Facilitating Urban Planning and Management at Local Level Through the Development of SDI (Case Study of Lahore - Pakistan)

Role of urban planning and management at local level is becoming more and more crucial due to the dramatic increase in urban population and allied urban problems. However, absence of appropriate information and its limited sharing is one of the important factor affecting planners and decision makers’ ability to deal with urban problems. Effective quality of life can not be achieved without appropriate spatial information. Realising importance of spatial information, developed countries have started to develop Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for efficient information sharing. Developing countries like Pakistan & Iran should learn from their experience and develop SDI according to their own institutional, political and culture background. It is expected that improved information sharing and application through Local SDI can help experts in achieving better urban life through improved urban planning & management. This paper aims to explore the role of SDI in better urban planning and management through effective & efficient information integration and sharing.