Urban sanitation technology decision-making in developing countries: a critical analysis of process guides
Journal article, 2016

Planning for urban sanitation in developing contexts is one of the major development challenges of this century. Particularly, the relevance of a broad perspective in sanitation decision-making processes has been increasingly discussed. One possible contribution to achieve comprehensive decisions is through the use of planning guidelines, also called process guides. The present work first identified categories of relevant decision elements, namely: (a) the multi-sectoral approach, (b) the multiplicity of sustainable dimensions, (c) the system analysis perspective and (d) the co-existence of planning scales. Then, for each category, a comparative analysis of urban sanitation process guides was conducted with a focus on technology decision-making. It was found that the importance of considering those categories is increasingly reflected in process guides, although not always in a detailed supportive way. Recommendations are provided to increase the added value of process guides regarding technology selection, as well as, to better integrate them into urban planning.

planning

Decision-making

sanitation

process guides

developing countries

Author

A. Ramôa

Instituto Superior Tecnico

C. Lüthi

Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Jennifer R Mc Conville

Chalmers, Architecture

J. Matos

Instituto Superior Tecnico

International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development

1946-3138 (ISSN) 1946-3146 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 2 191-209

Subject Categories

Civil Engineering

DOI

10.1080/19463138.2016.1186674

More information

Latest update

1/28/2020