There is a range of different methods and techniques in strategic planning. One that has been used during the USUDS project is the Facts, Challenges and Projects analisis. 

The methodology used in strategic planning depends on the features of the town, city or area, on the capacity of the technical staff involved and political leadership and above all, on the objectives or purposes for which the process is got under way.More specifically, different procedural approaches are implemented depending on whether what is being sought after is only to identify the most important projects to be promoted or whether the intention is also to strengthen the organising capacity and shared response of the city to the challenges brought up. 

It needs to be grasped that each town or city has a complex singularity, that is, that cities are distinguished by the way they arrange the different factors constituting the structure of their territory, economy and society in processes.

There is nevertheless a set of instruments whose flexibility and ability to reflect the complex singularity of each city mean that these can be more generally applicable; this is the case of FCP (HDP/FDP). FCP (Facts, Challenges, Projects) analysis was systematised as a methodology for drawing up urban strategies and was initially used successfully in different spanish cities. 

The MedCities network applied this for the first time in cities on the southern shore of the Mediterranean in an innovative way, starting in Tetouan in Morocco and in Sousse in Tunisia.

Below, you will find a more detailed explanation written by Josep Maria Pascual, on this methodology used during the USUDS project.