Simulation Tools for Transparent Decision Making in Environmental Planning

The planning and territorial management process is often disparaged and subjected to criticism based on the way environmental decisions are taken. The lack of transparency and the high technical level of the Environmental Impact Assessment process do not ease public agreement. The increasing development in Geographical Information technologies has helped the construction of GIS-based Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) enabling ‘multipurpose planning’. The SDSS example presented below shows the potential for integration of several levels of involvement around an open platform aiming at a more scientific and shared decision in environmental planning. However, the development of this environmental SDSS has lead to the identification of a major need for an engagement effort towards the structuring and normalisation of the information to be created and published. It has become necessary to develop methodologies that will enable the systematisation, modelling, quantification and qualification of geographic space. This paper proposes that the definition of minimal geographic elements and the conceptualisation of geographical space into such description components leads to the creation of structures which allow for the thorough application of spatial analysis in