The multiplicity concept in construction project planning

Why plan? Who should plan? What and when should one plan? These fundamental issues of construction planning raised by the authors 5 years ago, are revisited in this paper in the light of studies conducted recently within the construction industry. In the focus of this research program stood mature companies, advanced projects and competent and experienced practitioners of construction planning and management. The findings show that there is no one single answer to any of these basic questions and that in fact a state of multiplicity – of roles and users, plans and formats, timings and time horizons, planning parties and modes of preparation – prevail, calling upon the willing practitioner to resort systematically to situational analysis if effective planning is to be accomplished.