Involving decision-makers in the transformation of results into urban sustainability policies

Abstract

Mind mapping tools are used to stimulate thinking about sustainability and define its significance for urban planning. Such tools are based on keywords that are identified and structured through dialogue-based procedures. The approach can be used also for switching between highlighting sectorial aspects, such as territorial management and urban design, social and economic cohesion and cross-sectorial aspects, such as sustainable mobility and energy efficiency. This paper emphasizes a structured dialogue with desicion-makers at national, regional and local levels, aimed at identifying what decision-makers really need to decide and the key barriers to the implementation of existing urban sustainability tools. This study was organized in four discrete steps. Initially, what EU urban sustainability projects can deliver (studies, methodologies, tools, policies, etc.) was identified. The deliverables were evaluated against certain criteria and categorized into cross-cutting aspects (territorial management and urban design, social and economic cohesion) and sectorial aspects (sustainable mobility, energy efficiency). The structured dialogue was implemented in parallel with the evaluation of the deliverables in order to match them with decision-makers’ needs, priorities and expectations. The ultimate goal was to develop and make available an operational Decision Support System (DSS) for public Authorities and urban planners, which combines their needs, priorities and expectations (structured dialogue results) with existing deliverables, developed within the framework of EU projects that up to now have had a low transferability and applicability rate.