European spatial planning observatories and maps: merely spatial databases or also effective tools for planning?

Over the past decades, a large number of Spatial Planning Observatories (SPOs) have emerged in Europe in response to certain factors, such as the growing complexity of urban systems, the development of GIScience or European Union territorial policies. Previous studies have shown that SPOs have little effect when confronted with planning practice. It is believed that one of the main reasons is that the maps held by SPOs are not always focused on decision making; however, this argument has not yet been sufficiently proven. To address this problem and inspired by the doctrine of performance-based evaluation for spatial planning, we assess the performance for planning that a relevant number of European SPOs have according to their maps. The assessment takes into consideration two assumptions: (A) maps must be of continuing relevance to the situation as it evolves; (B) maps must help in defining operational decision situations for different focus groups (decision makers, planners, the public). We find that SPO maps could be excellent tools for planning, although an important number of improvements are still needed. In this sense, we discuss the potential role of SPO maps in addressing a collaborative dialogue between key planning agents in analysing urban dynamics, as well as in fostering new urban governance processes through the consideration of public participation.