On March 11-13, the Competition Teams attended an invitation-only PCSI Forum, an international conference co-organized by the Urban Land Institute and Asia Society with the National Competitiveness Council, World Wildlife Fund, and the APEC National Organizing Council. Bringing together 150 experts and practitioners from the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region, it provided a dialogue in urban planning and design .

The PCSI Forum serves as a learning and networking platform for the teams, and an opportunity to meet design and planning experts from other parts of the world.

A pre- forum orientation was held on March 11 where the Competition Teams were briefed about the Ten Principles of Liveable City Planning and Coastal Development of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the 15 Sustainability Principles of Urban Planning of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). These principles are critical as they will form the key criteria for the competition. Each team were also briefed about the use of the planning templates, identifying the project of focus for the competition for their specific city and agreeing on the approach and guidelines for their competition entry.

During this first phase, Cities are asked to organize a Competition Team, with the Mayor as the lead, and composed of city planners and private sector representatives from the city to be designated by the City Mayor and City Council.

Simultaneously, a team of Mentors , members of the Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction (ASSURE) are assigned to each Competition team. The team of mentors will be led by Nathaniel von Einsiendel. Each Competition Team will be assigned a team of 2 Mentors.

In the second phase, each team will work with a team of Mentors to develop planning and design concepts for their respective cities which they will enter for the competition and to build up planning capacity skills. Each Competition Team is assigned a team of 2 Mentors who will go to their City for a day and a half field visits and mentoring missions.

Initial plans will also be submitted and posted online for review of the public. The public may also contribute to the final design plans by submitting their own ideas for review of the respective city competition teams and liking or commenting on the plans and ideas they like.

In the third phase, Competition Teams will finalize their designs for review of the judges. Teams will be required to submit conceptual designs, site plans, and architectural perspectives as well as draft budgets.