Urban Planner & Designer

The Urban Planner is a core member of the Urban Planning team in K&A. He works closely with the senior project team to analyze, investigate, develop and propose urban planning strategies and master plans, considering natural, social, economic and built environment characteristics, as well as the specific cultural, political, institutional and administrative contexts for non-complex urban planning projects. He develops urban planning surveys, reports and thematic maps for non-complex urban planning projects in coordination with urban planning team members. The jobholder is expected to progressively support and work on more complex urban planning projects.

• Ensure responsibilities are fulfilled with a high quality cost-effectively

• Support Project Managers in client presentations and workshops, as needed
• Support Project Managers with responding to client clarifications and technical issues, as needed
• Ensure client satisfaction with urban planning deliverables

• Identify and review readily available data, including previous studies, approved plans, satellite images, etc.
• Prepare and participate in kick off meetings / workshops with clients and internal counterparts, as needed
• Support in acquiring recent satellite images, aerial photography, topographic DTM or contour lines, as needed
• Conduct land-use and building characteristics surveys, as per Terms of Reference
• Conduct data collection from all concerned authorities in collaboration with local teams, as needed
• Develop a data inventory system and archive necessary data to share with project team members, as needed
• Produce data collection report for non-complex projects, highlighting all collected and missing data
• Closely work with Specialists on demographic, economic, environmental and legal studies and forecasts
• Identify housing, social services and main infrastructure needs based on forecast scenarios
• Support built environment surveys, such as land use, building characteristics, morphology, heights, etc.
• Support the assessment of planning constraints and opportunities based on conducted analyses and identify planning priorities accordingly, changing project priorities, if needed
• Contribute to the development of main findings and planning priorities report for validation with clients and authorities, as needed
• Support the assessment of alternative strategic options given project priorities and planning constraints
• Translate alternative options into conceptual thematic maps and graphics, as needed
• Assist the assessment of alternative options from a social, environmental, economic and implementation point of view and conduct comparative SWOT analysis accordingly
• Refine selected options into a preliminary draft plans
• Contribute to the production of draft and final reports and thematic maps, including land use, transportation, zoning and conceptual infrastructure schemes for non-complex urban planning projects, as needed
• Elaborate draft and final executive planning documents, such as planning regulation, environmental regulation and urban planning specific guidelines
• Support workshops and presentations with clients accordingly in coordination with Project Managers

• Upload design deliverables into K&A’s knowledge repository, as needed
• Attend periodic training to further develop relevant skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture, Urban Planning or Landscape Architecture
• Master’s Degree in Urban Planning is preferred
• Knowledge of urban planning principles
• Good analytical and problem solving skills
• Good communication and presentation skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Proficiency in written and spoken English; Arabic is an advantage

• 2+ years of industry experience in urban planning
• Strong experience and track record with large and complex projects in urban planning

• Experience with land use planning principles
• Experience with urban morphology, density and urban regulation
• Experience with infrastructure plans coordination
• Experience within the Middle East is preferred