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The evaluation of various urban planning scenarios using metrics has enhanced consensus-building in participatory planning. Nevertheless, the integration of scenario planning pedagogy remains limited in Latin American nations. To bridge this disparity, scenario planning was integrated into a graduate planning studio in Bogotá over a two-year period. Our investigation focused on enhancements in students' comprehension of uncertainty, urban metrics, and negotiation. Findings indicate that students successfully generated multiple scenarios rapidly. However, challenges emerged concerning the interpretation of communicative concepts in planning, data accessibility and constraints, as well as issues related to the user-friendliness and interoperability of available software tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there have been academic discussions regarding the strategic and relational shift in spatial planning, and the potential of digital geospatial planning support systems (PSS) in this regard, the integration between these two has been given less attention. Understanding the obstacles associated with this integration is crucial to enhance strategic spatial planning and the utilization of geospatial PSS in this respect. To address this gap, the authors examine the tensions that arise when the planning systems of three municipalities in Norway intersect with the potential capabilities offered by a 3D digital twin. The authors found that the study findings not only supplemented those of studies concerned with the implementation gap, but also provided more general insights into possible obstacles for a strategic turn in spatial planning. In conclusion, they identify five key tensions in the Norwegian planning system that affect the uptake of a 3D digital twin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart governance technologies are emergent information and communication technologies (ICT), which amid the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely used to govern COVID's impacts. However, very few studies have provided insight into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of smart governance technologies under COVID-19. This prevents the widespread usage of smart governance technologies across cities and countries and impedes their usefulness during emergencies. This study combines knowledge of emergency management theory and planning support systems (PSS) to frame the functional usefulness of smart governance technologies in handling practical tasks amid the COVID-19 state of emergency into a task-technology fit model. By employing qualitative content analysis to collect views and insights from the international news-based cases (n = 69), we identify SWOT of smart governance technologies under COVID-19. Results indicate that usefulness of smart governance technologies is reflected in task-handling in the ex-post emergency phases of response (e.g., provide e-health service, tracing and tracking) and recovery (e.g., improve e-government services, enhance collaboration for renewal), whereas few applications focus on tasks in the ex-ante emergency phases of mitigation (e.g., hazard analysis, vulnerability assessment) and preparedness (e.g., planning, training and exercises). Main findings lead to a conclusion that hidden capacities of smart governance technologies can be fully achieved if policy makers and practitioners can focus on the full range of tasks and demands before, amid, or after emergencies and identify collaborative opportunities for technological development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cities have been extensively studied as complex adaptive systems over the last 50 years. Recently, several empirical studies and emerging theory provided support for the fact that many different urban indicators follow general consistent statistical patterns across countries, cultures and times. In particular, total personal income, measures of innovation, crime rates, characteristics of the built environment and other indicators have been shown to exhibit non-linear power-law scaling with the population size of functional cities. Here, we show how to apply this type of analysis inside cities to establish universal patterns in the quantity and distribution of urban amenities such as restaurants, parks, and universities. Using a unique data set containing millions of amenities in the 50 largest US metropolitan areas, we establish general non-linear scaling patterns between each city’s population and many different amenities types, the small-area statistics of their spatial abundance, and the characteristics of their mean distance to each other. We use these size-specific statistical findings to produce generative models for the expected amenity abundances of any US city. We then compute the deviations observed in given cities from this statistical many-amenity model to build a characteristic signature for each urban area. Finally, we show how urban planning can be guided by these systemic quantitative expectations in the context of new city design or the identification of local deficits in service provision in existing cities.

Despite the general political efforts to normalise bicycle use in cities, empirical evidence indicates that cycling investments tend to prioritise central and wealthy neighbourhoods rather than economically disadvantaged and peripheral areas. Among the potential causes, scholars claim that the lack of awareness about the social impacts of cycling and the general absence of equity-oriented appraisal methods during planning and decision-making processes may perpetuate the uneven distribution of bicycle-related investments. In response, this paper introduces a novel planning support tool for assessing the relative equity impact of bicycle planning (TIRE), which provides a micro-scale spatial assessment of the effects of cycling network allocation on the accessibility levels of distinct socioeconomic groups, allowing a vertical equity assessment with high spatial detail. In order to apply the tool to a real-case scenario, the cycling strategy under implementation in Lisbon, Portugal, was assessed as a testbed. The results were presented to local planning practitioners in an experiential workshop, enabling participants to define strategies supported by the tool and evaluate its user-friendliness and usefulness for planning practice. TIRE revealed hotspots in the city where the cycling network distribution is equitable and areas where disadvantaged representatives have levels of accessibility below the municipality average, thus requiring special attention during the bicycle planning process. In addition, the tool supported local planning practitioners in identifying target areas and equity-oriented strategies, increasing awareness about the equity impacts of cycling infrastructure allocation. • The inner city has higher levels of accessibility than the outskirts. • Disadvantaged groups have less access to opportunities than advantaged ones. • The tool increased planners' awareness of an equity-oriented planning paradigm. • The tool supported planning practitioners in developing new strategies. • Planners positively evaluated the tool in all dimensions of experienced usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing deep-learning tools for road network generation have limited applications in flat urban areas due to their overreliance on the geometric and spatial configurations of street networks and inadequate considerations of topographic information. This paper proposes a new method of street network generation based on a generative adversarial network by designing a pre-positioned geo-extractor module and a geo-merging bypath. The two improvements employ the complementary use of geometric configurations and topographic features to automate street network generation in both flat and hilly urban areas. Our experiments demonstrate that the improved model yields a more realistic prediction of street configurations than conventional image inpainting techniques. The model's effectiveness is further enhanced when generating streets in hilly areas. Furthermore, the geo-extractor module provides insights from the computer vision perspective in recognizing when topographic information should be considered and which topographic information should receive more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been extensively studied as complex adaptive systems over the last 50 years. Recently, several empirical studies and emerging theory provided support for the fact that many different urban indicators follow general consistent statistical patterns across countries, cultures and times. In particular, total personal income, measures of innovation, crime rates, characteristics of the built environment and other indicators have been shown to exhibit non-linear power-law scaling with the population size of functional cities. Here, we show how to apply this type of analysis inside cities to establish universal patterns in the quantity and distribution of urban amenities such as restaurants, parks, and universities. Using a unique data set containing millions of amenities in the 50 largest US metropolitan areas, we establish general non-linear scaling patterns between each city's population and many different amenities types, the small-area statistics of their spatial abundance, and the characteristics of their mean distance to each other. We use these size-specific statistical findings to produce generative models for the expected amenity abundances of any US city. We then compute the deviations observed in given cities from this statistical many-amenity model to build a characteristic signature for each urban area. Finally, we show how urban planning can be guided by these systemic quantitative expectations in the context of new city design or the identification of local deficits in service provision in existing cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background There is consensus that planning professionals need clearer guidance on the features that are likely to produce optimal community-wide health benefits. However, much of this evidence resides in academic literature and not in tools accessible to the diverse group of professionals shaping our cities. Incorporating health-related metrics into the planning support systems (PSS) provides an opportunity to apply empirical evidence on built environment relationships with health-related outcomes to inform real-world land use and transportation planning decisions. This paper explores the role of planning support systems (PSS) to facilitate the translation and application of health evidence into urban planning and design practices to create healthy, liveable communities. Methods A review of PSS software and a literature review of studies featuring a PSS modelling built environmental features and health impact assessment for designing and creating healthy urban areas was undertaken. Customising existing software, a health impact PSS (the Urban Health Check) was then piloted with a real-world planning application to evaluate the usefulness and benefits of a health impact PSS for demonstrating and communicating potential health impacts of design scenarios in planning practice. Results Eleven PSS software applications were identified, of which three were identified as having the capability to undertake health impact analyses. Three studies met the inclusion criteria of presenting a planning support system customised to support health impact assessment with health impacts modelled or estimated due to changes to the built environment. Evaluation results indicated the Urban Health Check PSS helped in four key areas: visualisation of how the neighbourhood would change in response to a proposed plan; understanding how a plan could benefit the community; Communicate and improve understanding health of planning and design decisions that positively impact health outcomes. Conclusions The use of health-impact PSS have the potential to be transformative for the translation and application of health evidence into planning policy and practice, providing those responsible for the policy and practice of designing and creating our communities with access to quantifiable, evidence-based information about how their decisions might impact community health.

Big data analytics in smart cities has given rise to the new interdisciplinary field of urban science, which uses data mining, visual analytics, modeling, and simulation to create novel planning support systems. One such system is RAISE (the Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer) which assists urban planners and local government authorities with rapid analysis and visualization of land value uplift from proposed transport infrastructure. This paper's contribution is twofold. We first introduce co-design as a method for developing a planning support tool such as RAISE and present findings from a series of co-design workshops that informed its development. Findings included the need for further transparency of the land valuation process and recommendation of a community feature that explains valuation outcomes to landowners. The resulting insights from the co-design process led to a series of emerging questions that the design of this type of planning support system raises: (a) the collaboration with local government partners and the need for what Huybrechts calls "institutioning;" (b) some of the ethical implications of use, and (c) the impact of moving from conventional to AI/machine learning-assisted modeling. We discuss these questions as part of our second contribution. The paper concludes by reflecting on the process of using the development of RAISE not just as a solution but as an opportunity to problematize new questions and identify future research opportunities that tackle these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land allocation and pricing substantially impact carbon emissions, yet their nonlinear effects remain understudied. This research employs ensemble machine learning models to examine the complex relationships between land conveyance and per capita carbon emissions across 104 major Chinese cities from 2009 to 2017. The results reveal that keeping industrial land allocations below 35% helps reduce emissions, whereas higher ratios increase emissions. Allocating over 8% and 33% to business and public land respectively also lowers emissions. Land prices demonstrate heterogeneity – a higher residential land price promotes efficiency only when its relative price level to the comprehensive land price is below 1.1. The findings highlight customised policies balancing development and emissions reduction, based on local conditions and development stages, can forge sustainable pathways. Overall, the nonlinear modelling quantifies nuanced emissions responses to land allocation thresholds and strategic pricing incentives. By considering these complex mechanisms, urban planners can devise tailored strategies that simultaneously nurture growth and curb emissions. The novel method and evidence-based insights contribute to planning support systems and sustainable policy-making. • Estimating land conveyance's nonlinear effects on emissions by ensemble learning. • Allocation and price of land display nonlinear relationships on carbon emissions. • Land use within suitable ratios and pricing incentives promotes carbon reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of smart cities and digitalisation, there is a plethora of digital government and digital planning initiatives. Such rapid digitalisation is putting the planning profession under pressure to adapt to new digital technology. Our research investigates the use of data and technology, perceived and desired outcomes arising from digital disruption, and perceived barriers to the adoption of new technologies to in day to day planning work from the point of view of practicing planners across a wide range of professional roles. This paper reports the results of a mixed-methods study involving both a survey and workshop, with participants located primarily in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Our research finds that widespread digital disruption is anticipated by most participants and provides important evidence to assist planning organisations in preparing for this change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While planning practice largely relies on conventional planning methodologies, academia is ahead on the research about geotechnical tools such as Planning Support Systems (PSS) and how they could support contemporary and complex planning processes. The aim of this paper is to show the outcomes of the application of geo-tools (i.e. Geographical information systems) in an empirical case carried out by practitioners, academics, and the Municipality of Jerez. It draws on empirical data from a planning project focused on the dilapidated and oldest area in the city centre. This area is collapsing due to lack of maintenance and lack of inhabitants. The project created an urban indicator framework, to determine the agenda and priorities for urban development projects implemented in the area. It is a quantitative approach and distil what could be done to ameliorate the situation. This paper promotes aims to reflect how PSS can be appropriated in a specific planning culture. The goal is to find which are the crucial urban indicators and which are the added values found during the implementation of PSS during the process. It concludes by emphasizing the valuable contributions of empirical case studies to better understanding the added value of PSS in planning practice. It reflects on the demand to promote tailored PSS applications in order to adapt to local planning methods and theories.

This paper introduces an alternative means of evaluating the performance of planning support systems. These systems that were originally developed to support the professional tasks of planners have been assessed primarily based on their task-technology-user fit. During the tasks of early planning phases, planning actors attempt to adapt planning issues out of their ‘wicked’ state and into clear directions for action by means of communication. The search for better support of adaptations that result from these complex, multi-actor communications requires a more dynamic means of evaluating planning support. To gain a deeper understanding of planning support use during actor communications, we conducted a strategy-making session using preliminary modelling, sketching, facilitation and traditional support tools. We visualized the session as a network of communicative interactions and identified planning support involvement during key issue adaptations. Findings show that preliminary modelling and sketching were often used when identifying planning issues and adapting them into attributes for scenario development and that unsupported dialogue was used to communicate in depth about project objectives. We conclude that introducing planning support as needed in formats that are both visual and easy-to-understand may add value to strategy making in workshop settings.

The Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge simulation platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of MSP. In the interactive simulation, different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Users can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space over a period of several decades. Changes in energy infrastructure, shipping, and the marine environment are then simulated, and the effects are visualized using indicators and heat maps. The platform is built with advanced game technology and uses aspects of role-play to create interactive sessions; it can thus be referred to as serious gaming. To calculate and visualize the effects of planning decisions on the marine ecology, we integrated the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modeling approach into the platform. We demonstrate how EwE was connected to MSP, considering the range of constraints imposed by running scientific software in interactive serious gaming sessions while still providing cascading ecological feedback in response to planning actions. We explored the connection by adapting two published ecological models for use in MSP sessions. We conclude with lessons learned and identify future developments of the simulation platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

bstract: As a reflection of the relationship between human and mountainous environment, urban planning has an impact on the mountainous environment by changing the topography, landform and spatial layout. A good urban planning can mitigate and adapt to the mountainous environmental impact. Urban master planning involves the interrelationships and interactions of various components of urban complex systems. Planning Support System (PSS), as a technical means to assist planning decision-making, is mostly based on the construction mode of "user (stakeholder) - system". Its strong professional characteristics are not conducive to the consensus of diverse stakeholders on urban planning. The aim of this paper is therefore to build an augmented planning support system framework that is based on complex adaptive system theory, this framework is ontology-driven, and thus will enable the generation of a planning support prototype system for mountainous urban master planning founded on this framework. The framework fuses the urban planning ontology and the planning support system together, which helps different urban agents to reach a consensus based on a common understanding of urban planning. The defect is that the construction of the urban planning ontology is still manually constructed. The approach advocated here will enable a common understanding of mountainous urban master planning, support efficient and flexible decision in this area, and provide reference framework for future mountainous urban master PSS developments and application. The PSS prototype developed based on augmented planning support system framework has been applied to the urban master planning of Changting County in Fujian Province, China. Through the application of multiscenario analysis, urban agents can deepen their understanding of the current situation and future development of the city, and ultimately helps to promote urban planning decisions and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the implementation of Planning Support Systems (PSSs) and scenario planning strategies, a common understanding of model goals, performance, and usability are among several issues that need to be addressed. Without a common understanding, resulting policies that are drawn from model outcomes could be compromised. Reporting methods of PSS results should be objective, reasonable, understandable, and useful. We describe a process including several methods of reporting PSS results that allows for minor variation and understandably communicating the results to PSS users. This approach includes finding meaningful resolution and probability matching of PSS model results. We show that our approach is a theoretically reasonable and objective method for reporting PSS results in planning practice. We test our approach using the LEAM PSS in an application in northern Illinois. In this case, our model results inform planners using an easily comprehensible spatial resolution over which the simulation provides useful information for future land-use scenarios. We also apply our reporting methods to compare a preferred scenario to a business-as-usual scenario. The result prompts local planners and stakeholders to rethink their plan implementation strategy for preferred scenario implementation. We conclude that next steps for PSS model development will require both technical and practical focuses in the model reporting and implementation arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planning of bicycle infrastructure across our cities remains a complex task involving many key stakeholders, including the community, who traditionally have had limited involvement in the planning process. This research develops an interactive bicycle prioritisation index tool which includes participatory spatial and textual citizen feedback. The research involves three components. Firstly, results of a survey of current cyclists in Sydney (n = 280), their current level of participation, priorities in investment in cycling and preferred locations for cycling infrastructure. This survey was undertaken between May and June 2020. Secondly, it documents the development of an interactive, digital bicycle planning tool which is informed through citizen feedback. Thirdly, it evaluates the approach in conversation with potential end-users, including government, planning practitioners, and advocacy group members. A clear preference for active participation mechanisms (86%) was articulated by current cyclists, as opposed to a reliance on the existing data available and passive data. The resulting tool was understood by interview participants and documented both existing utility and future work needed for practical implementation of similar systems. The research proposes the combination of multiple passive and active data traces with end-user evaluation to legitimise the citizen co-design of bicycle investment prioritisation initiatives. A case study approach was taken, focusing on the city of Sydney, Australia. The bicycle planning support system can be used by cities when engaging in cycle prioritisation initiatives, particularly with a focus on integrating citizen feedback and navigating the new and complex data landscapes introduced through recent, passively collected big data sets.

Complexity in current spatial planning practice is mainly linked to the multi-dimensional context characterizing its processes. Recent advances in design methodologies and digital techniques promise unprecedented opportunities not only for managing multiple issues and actors, but also for tracking the evolution of the design options toward the final plan. In this context, the paper explores the potential offered by the collaborative Planning Support System Geodesignhub to record the process workflow and open new path to the design dynamics understanding. We will present the first research efforts toward the development of a geodesign process analytical framework taking account of both theories and cases studies.DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.20.2018.3

There is a widely shared view that planning actors require planning support systems (PSS) that can be easily adapted to changing project demands packaged in easy-to-understand formats. Recent studies confirm this and show that PSS are increasingly user-friendly. Still, little is known about under what conditions they add value in practice. This paper tests three hypotheses about PSS performance and usability in an experimental study. 133 students were exposed to different conditions of PSS facilitation flexibility and visualization hardware (tablets versus maptable). They performed identical strategy-making tasks consisting of divergence and convergence. In addition to measuring the quantity and quality of ideas, we assessed perceived process quality and usability of the PSS. Tablet groups performed better on idea generation and evaluated their solution to the planning problem more positively. In contrast, maptable groups performed better on ideational quality and evaluated their experiences in terms of collaboration, more positively. Groups under indicator flexibility performed best in idea generation, while groups under no flexibility received the highest score for ideational quality. Process quality scores were highest under no flexibility followed by indicator only flexibility. Findings suggest tablet use may be more effective for idea generation, an outcome of divergence, while maptables better support group communication, a key aspect of convergence. The study confirms the need for tools and methods that fit both individual and group work. Findings also indicate that identifying structured ways of applying adaptive PSS to the complex world of planning practice may be key to contextualizing such tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rwanda has developed a National Urbanization Policy (NUP) that identifies six secondary citieswhere efforts to promote urbanization and economic growth should focus. To implement it, a Spatial Development Framework (SDF) was developed, that makes use of Planning Support Systems (PSS) to communicate the goals to the local level. PSS present opportunities for stakeholders to understand and translate national policies to their local planning contexts. This paper questions how the SDF's PSS tools can be used in the NUP's transfer and translation to the local level. It focuses on potential users of the SDF. Results suggest that SDF's PSS tools and outcomes can promote better spatial understanding, and communicate planning needs, strengthening regional competition andeconomic development among the secondary cities and in line with NUP. We conclude that the national government can use vertical transfer and horizontal translation to transfer the SDF'S PSS tools and outcomes to secondary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A 30 × 30 m coupled model of economics, land-use, and ecosystem services is constructed. • A dynamic and spatially explicit ecosystem service index is developed. • Reference scenario is compared to an ecosystem preservation district scenario. • Ecosystem district policy is a critical tool for mitigating ecosystem impacts. • Strategies for policy scenario analysis and stakeholder engagement is proposed. Abstract A comprehensive understanding and modeling of socio-ecological systems can better assess how human-induced urban growth affects ecosystem service. This paper demonstrates a comprehensive socio-ecological system modeling approach to identify ecosystem service impacts that result from human activities within large, complex urban systems. It adds to the existing ecosystem impact assessment approaches by integrating spatiotemporal and socio-ecological process model with dynamic interaction and feedback between models and policies. The approach couples regional economics, urban land-use, and ecosystem interactions in a fine scaled (30 × 30 m) modeling framework with multiple time steps and feedback. The coupled model fuses a regional econometric input-output model with a dynamic land-use allocation model that spatially allocates the residential and commercial lands that are needed to satisfy the identified economic changes on an annual basis. A dynamic and spatially explicit index is constructed to measure the potential impacts of the economic/land use interactions on available ecosystem services. A scenario analysis is performed to test various ecologically oriented policy outcomes against noted ecosystem service impacts. The Chicago metropolitan region constitutes the study area with forecasts to 2040. Analysis results prove that models without inclusion of feedback dynamics and uncertainties could significantly under-estimate resulting ecosystem service impacts without. The scenario simulation shows a significant land-use developmental pattern restructure occurs when preservative policies are reinforced and significant ecosystem service loss reduction can also be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of planning support systems has become closely aligned with the dominant theoretical paradigms - primarily collaborative planning and communicative rationality - within the field of urban planning. However, scholars from Human-Computer Interaction have built a theoretical tradition drawing on Activity Theory, among others, to describe computer supported collaborative learning. Collaboration, from this perspective, represents a form of distributed learning situated within a social interaction. Individuals work with each other and technology to converge on shared conceptual understandings of the problem space and to develop a shared praxis for collaboratively addressing those problems. Instead of the tools talking, technology plays a critical role in helping stakeholders develop a common ground for planning and supporting an activity-aware praxis. I use empirical examples from a planning process on Cape Cod, Massachusetts to illustrate these features of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) for a planning audience. I focus, in particular, on how planning support systems mediate group judgments about space and scale to account for spatial scale mismatches between the Cape's watersheds and towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of smart cities and digitalisation, there has been a noticeable increase in the development and application of planning support systems (PSS). However, a significant challenge in the broader adoption of these PSS can be attributed to the user experience, which includes the efforts required in pre-processing data. It has been observed that typically 80% of the PSS usage time goes into pre-processing, cleaning, and loading data—a significant barrier for new users. This research focuses on improving user experience by developing and evaluating a new workflow tool called EasyUAZ. This workflow tool directly supports the iterative data preparation needs of scenario planning with the Online WhatIf?—a widely used PSS to develop land-use suitability, demand and land-allocation scenarios. A comparative evaluation has been conducted to quantify the time taken for data preparation with ArcGIS, QGIS, and the EasyUAZ. The study found that EasyUAZ offers a time saving of 30%–35% when compared with other options.

Abstract The multiple benefits of adopting distributed, green stormwater technologies in the local environment are increasingly recognised, particularly in relation to water quality, flood mitigation, amenity and aesthetics. To advance the integration of these systems into everyday decision-making practices, Planning Support Systems (PSS) are considered vital. Despite several PSS available to support planners and key decision-makers, their uptake remains constrained; a phenomenon known as the 'implementation gap'. While scholars have hypothesised why the adoption of PSS is limited, there remains little empirical investigation regarding the reasons why. This paper tests the hypotheses underlying the implementation gap in relation to water sensitive urban design (WSUD) planning. Drawing on the tacit experience of 24 key urban water planning professionals in the front-runner city of Melbourne, Australia, in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken to unpack the contemporary planning processes used and reveal characteristics leading to success and failure of PSS application. Data analysis revealed WSUD planning professionals regard the adoption of PSS as a significant step towards improving contemporary decision-making practices, which are regarded as opportunistic rather than strategic. PSS use was widespread, though the type, intensity and sophistication of use varied among interview participants. Confirming the hypotheses from planning literature, practitioners suggested PSS need to be user-friendly and align closely to planning practice. Additionally, however, it was found that it is crucial for PSS to meet industry conventions. Suggested improvements to current PSS included incorporating socio-economic factors alongside biophysical and planning factors, hence the role for GIS-based suitability analysis tools. Overall, this study provides current and future PSS-developers with critical insights regarding the type, function and characteristics of an 'ideal' PSS aimed at enhancing the usefulness and uptake of PSS, and thus improve planning that supports expediting green infrastructure implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of smart cities, planning support systems (PSS) offer the potential to harness the power of urban big data and support land-use and transport planning. PSS encapsulate data-driven modelling approaches for envisioning alternative future cities scenarios. They are widely available but have limited adoption in the planning profession (Russo, Lanzilotti, Costabile, & Pettit, 2017). Research has identified issues preventing their mainstream adoption to be, among others, the gap between PSS supply and demand (Geertman, 2016), their difficulty of use, a need for greater understanding of PSS capabilities and a lack of awareness of their applications (Russo et al., 2017; Vonk, Geertman, & Schot, 2005). To address this, a review of five PSS is conducted in the context of four vignettes applied in Australia and applicable internationally. A critical review has been undertaken, demonstrating how these PSS provide an evidence basis to understand, model and manage growing cities. The results suggest that PSS can assist in undertaking key tasks associated with the planning process. In addition to supporting planning and decision making, PSS can potentially enable better co-ordination between city, state and federal planning and infrastructure agencies, thus promoting a multi-scaled approach that improves local and national data sharing, modelling, reporting and scenario planning. The research demonstrates that PSS can assist in navigating the complexities of rapid multi-faceted urban growth to achieve better-informed planning outcomes. The paper concludes by outlining ways PSS address limitations of the past and can begin to address anticipated future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]