SPPD: Practitioners Institute

Infrastructure Management
Executive Short Course

2003 Practitioners Institute
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Institute Alumni

1999 Institute Newsletter

Highlights

The 4th Annual Institute for Planning and Development Practitioners was held at the University of Southern California from July 12th through July 23, 1999 on the theme, Innovations for Capacity Building in Urban Management.

"The course is a venue to share countries' experiences. It sheds light on the current global urbanization trend and indicates practical options for efficient and effective urban service delivery to rapidly growing urban populations. The relationship established among the participants is of major importance for continued information and experience exchanges".

"The course has been most enlightening and it is gratifying to be exposed to current thinking, as well as to have the existing ways of thinking challenged. It has been remarkable to see a variety of solutions being brought to bear on similar or identical problems"

Highlights

Organized by USC School of Policy, Planning and Development, the Practitioners Institute is designed to allow those engaged in local government, planning and development to learn about new ideas and to share their experience under the guidance of prominent experts in the field. This year's Institute attracted a diverse group of scholars, local government officials and senior professionals from South East Asia, Middle East, Africa, North America and Latin America. Assisted by experts from USC, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the World Bank and elsewhere, participants learned about new approaches and explored ways to incorporate these ideas into programs and policies back home. The Institute resulted in a series of outputs produced by participants. These included participant presentations and short memoranda summarizing new ideas and initiatives that each participant learned through the two-week course, and planned to pursue on returning home. In addition, participants visited the local government of Los Angeles City and spent three days in Tijuana, Mexico.

Expert Lectures

Highlights

Nine leading experts introduced key themes and outlined approaches to enhance capacity building of urban management, stressing innovative policies and programs with proven success that lend themselves to replication in other countries and regions. In addition, this year's Institute featured Mr. Lubomir Antonio Ficinski Dunn, the state secretary for urban development of the state of Parana, Brazil, as the keynote speaker. He shared with the participants his experience and views on underlying themes behind successful urban management programs in his state.

Case Studies

Lecturers presented case studies culled from cities and regions around the world illustrating how specific programs succeeded through empowering municipalities and community groups, and making local government more efficient in urban management and service provision. These sessions provided more opportunities for participants to interact with speakers, relate new ideas to their own professional concerns, and obtain helpful feedback from experts and other participants.

Participant Presentations

Highlights

Participants presented case studies of specific policies and programs from their own countries, and shared experience and ideas on how they might be improved based on concepts and best practices introduced during the presentations by experts.

Field Trips

Participants visited the Los Angeles City Hall, where they witnessed public hearings and met with the city manager, discussing the issues of urban management and ways of achieving efficiency and effectiveness in providing urban services. They also made a three-day excursion to Tijuana, Mexico, met with local government officials and community leaders, and saw completed and ongoing urban infrastructure projects.