An Urban Monitor as support for a participative management of developing cities

Urban management is a complex process, which requires a sizeable information base and a large coordination between the actors who are managing the city. In developing countries, this management is made even more difficult by a lack of financial means and technical skills. For this reason among others, the classical instruments for planning are inefficient. Starting from this fact, this paper proposes a participative planning and management tool, developed through a concrete case study: the city of Thies, in Senegal. Participation, individual capacities and coordination have been identified as key factors for improving the efficiency of the system of actors in charge of the urban management. Therefore, the proposed method focuses on information, communication and training. In parallel, an Urban Monitor (participative system of geographical information and indicators) has been developed and implemented, for an improvement of the information and communication structuring. This original approach allows combining the concepts of Research Action Training with participative methods and the new information and communication technologies. Based on a dynamic and geographical view of the urban planning, it integrates tools adapted to the contextual specificities. Through these original aspects, it opens great perspectives in the fields of participative urban management and the implementation of good governance. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.