Visualizing Decisionmaking: Perspectives on Collaborative and Participative Approach to Sustainable Urban Planning and Management

Over the last two decades shifting human resources, socioeconomic potentials, and innovations in information technology and communication have all but overthrown the formal order of the planning and management of urban systems. The authors trace the causes to misplaced priorities in urban governance and related issues, via the interface of infrastructure systems and land use. They survey some major theoretical and applied decision-support systems collaborative planning systems, and collaborative decision-support systems which have been advanced to date, indicating their strengths and weaknesses with regard to their ability to anchor public participation and professional collaboration in key planning and management issues. They highlight the fact that, although relevant multivariate, disaggregated, and incoherent small-scale researches do yield high dividends, their lack of cohesive interrelationship is related to the fragmentation of urban systems—despite various attempts at bringing about sustainable development. They suggest that decisionmaking can be effective when all aspects involved are visually related and collectively executed. They conclude by emphasizing that a comprehensive approach needs to be adopted for the planning and management of urban centers in order to enhance systems performance, human interaction, and contained developments.