The mission of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management is to empower society with specialized knowledge and expertise on spatial and temporal interactions between people, land tenure, land use, urban systems and the underlying governance processes to support inclusive planning and decision-making
- Profile
- Mission
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management (PGM) is responsible for developing capacity of organisations that are involved in the field of Geo-Information Management for multi-level governance of urban regions, primarily for and in countries that are technologically and/or economically less developed (LDC's)
The PGM department contributes to ITC's mission by developing capacity for the provision of (geo-) information to solve problems related to the management of space and resources (in the urban region), in an institutional setting (governance). This is done through a mix of education, research, advisory services and information dissemination, within a worldwide network of academic and professional partners and in the framework of Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The department also contributes to the strategies of the main organisations of Official Development Assistance that either focus on development to be achieved (the what) or how development should be achieved (the how). The United Nations has defined Millennium Development Goals, (the what) for the year 2015 (United Nations, 2000), each goal having specific targets. The PGM department has selected specific "what's" and "how's". On the one end, the Millennium Development Goals are our context (poverty alleviation, environment protection and socio-economic development), on the other hand, capacity development of organisations that are involved in the field of geo-information management for multi-level governance of urban regions is our focus. Most of the department's activities contribute to the focus but only to parts of the context.
- Market
The department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management client's market is acting towards the achievement of higher civil society goals related to poverty alleviation, environment protection and socio-economic development in urban regions as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals, the World Bank Urban Development programme, the UN-Habitat Global Campaigns for Secure Tenure and on Urban Governance and the action lines of the Dutch policy for development cooperation on poverty alleviation and environment and on water as key for development.
The department's clients' market consists of:
- national, regional and local governmental and non-governmental and private organisations providing and/or using spatial information to support multi-level governance of the urban region.
Also, the department's activities focus primarily on less developed countries but also on countries in transition and emerging economies, making as much as possible use of regional synergy. - international Official Development Assistance (ODA) organisations like UN-Habitat, World Bank and other regional banks, Europaid, Dutch Directorate General for International Cooperation and other bi-lateral international cooperation agencies, etc.
- national, regional and local governmental and non-governmental and private organisations providing and/or using spatial information to support multi-level governance of the urban region.
- Capacity Development
The contribution of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management to capacity development is achieved through an integrated approach to research, education, project services and information dissemination; it focuses on Geo-Information Management for multi-level governance of urban regions.
Capacity development comprises three interrelated activities, closely related to the requirements of the department's client organisations:
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Three types of professionals are targeted:
- specialists in relevant thematic areas
- managers of business processes in organisations
- Senior managers involved in strategic decision making
ORGANISATION STRENGTHENING
Strengthening the management capacity of organisations in terms of planning and decision making, using information and communication technology (ICT), to improve organisation's performances
INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING
Enhancing the capacity of organisations in negotiating appropriate mandates, legal frameworks and modus operandi to effectively act towards the achievement of higher civil society goals related to poverty alleviation, environment protection and socio-economic development in urbanising regions
The department is not only committed to contributing to capacity development but also to measuring the impact of its interventions, making use of qualitative and quantitative capacity development indicators (e.g. using the "UNDP indicator framework").
- Role as Gateway
Contribution from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management focus on Geo-Information Management for multi-level governance of urban regions to the development of an international network of partners with ITC acting as a gateway facilitating the development and transfer of knowledge.
The network of partners comprises academic and professional institutes in the Netherlands, Europe, emerging economies and Less Developed Countries (LDC), working as a network of excellence/virtual enterprise providing complementary services in education, research and advisory services
The network closely relates with Official Development Assistance (ODA) organisations, to ensure relevance of its activities.
- Fields of Expertise
- Spatial Planning
To develop and apply concepts and methodologies incorporating geographic information and communication technologies to improve the capacity of organisations involved in urban and regional planning to develop appropriate and effective spatial policies, plans and management practices to address development issues.
Contemporary spatial planning practice is problem-driven and action-oriented and guided by concerns related to the environment, social equity, economic development and disaster mitigation and management within multi-stakeholder settings. These concerns therefore frame the development and application of GIT based methodologies that are appropriate to the specific geographic setting. Our expertise is applied at various scales, ranging from community planning to the planning and management of extended urban regions where the interactions and linkages between urban and rural areas are key issues.
- Urban Infrastructure
To develop and apply concepts and methodologies incorporating geographic information, remote sensing and communication technologies to model, describe and understand urban infrastructure systems to support the capacity of organisations in developing effective responses to the changing demands for good quality urban infrastructural services from all groups within society.
The Urban Infrastructure knowledge field refers to the provision, operation and maintenance of physical infrastructure, social services and transport. The knowledge field is based on a number of recognised academic and practical focus areas within civil engineering and geography that are relevant in both the developed and the developing world. Contemporary notions of infrastructure development form the context in which the knowledge field operates: infrastructure needs to be planned and developed with multi-stakeholder involvement guided by policies of social equity, access to all, cost recovery, affordability and appropriate technology. These concerns are present in the research theme Planning support for infrastructure development that will guide the short and medium term research activities.
- Land Administration
To contribute to education, research and advisory services activities of ITC where it concerns the field of land administration, which is defined as the ‘process of determining, recording and disseminating information about tenure, value and use of land, when implementing land management’ (UN, 1996).
As land administration is not an end in itself, but serves society, the knowledge field develops understanding of the way land administration systems should support:
- the development of a land policy in a multi level government environment
- the implementation of such land policy trough measures regarding land tenure, land markets, land taxation, land use planning, land reform and the management of natural resources
- the principles of good governance and the rule of law as a context
- adequate institutional conditions of legal framework and mandates in the public administration which the land administration system needs in order to serve these functions
- organisational conditions of business goals and IT policy at strategic level, and work processes and supportive IT architecture at operational level to make land administration systems work, and development of geo-information systems for land administration.
- Geo-Information Management
To develop concepts and methodologies for structuring (architectural and socio-technical issues), monitoring (performance, quality and implementation measurement issues) and financing geo-information assets, in the context of multi-level governance of urban regions.
The knowledge field draws upon concepts and methodologies from the reference fields of information science, management science and social studies of technology.
Key fields of interest are:
- Related to structure
Architectures for the design and management of multi-dimensional SDI in the government hierarchy (central, regional, local levels) for the delivery of complex services, aggregated from different stakeholders - Related to monitoring
Architectures to manage performance and quality of geo-services
Capacity Development Indicator Frameworks (CDIF) for monitoring Information Infrastructure development
Monitoring the dynamics of SDI implementation with socio-technical approaches - Related to financing
Costing and funding models for geospatial data updating and provision
The national budget as an instrument for inter-agency SDI coordination
- Related to structure
- Planning and Decision Making Methods
To develop concepts and methods to support planning and decision making for resource allocation in complex environments characterised by multi-system and multi-stakeholders. It supports problem structuring, preparatory planning and decision-making prior to the actual employment of resources. From this angle the knowledge field is engaged in the development of concepts, methods, models and techniques that enhance the use and application of geo-information.
Planning and Decision Making Methods is anchored in Operations Research Science and Planning Theory, with a particular emphasis on the spatial characteristics of collaborative and participatory modelling to support development and assessment of resource allocation scenarios to support resource allocation decisions. Planning and Decision Making Methods thus concerns with two related yet separated fields of theory and practice, as follows:
- Spatial Planning Support Systems (SPSS), focusing on modelling demand and supply of resources, suitability assessment, generation and evaluation of plans and policy scenarios through qualitative, quantitative, dynamic and static spatial simulation models.
- Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), focusing on spatial multi-criteria decision analysis, group decision making, adaptive collaborative management approaches, trade-off analysis, development of intelligence and interactive SDSS through knowledge based DSS, visual interactive modelling and visualisation of results, and impacts.
- Our People
For the complete (and up-to-date) list of WRS Staff, Guest / Visiting Scientists, PhD / Promovendus visit the ITC Who-is-who
For information about former WRS Staff, Guest / Visiting Scientists, PhD / Promovendus, contact the Department Secretary.
P.D. Weber (Petra) Management Assistant / Office Assistant - Contact
For more information on the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management, please contact: p.d.weber@utwente.nl
Lorraine Oliveira discusses her efforts to develop machine learning techniques to better classify deprived areas to better support decision making. This is also a comemmorative video as Mrs. Lorraine was awarded the prize for writing the best thesis at the ITC Faculty in 2021.
Dr. Mila Koeva explains how to reach sustainability goals faster we can speed up the mapping of land rights with open source software, machine learning, and drone images.
Professor Jaap Zevenbergen talks about the use and rights for land and how Earth Observation techniques play a role in that.
Dr. Mila Koeva explains what are Digital Twins and how they can solve problems in a wide range of applications.
GeoHero guest Dr. Michael McCall, former ITC professor, currently Senior Investigator in the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, explains Participatory Mapping and gives us some insight on his incredibly broad experience with this technique all over the world.
Dr. Caroline Gevaert explain when it's a good idea to use drones in Earth Observation
From 27 May till 1 June the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), to which ITC is an academic member, holds his annual Working Week, this time in Orlando, Florida. From 28-31 May there are many presentations, mainly in up to 10 parallel sessions, on diverse topics linked to land professionals. This year’s topic is 'Protecting Our World, Conquering New Frontiers’, focussing on the key role land professionals should take in implementing the climate actions. The first and last day is the General Assembly, which among others, approves the workplans of the commissions. Commission 2 on Professional Education is currently chaired by Dimo. Many PGM or ITC alumni are present, with whom we catch up as well as making new contacts.
From 9 September to 11 November, our PhD candidate Sergio Alvarado Vazquez is conducting a Public Space Quality Evaluation (PSQE) in Mexico. His research aims to collect data regarding the perception and use of Public Spaces at a Neighbourhood scale in Mexico City and Puebla. This research intends to understand how local residents perceive the quality of their public spaces. The digital web platform AMACHAN (http:amachan.io) has been used for the data collection. The research aims to understand if the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can enhance the discussion in participatory processes within local communities to improve the quality of public spaces. Sergio collaborates with several local actors, including local NGOs such as Barriopolis, Neighbourhood organizations and the Benemerita Autonomus University of Puebla. More info about the research in www.itc.nl/eep
From 1 to 12 August, PGM’er Jaap Zevenbergen will be visiting the National Land Agency’s (BPN) main office in Jakarta, Indonesia. The visit is part of the current assignment as ‘land tenure international’ expert for the Program to Accelerate Agrarian Reform (PPRA), a component of the World Bank supported ‘One Map Program’. Jaap will work with staff from several units of BPN, study (draft) laws and regulations, visit several locals offices and share international experiences, specifically linked to RRR, 3D property and e-conveyancing within the broader land administration context. The work will continue also once back in Enschede, but a second visit later in the year is foreseen.
Petersberg Climate Dialogues: Climate Cooperation ahead of the UN Climate Conferences
On behalf of the Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Arab Republic of Egypt, Diana was invited to participate as a speaker in the 2022 edition of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, taking place from 17 to 19 July 2022 in Berlin, Germany. Diana gave a five minutes keynote speech as part of Session 3 “Deep Dive: Adaptation + Loss and Damage” on 18 July, on the IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report.
From 1 August until 31 October, PGM’er Robbin Jan van Duijne will be working as a research attaché at the Dutch Embassy in New Delhi, India. The aim of the placement is to conduct research on the country’s agrarian crisis, as thousands of vulnerable rural communities in the countryside are heavily affected by climate change impacts. He will be working with the Dutch Ambassador in India on these issues, setting up direct lines of communication with top-level policymakers and diplomats. The fellowship is used as a stepping stone to prepare for a workshop at the G20 summit in 2023, hosted by India.
This was the 2nd presential meeting for the project LOCALISED. The main aim of the meeting was to update and work with other partners and WP, as well as creating working bridges between related WP and work in specific relevant topics for the project.
Study Visit: knowledge exchange on the topic of Geo-information Management for Land Administration in Spain and Latina America countries as possible PhD research topics and explore new education and research possibilities.