ENSURE > GUIDEBOOK > GLOSSARY

Glossary of terms used

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y Z

For each word, we give a definition (in Italics) and some explanation of how we have used it

Activist
One who takes direct action to achieve an end - especially a political or social one
Activists are people active in changing their local area. They simply take action. They often have a lot of energy, power and a basic knowledge of the neighbourhood.

Approach and Methods
Approach: a way of thinking adopted in tackling a problem based on values
Method: systematic procedure
An approach should be agreed by the stakeholders and should determine how to act; method should be the combination of tools and the way you use them. For example, considering participation as a value, the approach would be to formulate the regeneration project based on participation and the method would then be to set up structures that allow people to participate and applying the tools (workgroups, partnerships etc) that allow people to participate.

Authority
The power or right to control, judge or prohibit the actions of others
A local community can be assigned authority - for instance in a regeneration project. Authority can also result from knowledge or experience. For example, someone who has been working or living for along time in a neighbourhood and therefore understands the area may have the right to judge or prohibit the actions of others, not because of any legal right, but because of knowledge and experience.

Baseline data
The information on a neighbourhood collected at the start of the regeneration programme and used thereafter to monitor progress and evaluate outcomes
Baseline data includes general information on an area like demographic data, size, number of households, quality of infrastructure etc. These data you will usually get from official statistics.

Capacity building
Developing the skills of individuals and communities to take part in civic processes and to be empowered.
Participation in regeneration projects requires some basic skills -eg. working in committees, understanding and acting in political processes. Capacity building is about giving the people who need it these skills. Then they can come together with other people to transform the knowledge into action. Capacity building will also help residents be able to define what their need is.

CBO
Community-based organisations
These are voluntary not-for-profit non-governmental organisations with aims and activities limited to a locality that has a unique identity, as a city or a - more often - a neighbourhood or a housing area within a neighbourhood. In some cases, CBOs are also defined by being a membership organisation with restrictions on membership, e.g. housing associations with membership restricted to local residents.

While an NGO targets certain issues, a CBO usually puts emphasis on holistic improvement of quality of life in a neighbourhood, although the focus can cover anything from heritage preservation to social inclusion.

Communication
To exchange messages, information and ideas or knowledge.
Because communication is about exchange, there has to be two or more people actively involved in the process - giving and receiving information. In integrated planning, communication is essential between the stakeholders

Contract
A binding agreement between two or more parties for performing, or refraining from performing, some specified act(s) in exchange of commodity or service.
It may define a framework for common activity, but then the definition "agreement - an arrangement between parties regarding a method of action" should be used instead.

Cross-sectoral
Two or more sectors work together
For example, the public sector (like the municipality) working with the private sector (profit making businesses) or the voluntary sector (not for profit businesses, charitable organisations, residents groups)

Democracy
Democracy: government by the people
Representative democracy: where the people elect representatives to act as the government
Participative democracy: where the people directly act as the government themselves
The word 'government' does not only apply to national and local governments - but to the process by which organisations (including voluntary organisations) manage their affairs.
In participative or grassroots democracy everybody active in the organisation has a say. Members (or residents) solve the problems themselves - and take action. They usually focus on single issues, eg protest groups against new roads. It also applies to self help projects - often the only way to get things done in deprived neighbourhoods. Therefore the grassroots democracy tends to focus on projects and actions rather than on strategies. It is quite normal to form a local group focusing on only one subject. It is also normal that grassroots likes common enemies and political confrontation.
Representative democracy is based on the assumption that a person elected or designated will represent the rest of the group. This form of democracy - e.g. housing organisations and political parties - is suited to discuss principles, strategies and visions and they often work for consensus and long-term development.

Dialogue
An exchange of opinions and discussions involving two or more people
It is important to establish a dialogue with room for both professional and stakeholder experiences, understandings and ideas. Active listening is required from both sides. A genuine dialogue also requires that the stakeholders meet physically. Written or electronic communication is not sufficient.

Empowerment
Helping individuals and communities to have a greater say in and control over the decisions that affect their lives
Empowerment is a method, a strategy and a goal in it self
Empowerment is an active social process where individuals, groups and local neighbourhoods improve their ability to understand and control the decisions that affect their lives.
Empowered means that you or your neighbourhood should be less dependent and more in control of material, cultural and social resources. Empowerment requires capacity development.

Evaluation
Assessing the results of the strategy and targeted action.
An evaluation will give you an answer to the question 'how this was done?' and it will include a judgement on how well or badly it was done. When evaluating targeted action in a project, you will look at how effective or efficient the activities have been carried out. In order to prevent biased results evaluations are generally carried out by neutral externals and according to explicit rules or methods.

Facilitator
One who assists progress.
In regeneration programmes this particularly applies to the local project office which is there to help develop resident involvement, and to bring together the various stakeholders

Goals and Objectives
Goals (or aims): the overall strategic purpose of the regeneration
Objectives (or targets): detailed measurable actions that when achieved together meet the goals
The goals are the vision broken down into a number of elements. They are overall and general.Goals as qualitative abstract objects are difficult to measure. Objectives are quantitative aims of projects related to the defined goals and refer to measurable results, solving problems on a short- or medium- term basis. For example, if the neighbourhood suffers from high unemployment rate, goal will be to fight unemployment whereas objectives will be to decrease the rate by 2%.

Governance
The system of governing.
In urban regeneration and neighbourhood planning, steering groups, partnerships, and consultative events are important elements in governance. They bring together the authorities, business interests and local community.

Indicator
A number or ratio derived from a series of observed facts can reveal relative changes as a function of time.
Generally, indicators can be expressed in numbers or ratios, for example metres and centimetres indicate the length of things. In revitalisation strategies, you make statements about the process and progress of your project. As indicators you will pick certain things from which you can see what exactly has been done and has been achieved with some activities. Examples: for employment projects the number of people put into jobs will be an indicator; for public service quality an indicator would be the frequency of services.

Inter-disciplinary
One disciplinary approach is applied to an issue normally dealt with by another discipline.
For example, social work methods used to solve physical issues. Thinking and acting differently.

Leadership
To guide, rule or inspire others
There has to be leadership of a regeneration project, to ensure that there is direction, co-ordination and accountability. The stakeholders need to accept that there has to be one party who has the overall responsibility. In most cases it will be a public institution (normally the municipality) who will assume the leadership role. Leadership does not imply the right to decide everything - and must not be confused with power and absolute authority. It is important to have leadership to push the process forward - and to bring the stakeholders together to discuss strategies and solutions.

Mediator
A person who intervenes in a dispute between two or more parties in order to resolve differences and to bring about agreement.
A negotiator. This is a role that the leader of the local secretariat and/or the chairperson of the local steering committee/partnership/etc may have to undertake regularly.

Monitoring
To observe or record the activity or performance of the regeneration process
Monitoring tells you what is being done as you go along. It uses measurable indicators. In order to monitor you need data that you can collect at various points in time during the process of the project. Normally, the local project office carries out monitoring.

Multi-disciplinary
More than one discipline is involved
For example, the preparation of a master plan where physical planners, road engineers, architects are involved.

Negotiation
A discussion intended to produce an agreement.
Negotiation is a very important part of building consensus in an area - and is very important if you want to establish a win-win situation where all stakeholders feel that they gain from the process.

NGO
Non-governmental organisations
These are bodies with goals to be accomplished by influencing governments, and not constituted as political parties. Their scope is national or international.

In urban revitalisation, somehow all voluntary sector organisations are often dubbed NGO to discern any voluntary not-for-profit organisation from public authorities and business associations.

Outcome
Direct and indirect effects of the project
Outcome is the long-term effect of the activities undertaken. In regeneration this could include the increase in the economic capacity of the residents as a result of a number of activities - including the number of training places provided. In assessing the outcomes of a programme, one would normally assess both the intended outcome and the unintended outcomes - the consequences of the activity beyond the immediate outputs. It is less likely to be measured in physical or monetary units, and is more likely to be considered at the evaluation stage. Outcome is sometimes described as Result or Impact

Output
The amount produced during a given period
Output relates to activity and means the amount of goods and services produced. In regeneration this would include the number of houses improved, the number of training places provided. It is mostly measured in physical or monetary units.

Participation
The act of taking part or sharing in something with others
One of our values. Creates synergy through better use of available resources in the neighbourhood. Vital for creating sustainable development. Makes decision making more democratic. Enables empowerment.

Preconditions
There are two definitions:
a. factors that exist in the neighbourhood
b. factors that are necessary to exist before action can take place
Factors that exist will include - existing population, existing housing structure, political system etc.
Factors that are necessary to exist before action takes place will include, for example - commitment of the public authorities to involve residents in decision making
Preconditions should be understood and identified at the start of the project (part of 'Getting to Know the Area') You might not always be able to change them. They may require you to adapt your objectives and strategy.

Project
A set of related tasks, which have a specific goal, often requiring concerted effort.
A project normally has strictly defined organisation scheme, budget, and time schedule. It is often financed by one funding source.

Programme
A system of services, opportunities, or projects, usually designed to meet a public need.
An action programme may be organised as a set of projects and/or single tasks, following the same strategy for attaining same goals.
A funding programme may be set up by one or many donors to provide better funding opportunities for projects with a view of making the activities more cohesive.
A service programme may be set up by public authority or several public agencies to improve cohesion of public services.

Renewal, Revitalisation and Regeneration
These words are often used by different people to describe the same activity. The use of these words will differ from country to country (where they might be used in legislation, by academics and by professionals) and differ over time. In general, however, these three words represent a kind of journey from a purely physical based neighbourhood process to a sustainable development approach, involving economic development, social integration with environmental management.

Stakeholder
One who has a share or interest, as in an enterprise
In regeneration, people who live, work, play in the neighbourhood, or have some responsibility for delivering services are regarded as stakeholders.

Strategy and Action plan
Strategy: an approach to delivering change.
Action plan: strategy translated into action - what you have to do in order to achieve the goals.
In a long-term regeneration process the stakeholders develop a strategy that sets up the overall goals of the project, explaining "why" and "how" of the project, based on the values. The Action plan results from the strategy. It translates the overall goals defined in the strategy into action, setting out how they are to be accomplished, including measurable objectives, defining what to do and when..

Sustainable Development
"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" Brundtland, UN 1987
Sustainable development is an overarching concept with environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions. Urban sustainability provides the capacity for neighbourhoods to be self sustaining, flexible and responsive according to changing circumstances

Tools
An instrument used in the process of regeneration
Examples of tools: working groups, information meetings, a neighbourhood plan, a local newspaper, exhibitions, surveys, written information.

Values
The moral principles or accepted standards of a person or group
The values of a neighbourhood revitalisation process are the standards or principles that guide the process. Ideally, they should be agreed and shared between the stakeholders. As an example, participation is one of the main values in this guidebook.

Vision (shared)
An image in the minds of the stakeholders of what the neighbourhood will be like in the future.
This is jointly understood, and remains with the stakeholders throughout the regeneration process as the ideal for which they are striving.

ENSURE > GUIDEBOOK > GLOSSARY