal model |
| Candidate | Type and output | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Street network and connectivity analysis | spatial/network analysis method | walkability, access, emergency reach, and movement depend on network structure | infer lived accessibility from geometric connectivity alone |
| Accessibility and catchment analysis | spatial-service method | reach to jobs, schools, health, services, or transit must be compared by time and population | use straight-line distance when travel time, barriers, or service capacity matter |
| Transport and land-use integration | planning/forecasting framework | land use and travel demand co-evolve and investment choices are coupled | forecast demand independently of induced development, behavior, or network constraints |
| Location-based planning / takt planning | delivery-planning method | construction work, crews, zones, and handoffs need spatial-temporal flow | apply a production schedule without site constraints, design maturity, or quality gates |
| Infrastructure systems planning | portfolio/planning method | utilities, transport, housing, services, and ecological systems require sequencing and capacity coordination | optimize one network while shifting risk or cost to connected systems |
| Public-space and placemaking process | design/implementation method | local identity, use, stewardship, safety, and activation matter in shared spaces | use a workshop or beautification project as evidence of long-term place quality |
| Candidate | Type and output | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participatory planning | planning and governance method | affected residents, institutions, and local knowledge should influence diagnosis, options, or monitoring | consult after the decision is fixed or treat attendance as representativeness |
| Charrette | intensive co-design process | a bounded place and multidisciplinary team need rapid iteration toward spatial options | compress unresolved rights, feasibility, or long-term governance into a workshop |
| Incremental and adaptive planning | implementation approach | uncertainty, capacity, finance, or land assembly require staged reversible actions | use incrementalism to avoid a coherent spatial strategy or equity safeguards |
| Community-led development | local-governance method | residents or local organizations can hold meaningful authority, resources, and accountability | shift delivery responsibility without power, funding, capability, or remedy |
| Development control and implementation rules | regulatory implementation system | plans need clear, reviewable permissions, obligations, incentives, and enforcement | write aspirational land-use policy without authority, criteria, monitoring, or appeal |
| Land assembly and readjustment | land-governance mechanism family | fragmented parcels block coordinated infrastructure and equitable redevelopment | assume voluntary cooperation, legal authority, or fair value distribution without due process |
| Candidate | Type and output | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban impact assessment | impact-assessment family | a plan or project may change access, housing, health, environment, economy, or displacement | reduce impact to traffic or property value and omit distributional effects |
| Health impact assessment | cross-sector public-health appraisal | spatial decisions may affect health determinants and inequalities | treat a checklist as clinical evidence or ignore affected populations |
| Climate-resilient urban planning | resilience-planning specialization | hazards, exposure, vulnerability, adaptation pathways, and service continuity shape spatial choices | use a hazard map without adaptation triggers, maintenance, financing, or residual risk |
| Disaster-risk-informed land-use planning | risk-governance method | hazard, exposure, vulnerability, land regulation, and recovery choices must be integrated | transfer residual risk to low-power groups or rely on response capacity alone |
| Plan monitoring and evaluation | governance/learning method | implementation, outcomes, spatial change, equity, and triggers need periodic review | count permits or projects without testing outcomes, displacement, access, or plan assumptions |
| Post-occupancy and post-implementation evaluation | evidence method | built places and plans must be assessed against use, performance, inclusion, and unintended effects | treat completion or visual quality as operational success |
decision/authority + territory → urban profile + spatial/system diagnosis → affected-party and rights map → drivers/scenarios → strategic spatial priorities → land-use/infrastructure options → feasibility + distribution + climate gates → plan/rules/investment sequence → implementation governance → monitoring and adaptive review
need and service objective → data/CRS/quality audit → land-use constraints and rights → accessibility/catchment → hazard/ecology/infrastructure capacity → spatial MCDA → field/permitting/market due diligence → staged decision and monitoring
area diagnosis + displacement baseline → resident/rights/authority map → shared outcomes → co-designed options/charrette → housing, mobility, public-space, and service package → finance/land/governance feasibility → phased implementation → equity and outcome monitoring → correction or exit
Do not treat geospatial optimization as a plan, a consultation as consent, a master plan as implementation, or a climate scenario as a local forecast.
- UN-Habitat International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning for principles and process quality across urban and territorial planning.
- UN-Habitat Citywide Strategic Planning for a generic strategic-planning sequence that must be adapted to local authority and context.
- UN-Habitat Our City Plans for incremental and participatory planning practice.
- Route spatial data, geocoding, spatial statistics, remote sensing, and location-allocation models to
33-geospatial-location-analysis.md; route construction delivery and BIM handover to36-construction-infrastructure-bim.md.