e-Planning Consulting - WHAT, WHY, WHO, HOW, WHEN


WHAT:
e-Planning Consulting is a group of people that work both non-profit and for-profit, implementing the e-Planning Agenda (e-infrastructures, e-government, e-governance, e-city & territory, e-citizenship). 

e-Planning Consulting is part of the e-Planning Consortium (www.e-planning.org), ruled by the Consortium Charter;  but it is NOT representative of the e-Planning Consortium; neither is vinculated to any structure, inside or outside the Consortium.

e-Planning Consulting areas of intervention cover the entire spectrum of the e-Planning transdisciplinary scientific area, at all levels: teaching,  research, prototyping, technical support, training, project management and implementation, policy-making and political assessment, decision-support & public participation, advocacy, user needs assessment, open-data system design and management, on-line/offline publishing & networking, fund raising, marketing, etc. 

WHY:
e-Planning Consulting was born out of the lack of solid and sustained institutional and financial support within the e-Planning Consortium, for e-Planning Teaching, Research, Development and Social Implementation of the e-Planning Agenda.

In particular, Academic Institutions have proven unstable with each leadership change, and unable to frame e-Planning transdisciplinarity within a highly "silloed" departmental structure and corporative culture.

In this context, e-PLanning Consulting provides a simple, uncomplicated and flexible venue to proceed with on-going e-Planning activities and projects, giving time to Institutions to re-adjust after each contextual shifts and turns, and thus facilitating smooth transitions and incorporating new partnerships, as well renewed old ones, within the e-Planning Consortium.

WHO:
e-Planning Consulting was founded by members from CITIDEP (private non-profit) and Favvus (private company). 

The founding members are Pedro Ferraz de Abreu, Jose' Fidalgo, Jose' Moreira, Mario Carneiro. These are the permanent members.

e-Planning Consulting is open to new memberships and new partnerships, and draws also from a larger set of ad-hoc collaborations.


HOW:
e-Planning Consulting at this time is not incorporated and does not have fiscal autonomy.  Contracts and legal handling are done ad-hoc, either at personal level or through case-by-case targeted protocols with CITIDEP and / or Favvus.

At any time, e-Planning Consulting may set partnerships with other entities, either public or private.

e-Planning Consulting activity may be public domain, or under privacy / confidential settings.

e-Planning Consulting Governance: Until it is incorporated as a legal autonomous entity, all key e-Planning Consulting decisions, including on new memberships and  partnerships, require consensus within permanent members, or at least non-opposition. In other words, permanent members are not required to agree, but retain veto power on all key decision-making.

WHEN:
e-Planning Consulting was born informally in late 2019. The first formal defining document, is dated 2020/03/20.