Multi-criteria decision support systems (MCA-DSS) have been gaining
enormous importance for land use planning and policy making. The number of
MCA-DSS is large and their purposes, actors to be involved and spatial context for
application are highly diverse. In Germany, the national research programme
“REFINA” (Research for the Reduction of Land Consumption and for Sustainable
Land Management) funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF) produced a number of different DSS for different actors and purposes. But
also at the cross-national level, large research initiatives such as European Union’s
Sixth Framework programme for research, priority »Global change and ecosystems
« supported the development of land use related DSS. In our paper, we present
two MCA-DSS from both research initiatives and compare them in terms of i)
spatial setting and stage of planning, ii) actors, iii) indicators, iv) type of programming,
v) type of modelling and vi) effectiveness. Additionally, we introduce a quality
check of both tools against the five “guidelines for involving users in development”
formulated by McIntosh et al. [2009:41ff.] in order to assess their “usefulness and
usability” [McIntosh et al. 2009: 34] within spatial planning. The first tool was developed
at the University of Bonn within the project FIN.30 (“Intelligent land use”,
2006-2009) focussing on reduced land consumption within settlement development
of cities. This multi-criteria assessment tool evaluates greenfield and infill sites
concerning their sustainability and resource efficiency. The MCA development
(multi-criteria assessment) and its incorporation into a Decision Support System
(DSS) were accomplished by utilising a stakeholder-driven approach. The resulting
tool can be applied in preparing and revising land-use plans. The second tool, the
integrated Impact Analysis Tool (iIAT), was developed within the project PLUREL
[2007-2010; www.plurel.net]. The iIAT is an internet-accessible land use impact
assessment tool that displays statistical and modelling results in form of spidergrams.
They allow for a visualisation of changes in sustainability indicators, as
positive or negative trends according to different scenarios. The iIAT so far represents
a novel interface between science and policy-making contributing to further
knowledge on impacts of future urbanisation in Europe.