TOWARDS A NOVEL APPROACH TO GEODESIGN ANALYTICS

The adoption of sustainability principles in current European regulatory framework which affect spatial planning and environmental protection, such as Directive 2001/42/C, introduced the need for collaboration and participation in spatial planning practices aiming at achieving more evidence-based, transparent and democratic decision making. However, the involvement of a wide range of actors, along with traditional collaborative and participatory methods, makes it often diffi cult to grasp the dynamics which drive the process towards the fi nal decision. Emerging design methodologies and increased recourse to advanced information technologies promise unprecedented opportunities not only for applying a system approach and coordinating involved actors, but also for tracking the evolution of the design alternatives toward the fi nal plan. In this context, this paper explores the potential offered by the collaborative Planning Support System Geodesignhub to ease and record the process workfl ow of geodesign studies. The paper describes underlying theories, research questions formulation and the fi rst results of the analysis of empirical data on the Cagliari Geodesign case study. The set of variables and relations identifi ed in this research endeavor represents the fi rst effort towards the development of an operation framework for geodesign process analysis, which may potentially contribute to clarify the relationships between the knowledge base and the actors in the planning process. The aim is to earning a deeper understanding of the process dynamics for more informed, transparent, and democratic planning, design and decision-making. KEYWORDS