Descrição: The main issue examined is how governments and citizens in cities with differing patterns of urban economic growth make use of participatory spatial knowledge management to direct urban governance towards more sustainable development (SD). Participatory spatial knowledge management is the main concept used to study this issue, as it reflects a strategic resource, to which all stakeholders can contribute in urban governance processes. It includes expert knowledge and several forms of non expert knowledge, such as sector (practice-based) and social (community-based) knowledge. Participatory processes of urban planning and management can strategically elicit these forms of spatially disaggregated knowledge, not usually included in top down, expert-driven models of urban governance and planning. Utilizing participatory spatial knowledge can make urban governance and planning more effective and accountable, by incorporating varieties of knowledge. However, the success of such approaches depends on external political and economic conditions. A legal framework providing fiscal decentralization and funding is a strategic support. The influence of various external political, environmental and economic conditions has not yet been analyzed much locally and certainly not comparatively across different socio-political contexts, although such conditions are strategic, given the inherent trade-offs and potential conflicts-in combining environmental, social and economic goals (within SD).
Docente responsável: Adrian Gurza Lavalle