Educating spatial planners for the age of co-creation: the need to risk community,science and practice involvement in planning programmes and curricula

Abstract

Planners are often billed as leaders and change agents of the (un)built environment. It is, however, important to recognize that they are in reality only one of many players in a sea of actors involved in shaping future developments and projects. Plans and interventions today are co-created and in fact co-evolve relying as much on the input, cooperation and actions of inhabitants, users, developers, politicians as on expert planners and a wide variety of other professions. In this introductory section, we, as editors of this special issue, posit that planners therefore require skills for co-creation drawing on science and working with other disciplines. In turn, planning programmes and curricula need to incorporate learning and teaching approaches that prepare students in higher education for working in co-creation settings by purposefully exposing them to learning environments that involve community, science and practice. The collection of papers, which were presented initially at the 2014 Association of European Schools of Planning congress in Utrecht hereafter showcase curriculum developments and pedagogical research of planning educators from different world regions that in the round shed light on a variety of issues and challenges of embedding learning and teaching for co-creation and co-evolution. In particular, we elaborate on the tensions of employing transformational yet high-risk pedagogies in higher education settings that are becoming increasingly risk-averse and streamlined and we suggest an agenda for planning curriculum development.     

Managing key interfaces in production planning and control

Detailed observational research, undertaken in two large and complex manufacturing businesses, identified ways in which work groups interface to employ knowledge to perform production planning and control activities. Eleven interfaces were observed and methods were established to classify them into types based on how knowledge is communicated and shared. Characteristics of the decision-making environment on either side of each interface were identified to explore their impact on interface type. Key differences in decision-makers’ predominant modes of decision-making, their agendas, and the form and scope of their knowledge were found to influence communication and decision-making processes. These findings have implications for production planning and control organisation and process design. In particular, it is seen that the effectiveness of interfaces may be improved through the alignment of decision-making approaches, agendas and knowledge across interfaces and/or through the effective use of interface tools that enable decision-makers to understand the consequences of decisions made.     

Integration of process planning and production planning and control in cellular manufacturing

Organisations willing to succeed in global competition have to integrate their internal and external processes. This especially includes planning and production control (PPC) processes. Optimised allocation of the production resources and quick response to demand changes result in lower cost and improvement of production performance. Practitioners and researchers have been trying to achieve these goals using production planning techniques. Although the results are significant, it seems necessary to integrate production operations in order to improve the production performance. The goals, information and decisions taken in production planning and control and process planning are often very different and difficult to integrate in Cellular Manufacturing (CM) environments. Designing an efficient PPC system and integrating it with process planning in a cellular environment is of the same importance. The following paper proposes first a comprehensive framework of integrated process planning and production planning and control in CM. Then, with respect to this framework and utilising the domain knowledge in the area of CM systems, an integrated model based on Integrated Definition Modeling Language is developed. The application of the models has been considered as a case study for a production system in electronics and telecommunication sector in a plant in Iran. The validity and completeness of the proposed model is tested by a panel of experts in the areas of production planning and control in CM environments.     

Resistance to metropolitan institutionality and planning in Chile

In this article, the authors review and analyse two key processes conducted by the Chilean state over the past 50 years. The first process consists of the development of specific planning instruments for the particular realities of metropolitan areas. The second process consists of the successive legislative attempts to work towards a definition of a new form of institutionality for cities with metropolitan profiles. These attempts have either failed or solely become bills of law. Both processes suggest a political and technical resistance throughout history, to substantially modify institutionality, as well as planning instruments, in order to make them more appropriate and consistent with the needs of growing metropolitan areas in Chile.     

The impact of autonomy on information systems planning effectiveness

Autonomy for information systems planning may have an impact on the effectiveness of that planning. Theory Y suggests that when managers have more autonomy, they have greater feelings of ownership, commitment, and responsibility, and thus perform better. A postal survey of 131 chief information officers of US subsidiaries of multinational firms collected data to test hypotheses based on the theory. Data analysis revealed that autonomy for IS planning in general and the strategy selection planning activity in particular significantly predicted IS planning effectiveness. These findings thus extend the theory to a new domain, namely IS planning in multinational firms, and thereby facilitate a better understanding of the management of IS planning. They further suggest that parent managers consider delegating greater autonomy to the managers of their foreign subsidiaries.     

Public Knowledge of and Involvement with Metropolitan and Local Strategic Planning in Australia

Despite academic and practitioner debate surrounding public involvement in planning, little is actually known about the extent to which the public is aware of the planning process. The focus of this paper is the examination of the underlying, latent public knowledge of the planning system in Australia. This latent knowledge (or more accurately, the absence of this knowledge) emerges as a barrier to public involvement. This paper examines public perceptions of the importance of metropolitan and local strategic plans, knowledge of these plans, the main sources of this knowledge, and the extent to which the public is likely to become involved with strategic planning process. The paper concludes that despite large segments of the population viewing strategic planning as important, only a small proportion is actually aware of the plans themselves, while an even smaller proportion is likely to become involved in the planning process.     

Effects of intellectual capital and university knowledge in indigenous innovation: evidence from Indian SMEs

Abstract

Intellectual capital and collaboration with universities are vital knowledge management practices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate and improve the effectiveness of their operations. This study investigates empirically the impacts of intellectual capital and university knowledge on indigenous innovation and how business and institutional environments affect the relationships. The research model is tested using moderated regression analysis and data collected from 150 SMEs in India. The results show that intellectual capital and university knowledge improve indigenous innovation, both individually and interactively. The effect of intellectual capital in indigenous innovation is amplified by dysfunctional competition whereas the effect of university knowledge in indigenous innovation is attenuated by environmental uncertainty. In addition, we find that indigenous innovation is positively associated with business performance. The impact of indigenous innovation on business performance is enhanced by dysfunctional competition but reduced by environmental uncertainty.     

Sales and operations planning: responding to the needs of industrial food producers

This paper investigates sales and operations planning (S&OP) at four Scandinavian industrial food producers in order to explore how the use of S&OP might help leaders to deal with the challenges set by the planning environment. Variables connected to the product and market, e.g. frequency of new product development, customer service levels and supply uncertainty, were identified as particularly critical for the S&OP process. It was found that there is great potential for S&OP in the food industry, foremost to cope with the imbalances between demand and supply and to create prerequisites for a stable production process.     

企业规划与信息系统规划战略一致性实证研究

以战略匹配模型(SAM) 及其在企业活动中的过程模型为研究对象,探讨了企业规划(BP) 和信息系统规划( ISP) 战略一致性程度与企业内外环境、企业所采取的竞争战略方向、ISP 的战 略地位以及IT 对企业业绩的贡献等因素间的关系,并运用中国企业数据进行了实证分析. 结 果表明,企业高层的战略规划意识以及利用IT 整合企业资源的能力与BP2ISP 战略一致性程度 和企业业绩密切相关,是企业获取竞争优势的重要因素.     

Tactical and operational planning of express intra-city package services

In this paper, we focus on routing and load planning associated with the tactical and operational planning of an express intra-city courier service provider that receives a large number of shipments on a daily basis and is committed to delivering them to their destinations given a short service guarantee. Tactical planning relies on high-level aggregated demand rates over long time periods and takes the form of a multi-commodity service network design where the goal is to identify one path per commodity while maximizing consolidation opportunities in the network. Commodities are transported on their paths by means of a series of continuously operating vehicle cycles, where the structure and number of such cycles are determined concurrently with commodity path assignment decisions in a mixed integer programming. A second model is designed to refine the time allocation along different segments of a commodity path allowing a potential reduction in the number of vehicles required to meet the service guarantee. In operational planning, the focus is narrowed down to a shorter time period, and the baseline plan obtained from the tactical planning phase is adjusted to better fit potential deviations in observed demand patterns compared to the aggregate patterns. Through an extensive computational study designed on the topology of a major US city, we observe that the plans designed at the tactical level guarantee high service levels, which are improved at the operational level by customizing the plan to the special characteristic of a day of operation.     

Development and teaching a computer-assisted course in production planning

Abstract. Course development and student activities are described for a successful computer-assisted senior level course in production planning. Development was guided by the view that students must (1) understand the elements being integrated, (2) understand the problems that are being resolved through integration, and (3) participate in the integration activity. Production planning is treated as a hierarchy of individual decision situations which are to be integrated. Each decision is assisted by a software-based technique. A menu program and a common database were developed to allow a student to become the 'integrator' by directing the information flow among the individual decision situations. The paper describes the development tasks, the course elements, and student activities which provide guidelines for others developing similar courses.     

A review of hierarchical production planning and its applicability for modern manufacturing

The hierarchical production planning (HPP) paradigm has become an accepted planning and control strategy for many medium-to-large manufacturing situations. While the paradigm appears intuitively obvious and appropriate for many factories, there are a number of modern manufacturing situations where the application of the HPP approach may not be appropriate. By understanding the fundamental principles and concepts inherent in the HPP approach, it is possible to identify situations suitable for HPP with little or no adaptation, and situations where HPP must be extensively modified before use. A poor understanding of HPP     

Planning reform beyond planning: the debate on an integrated Environment and Planning Act in the Netherlands

Land-use plans serve a dual function. On the one hand, they are programmes for future development, plans for action. On the other hand, they have a regulative function in relation to construction and land use. This paper investigates how the interplay between these functions is playing a role in the current debate about the new integrated Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) in the Netherlands. Initially, the government proposed abolishing local land-use plans and replacing them with a system of by-laws. However, this proposal did not survive the debate on this bill. This paper will shed light on the relationships between planning and regulation by analysing that debate.     

Shop floor characteristics influencing the use of advanced planning and scheduling systems

The purpose of this article is to investigate how the manufacturing process, the shop type and the data quality, i.e. the shop floor characteristics, influence the use of advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in production activity and control (PAC). The methodology implemented is a multiple case study at three case companies. Each company has different shop floor characteristics, but all use a scheduling module in an APS system, which supports production scheduling. A theoretical framework is developed suggesting how APS system are used in the PAC activities, and which major aspect to consider. The case analysis shows that the scheduling module in APS system, foremost supports sequencing and dispatching. In particular, the shop type is influenced by the decision of how often the APS runs and what freedom is given to the shop floor. The manufacturing process influences how the dispatch list is created. Contrary to the literature presuming that APS systems are most suitable in job shop processes, it is found that the manufacturing process is not a crucial factor when deciding whether APS systems are an appropriate investment. It is found that the level of data quality needed in the APS system depends to a large extent on how the dispatch list is used. For example, is the dispatch list used as a guideline, not a regulation, the need for accurate data in the module is reduced. This article extends the previous literature concerning APS systems by analysing how APS systems influence PAC as a whole and increase the understanding of the challenges of using APS systems in PAC.     

The role of social and intellectual capital in achieving competitive advantage through enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software merges a firm's data, information flows and business processes into a single package. Vendors argue that ERP provides an extremely useful strategic resource to enhance competitiveness and make it possible for a firm to leverage its other resources more effectively and efficiently. In addition, they allege that ERP encourages a system-wide perspective that is a basis for collaboration and a systems orientation. However, an examination of ERP systems using criteria established in research on resource-based views of the firm and chaos/complexity theory indicates that these claims are overstated. Observation suggests that even if ERP is necessary to coordinate complicated, multifaceted operations, it is far from sufficient to promote a strong competitive position over the long term. Moreover, ERP systems fit best within mechanistic, clockwork organizations dominated by routine, highly programmed technologies and operations, yet it is the non-routine learning and change processes found in complex, self-organizing systems that enable firms to create distinctive competitive advantages from ERP outputs. ERP makes possible deep changes in relationships, culture, and behaviors that can be crucial sources of advantage in the knowledge economy, but the structures and cultures most able to achieve this level of change are a poor fit with ERP requirements. To reconcile this paradox, we propose a dual-core, loosely coupled organization that views ERP as an enabling technology to build and augment social and intellectual capital, rather than as an information technology (IT) solution for organizational inefficiencies. Propositions for using ERP as a foundation for social and intellectual capital formation are introduced. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

A MILP model for the long term academic staff size and composition planning in public universities

This paper proposes a model for dealing with the long term staff composition planning in public universities. University academic staff is organized in units (or departments) according to their field of expertize. The staff for each unit is distributed in a set of categories, each one characterized by their teaching hours, cost and other specificities. Besides the use for planning (and updating a plan), the model can be used to assess the impact that different strategies may have on the personnel costs and the structure of a university. The proposed model is formulated generally, so it can be applied to different types of universities attending to their characteristics. The model is applied to a real case and validated by means of a computational experiment considering several scenarios. The analysis is focused on achieving a preferable academic staff composition under service level constraints while also minimizing the associated economic expenditures considering a long term horizon. The results show that the model successes in approaching the staff composition to a previously defined pattern preferable one.     

A simulation testing and analysis of aggregate production planning strategies

In this study, a hybrid discrete event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD) methodology is applied to model and simulate aggregate production planning (APP) problem for the first time. DES is used to simulate operational-level and shop-floor activities incorporated into APP and estimate critical time-based control parameters used in SD model of APP and SD is used to simulate APP as a collection of aggregate-level strategic decisions. The main objective of this study is to determine and analyse the effectiveness of APP strategies regarding the Total Profit criterion by developing a hybrid DES–SD simulation model for APP in a real-world manufacturing company. The simulation results demonstrated that the priority of APP strategies with regards to Total Profit criterion is: (1) the pure chase strategy, (2) the modified chase strategy, (3) the pure level strategy, (4) the modified level strategy, (5) the mixed strategy and (6) the demand management strategy, respectively. The APP system is first simulated under mixed strategy (basic scenario) conditions to include all APP capacity and demand options in constructed SD simulation model to show a comprehensive view of APP components and their interdependent interactions. Then, the obtained results will be used as Total Profit measure to compare with system's performance under some experimental scenarios applying different APP strategies.     

A decision-based approach: application to the automatic design of process planning

The notion of centre of decision presented in this article defines a conceptual and generic model enabling us to represent and use expert knowledge. It is suitable when the problem to be solved can be broken down into a sum of interdependent subproblems. Actions can be planned progressively and previous decisions can he modified by a backtrack mechanism. This principle is iterative. The structure is made up of many independent rules and an action plan. The customization of the application is possible even if the software evolves with future updates. This model has been applied in the LURPA-TOUR software which is a computer-aided process planning system for rotational parts.     

Consumers,clothing retailers and production planning and control in the smart city

Abstract

Though there has been much talk of smart cities, it is still unclear what the concept means and what the role of their inhabitants might be in the development of such cities. There is a tendency to focus on technology and infrastructure and forget that cities are places for people to live. To counter this, smart city planners need to recognise that people’s needs can and should influence and shape their environment, rather than concentrating too much on technology or the built environment. In order to understand how smart cities can serve the needs of their inhabitants, we will examine the specific example of the fashion clothing industry and its development of omni-channel retailing. This will show that retailers, driven by technology-smart and fashion-conscious consumers, are reshaping the clothing supply chain to achieve greater integration, flexibility and speed. Central to this process is the manufacturers’ ability to create production planning and control (PPC) systems capable of operating effectively in an omni-channel environment. The paper presents a Composite Model of Enterprise Planning which can aid the development of such PPC systems. The paper concludes that changes within the fashion clothing industry indicate how smart cities can develop and are developing, and that although these changes are facilitated by technology, they are driven by the necessity to meet consumers’ needs.     

The optimal operation planning of a Kanban system with variable lead times

In the majority of the previous research on Kanban systems delivery lead time is treated as a fixed value. In many practical situations, however, the lead time is variable. In this paper, optimal operation planning of a fixed interval withdrawal Kanban with variable lead times is proposed. A cost is incurred for inventory level less than the safety inventory level, since the risk of shortage of inventory must be considered. Behaviour of the optimal number of Kanbans and the withdrawal interval of Kanbans are investigated in terms of various parameters such as standard deviation and mean lead time.