Participation in planning can empower communities and build social capital, lead to better design of urban projects and allow for participants’ concerns to be incorporated within planning strategies. With regard to spatial planning, there is need to ensure its relevance for dealing with rapid urbanization. Spatial planning tools for urban areas need to ensure an orderly expansion to provide cities, small towns and trading centres with a spatial structure that is socio-economically and environmentally sustainable. Such tools should enable rational urban structures that would carefully balance economic, social and environmental land uses, carefully guide land use conversions, protect natural resources and minimize transport.

It is not always easy to secure wide citizen participation, meaning that specific organized interests exert more influence to advance their own causes and some social groups are under-represented. Participation in Uganda often takes the form of consultation, which may or may not result in influence. Moreover, the institutional base for effective urban management and planning is weak and often in a state of flux.

Key Intervention Areas

Strategic Objective 3: Foster the planning and development of vibrant, competitive urban areas through sharing of best practices and promoting effective relationships among business, government, and community stakeholders.

Key activities

1. Strengthen the capacity of communities in urban areas to effectively participate in decision making processes in urban planning that shapes the urban areas.
2. Undertake piloting of innovative participatory planning interventions in urban areas where planning and urban development is envisaged.
3. Ceate learning experiences that develop professional expertise in support of the individual, the community, and the real estate industry.
4. Promote research on land use and real estate development, changing technology, policy trends, and investment patterns to help identify opportunities, develop creative responses for business case resource efficiency.

Strategic Objective 4: Enhance stakeholder dialogues and engagement in land governance in urban development

Key activities

1. Hold the Annual URBANforum - a multi stakeholder dialogue platform on urban development in Uganda.

   The National URBANforum will bring together Government, local governments, municipalities and cities, private sector, financial institutions, the academia and civil society together with a representation of urban dwellers to share experiences, new knowledge and chart a way forward for sustainable urban development.

2. Produce the Ugandan Urban Land Magazine

   This is an online tool that will share developments in the urban sector in Uganda with contributions from Government, Private Sector, Civil Society and the academia. It is aimed at providing best practices and new knowledge and technology available as an avenue to shape urban development in Uganda.