Geoprocessing on urban planning and urban management

During the last years, geoprocessing techniques have increasingly being used on urban planning and urban management. This is, in part, related with the evolution of the informatics, as well as the increase availability of spatially referenced data of the population and of the physical environment. Private and governmental companies have created departments to register, to map, and to monitor urban projects, plans, and programmes. Many undergraduate and post-graduate courses on urban planning and urban management have already included disciplines of Cartography, Geodesy, Topography, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

In this context, the paper Geoprocessamento no planejamento e na gestão de cidades, published on the annals of the I Congresso Nacional de Desenvolvimento Regional (CONDER), aims to do a brief discussion about the need and importance of geoprocessing techniques on urban planning and urban management. Firstly, it describes basic notions of urban planning and urban management, as well as its challeges due to the complexity and dynamics of the contemporary cities. Secondly, it is presented some concepts and objectives of geoprocessing and GIS. Finally, it is shown some applications of geoprocessing techniques on urban planning and urban management.