A Research Proposal on the Parametric City Governance

The issue of spatial management and governance is currently one of major challenges of modern urban planning. Discourse on new ways of urban management gains new meaning and is in fact a discussion about the contemporary urban planners’ skills and tools. The paper presents a concept and an initial phase of the research whose main objective is to develop methods that could aid local-level spatial planning and support rational choices. The research presented in the paper examines whether, and to what extent, methods derived from econometrics, operational research, and mathematics could be incorporated into spatial decision-making process. The potential of parametric governance is investigated in order to improve the effectiveness of decision-making in the area of city governance. The reflections presented in this study are, among others, focused on building a system that reflects the internal relations between decisions and projects in urban governance, which are a specific expression of the process of city management. Methods and techniques that would be used to assist the decision-making process in spatial planning should make the process more transparent, objective, and rational as the need to build a new and comprehensive system of urban management is (and will be) a particularly significant challenge in the coming years. The paper discusses the initial outcomes of the presented research and indicates challenges that will be addressed in the further work.