Central America-Caribbean Site Planning Training

Fundamentos de Planificación de Sitios is a Spanish-language training manual on proper site planning. It is focused on the nations of Central America and the Caribbean that were ravaged by Hurricanes Mitch and Georges in 1998. This manual, created by APA's Research Department between October 2000 and December 2001, is directed primarily at Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Jurisdictions in these areas were hit the hardest by the storms and are trying to rebuild using good planning practices.

In October 2000, the U.S. HUD Office of International Affairs contracted with APA to develop and execute a training program on site planning for planners, engineers, architects, public officials, and representatives of the building community, to be conducted in Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic, with participation also by people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica to provide opportunities for broader regional exchange and discussion.

The 15-month program identified project partners, developed training materials, created supplemental educational products, designed a workshop program, and delivered nine workshops in Fall 2001. The key team members who made this project possible include Carlos Aguirre, Max Chow, Francisco Mendoza, Sina del Rosario, and Pablo Vengoechea, our trainers; CEDAC, Entrena, and OIM, our logistics partners in Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, respectively; Horsley and Witten, Peter Kindel, Carlos Madriz, and Sean Morris, our key subcontractors; and Lisa Barton, Jerome Cleland, Susan Deegan, Sanjay Jeer, Jim Hecimovich, Bill Klein, Megan Lewis, Stuart Meck, and Jim Schwab, the APA project team.

Click here for an update on how the program's work goes on.

One of the objectives of the program was to make information available after the project's completion. In addition to the training manual, you may download from this web site the following Spanish-language educational materials on site planning:

• Programa Analítico del Curso de Planificación de Sitios (University Course on Site Planning)
• Informacion Bibliografica y Obras Referentes a Planificación de Sitios (Project Bibliography)
• Glosario (Glossary of Terms)

The Fundamentos de Planificación de Sitios web site also contains a video of the workshops. This video works as a virtual classroom-you can view the videotape and follow along with the online workbook.

The virtual classroom is also available as a VHS videocassette, a CD-ROM, and a DVD-ROM. Click here to purchase these materials and the training manual.