Spatial decision support system for low-carbon sustainable cities development: An interactive storytelling dashboard for the city of Turin

The evaluation of city sustainability considering economic, social, and environmental subsystems is a fundamental field in urban planning. It directly affects the quality of urban economies toward efficiency and innovation with minimal resource consumption. This requires the use of appropriate SDSS (Spatial Decision Support Systems) which take into account inclusive approaches to engage local stakeholders. The study aims at developing an interactive dashboard to aid decision-makers in sustainable urban planning processes to co-create future transition strategies with the employment of spatialized outputs. The dashboard enables the evaluation of the sustainability performance of the city by the selection and assessment of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) as a part of the MOLOC European Interreg Project. The study proposes a multidisciplinary GIS-based framework for the spatial evaluation of KPIs which can support scenario development by providing targeted suggestions for local development planning. Outcomes represent a useful interactive SDSS tool within a storytelling dashboard which is combinable with multi-criteria decision models at the city scale. The spatial distribution of results evidences the strengths and weaknesses of the city and facilitates the implementation of low-carbon action plans, avoiding unnecessary investments. The methodology illustrated was applied to the city of Turin as the case study, however, it can be implemented in other European urban contexts intending to achieve sustainable spatial planning since the methodological framework modulates to the territorial specificities of a place, always including all aspects of sustainability to be assessed.