Incorporating Bio-Physical Sciences into a Decision Support Tool for Sustainable Urban Planning

Zina Mitraka, Emmanouil Diamantakis, Nektarios Chrysoulakis, Eduardo Anselmo Castro, Roberto San Jose, Ainhoa Gonzalez and Ivan Blecic
Additional contact information
Zina Mitraka: Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece
Emmanouil Diamantakis: Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece
Nektarios Chrysoulakis: Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385, GR-71110 Heraklion, Greece
Eduardo Anselmo Castro: Research Centre on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP) and Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Roberto San Jose: Environmental Software and Modelling Group, Computer Science School, Technical University of Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo, Boadilla del Monte 28660 Madrid, Spain
Ainhoa Gonzalez: Centre for the Environment, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Ivan Blecic: Department of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sassari, Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, Piazza Duomo 6, 07041 Alghero, Italy

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 11, 1-25

Abstract: Deciding upon optimum planning actions in terms of sustainable urban planning involves the consideration of multiple environmental and socio-economic criteria. The transformation of natural landscapes to urban areas affects energy and material fluxes. An important aspect of the urban environment is the urban metabolism, and changes in such metabolism need to be considered for sustainable planning decisions. A spatial Decision Support System (DSS) prototyped within the European FP7-funded project BRIDGE (sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism), enables accounting for the urban metabolism of planning actions, by exploiting the current knowledge and technology of biophysical sciences. The main aim of the BRIDGE project was to bridge the knowledge and communication gap between urban planners and environmental scientists and to illustrate the advantages of considering detailed environmental information in urban planning processes. The developed DSS prototype integrates biophysical observations and simulation techniques with socio-economic aspects in five European cities, selected as case studies for the pilot application of the tool. This paper describes the design and implementation of the BRIDGE DSS prototype, illustrates some examples of use, and highlights the need for further research and development in the field.

Keywords: spatial decision support systems; urban planning; sustainability indicators; urban metabolism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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