Geo-Design. Advances in bridging geo-information technology and design bring together a wide variety of contributions from authors with backgrounds in urban planning, landscape architecture, education and geo-information technology presenting the latest insights and applications of geo-design. Geo-Design is here understood as a hybridization of the concepts “Geo” – representing the modeling, analytical and visualization capacities of GIS, and “Design” – representing spatial planning and design, turning existing situations into preferred ones. Through focusing on interdisciplinary design-related concepts and applications of GIS international experts share their recent findings and provide clues for the further development of geo-design. This is important since there is still much to do. Not only in the development of geo-information technology, but especially in bridging the gap with the design-disciplines. The uptake on using GIS is still remarkably slow among landscape architects, urban designers and planners, and when utilized it is often restricted to the basic tasks of mapmaking and data access. Knowledge development and dissemination of applications of geodesign through research, publications, and education, therefore, remain key factors. This publication draws upon the insights shared at the Geodesign Summit Europe held at Delft University of Technology in 2014. All contributions in the book are double-blind reviewed by experts in the field.

With planning support software, citizen planners can move buildings from block to block, tear them down, build complete subdivisions, run new highways in and around town, analyze any number of scenarios, and see with their own eyes the consequences of each action. This reference offers new possibilities and discusses the most important aspects of computer-aided land-use planning.

This book collects a selection of the best articles presented at the CUPUM (Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management) conference, held in the second week of July 2013 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The articles included were selected by external reviewers using a double blind process.

With ever increasing trends in urban consumption and production practices, a call for action to mitigate Climate Change is often seen as a way to foster sustainable development. Considerable attention is now being paid to determine what urban sustainability would include. Today there is a pressing need to broaden our knowledge and apply new concepts and frameworks to development of modern cities. Building on the foregoing, this book attempts to bring together and discuss concepts, tools, frameworks and best practices to cope with the emerging challenges faced by cities today. The book will be of use to policy makers, city planners, practitioners and academics who are starting to project what modern cities would need to do in terms of energy efficiency, mobility, planning and design of habitat and infrastructure and adapting to climate change.

Encompassing a broad range of innovative studies on planning support science, this timely Handbook examines how the consequences of pressing societal challenges can be addressed using computer-based systems. Chapters explore the use of new streams of big and open data as well as data from traditional sources, offering significant critical insights into the field.

In 1992, world leaders adopted Agenda 21, the work program of the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. This landmark event provided a political foundation and action items to facilitate the global transition toward sustainable development. The international community marked the tenth anniversary of this conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2002. Down to Earth, a component of the U.S. State Department's "Geographic Information for Sustainable Development" project for the World Summit, focuses on sub-Saharan Africa with examples drawn from case-study regions where the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies have broad experience. Although African countries are the geographic focus of the study, the report has broader applicability. Down to Earth summarizes the importance and applicability of geographic data for sustainable development and draws on experiences in African countries to examine how future sources and applications of geographic data could provide reliable support to decision-makers as they work towards sustainable development. The committee emphasizes the potential of new technologies, such as satellite remote-sensing systems and geographic information systems, that have revolutionized data collection and analysis over the last decade.