Strategic and practical implications in decision making and planning for sustainability

This paper describes how the competence of decision makers and those involved in the decision making process might profit by using supportive decision making tools for sustainability in practice. Based on the analysis of several case studies and a collection of tools, suggestions for different approaches in decision making have been analysed to describe both advantages and obstacles in planning and decision making. Following a holistic view on the subject of decision making, the EU financed project Practical Evaluation Tools for Urban Sustainability (PETUS) aimed to describe important necessities - the interaction between stakeholders, requirements for trying to understand each others situation, being prepared for new arrangements, being ready to collect and deal with new information and the usefulness of support through instruments. The development of the Decision Support System that includes a matrix and a checklist is presented.