Nuno Pinto (UoM): “Better decision support for better urban governance: How decision-support knowledge and methods help different stakeholders, examples from Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador”

Recording of a talk delivered on 18 October 2023 by Dr Nuno Pinto, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Urban Design at the School of Environment, Education and Development of the University of Manchester, for the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies research seminar series 2023-24.

Abstract: Participation is a key factor for successful engagement of the public in different governance processes in urban planning, for example at community level or in infrastructure planning. While some planning/policy contexts include more sophisticated and matured mechanisms for participation, as in the English and other Global North planning systems, others are still lacking proper integration of the public opinion as a governance tool. This presentation shows the results of an ongoing research agenda that is investigating the extension to which different community and institutional stakeholders incorporate knowledge in decision-support methods/tools in their activities to improve their outcomes and to learn, from these groups’ practices, what could be improved in established decision-support methods. Case studies in São Paulo and Brasília (Brazil), Guadalajara (Mexico) and Guayaquil (Ecuador) will be used to guide the discussion.