From Building Capacity to Development Feasibility: An Integrated Framework for Early-Stage Development Decisions

Resumo

The planning permission to build does not, in itself, establish whether a development should proceed. Between interpreting legal planning parameters and making an investment decision lie site conditions, infrastructure requirements, environmental constraints, product configuration, and uncertainties regarding cost and schedule. This paper presents an integrated analytical framework for the early stages of development, based on a targeted narrative review of scientific literature, technical documents, and legislation, combined with two illustrative professional experiences. The proposed framework comprises six dimensions: regulatory assessment, site characterization, infrastructure assessment, digital information management, technical coordination, and analytical consolidation. For each dimension, it specifies inputs, analytical operations, outputs, and the decisions affected. Economic considerations run throughout the framework through comparisons of alternatives, explicit assumptions, and identification of further investigations. A hypothetical numerical example demonstrates that greater saleable floor area may produce a lower incremental economic contribution. Drones, geographic information systems, and building information modeling are examined in terms of the information they provide, quality controls, and limitations. Professional accounts contextualize working interfaces without establishing effectiveness. The contribution lies in organizing the transition from permissions and fragmented data to traceable decisions to proceed, revise, investigate, or reject alternatives. The framework has not been empirically validated and does not replace specialist assessments, impact studies, or comprehensive financial analysis.