Complex Urban Areas and their Sustainable Development Development of a model-based decision support tool and its application to Brussels

We propose a Spatial Decision Support System (DSS) designed for planners and policy makers which will help them develop effective policy interventions for more liveable and sustainable cities. The DSS will be based on novel high resolution urban simulation models augmented with tools capable of measuring and distinguishing sustainability levels as well as tools that support the decision maker in progressing through the typical steps of the decision process. A multidisciplinary team, consisting of professional end-users, urban consultants, modellers and computer scientists, will develop, in an iterative process, the proposed methodology and supporting planning instruments in the course of an application to the city of Brussels.