Bridging differences by design: competencies and individual characteristics of boundary-spanning spatial designers in urban climate adaptation planning

Figures & data

Table 1. Competencies and individual characteristics of boundary spanners.

Cognitive competencies	Information processing
	Analytical thinking
	Domain expertise
	Organization expertise
	Coordination skills
Social competencies	Communication and listening skills
	Conflict management skills
	(Inter)organizational awareness & sensitivity
	Political savvy
	Networking skills
	Cross-cultural awareness & understanding
	Leadership
	Teamwork/collaboration
Emotional competencies	Empathy and otherness
	Self-confidence and self-efficacy
	Self-awareness, self-monitoring, and self-regulation
	Conscientiousness
	Achievement orientation
	Initiative/proactive
Individual characteristics	Experience
	Network ties
	Motivation

Table 2. Overview of the studied cases.

	Sigma Plan	Rebuild by Design (RbD)	Water as Leverage (WaL)
Programme focus	Integrated river management of the Scheldt estuary focusing on flood safety, nature development, and economic use	Response after Hurricane Sandy. Improving coastal resilience along the New York/New Jersey coast	Development of urban climate resilience in three pilot cities in Asia: Chennai (India), Khulna (Bangladesh), and Semarang (Indonesia)
Planning stage	Implementation	Implementation started	Design/planning stage
Time	2005-present	2013-present	2018-present
Location	Scheldt region around Antwerp (Belgium)	New York/New Jersey (USA)	Southern Asia
Studied project(s)	- Droogdokkenpark, the redevelopment of a former harbour area along the Scheldt in Antwerp into a park, while also increasing the protection level from flooding	- Big U, the design of a multifunctional structure to protect lower Manhattan (New York) from flooding - Meadowlands (New Jersey), the design of a wetland and a surrounding raised ‘ribbon’ that both connects the surrounding urban areas and prevents flooding	- Semarang (Indonesia), in which two design teams were active in developing a comprehensive vision for a resilient Semarang and six concrete project initiatives focused on making various parts of the city more resilient to flooding
Number of interviews	10 (two with designers, and eight with other professionals)	13 (five with designers, and eight with other professionals	9 (five with designers, and four with other professionals)
Period of interviews	Nov 2020–June 2021	Oct–Dec 2020	March/April 2019 and June 2020

Table 3. Competencies and individual characteristics employed by boundary-spanning spatial designers engaged in climate adaptation planning.

	‘Known’ competencies and individual characteristics employed by boundary-spanning spatial designers encountered in the study	‘Additional’ competencies and individual characteristics employed by boundary-spanning spatial designers found in the study
Cognitive competencies	Information processing	Integrating/Synthesizing
	Analytical thinking	Critical thinking
	Domain expertise	Process expertise
	Organization expertise	Abductive reasoning
	Coordination skills	Visualization skills
Social competencies	Communication and listening skills	Storytelling
	Conflict management skills	Translating
	(Inter)organizationalawareness& sensitivity
	Networking skills
	Cross-culturalawareness& understanding
	Leadership
	Teamwork/Collaboration
Emotional competencies	Empathy and otherness	Optimism
	Self-confidence and self-efficacy	Personal Resilience
	Self-awareness, self-monitoring, and self-regulation
	Conscientiousness
	Achievement orientation
	Initiative/Proactive
Individual characteristics	Experience	Being there
	Network ties
	Motivation