A spatial decision support system for participative planning

The fast urban growth process is the root of many problems faced by cities of several countries, particularly those in developing countries. The participation of the community in the planning process can help to drive the development of a city for reaching sustainable development and to improve the community quality of life through an organized process. In that context, the combination of Geographical Information Systems and Spatial Decision Support Systems, through an online interface, can provide new perspectives to participatory planning. That is exactly the focus of this paper, in which a spatial decision support model with online community participation is proposed. Its goal is to promote an integrated and sustainable process of urban and transportation planning for Brazilian medium-sized cities by joining together planners, decision makers and the community in the planning process. A system under development for the city of Bauru is presented to exemplify the proposed approach