Objective The Action aims to help the convergence of presently fragmented European research activities concerning the analysis and improvement of the general management process of urban projects. The ultimate aim is to specify a computer integration platform for shared information transfer among the numerous actors involved in the course of the development of an urban project. If this platform, when fully developed, were transferred to professional practice, it would help to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the urban project, allowing them to better communicate efficiently shared information. The integration platform will also help to improve the partnership approach, thanks to its function of mediating between participants. A certain number of "by-products" have already been identified and can be referred to as secondary objectives :* to develop tools and methods for the presentation of geographical, urban and architectural knowledge;* to improve methods for collection and transfer of data in environmental databases and information systems such as GIS (Geographic Information System) and PIS (Project Information System);* to recognise objective information and validate technical solutions as the bases for specifications (goals, requirements and constraints) to be defined for designers, by clients, local authorities and builders.Current statusThe first meeting of the Management Committee was held in November 1994. At the time of writing 10 countries participate in the Action (the latest being Germany in July 1996) while a few other countries have expressed interest in joining the Action during the coming year.The initial phase included a general survey of the related knowledge and information already available in the sector. In December 1995, one session of the EuropIA '95 conference "A critical review of the applications of advanced technologies in architecture, civil and urban engineering" was devoted to the activities of COST C4. The papers presented in the session are included in the conference Proceedings.In the second phase, the activities mainly concerned the organisation of the international COST C4 workshop : "Information systems and processes for urban civil engineering applications", which was held in Rome (I) in November 1996. The workshop gave an overall picture of the complexity of information flows and systems dealing with urban problems and presented examples of good information management and applications developed for various problems in the urban project. The Proceedings of the workshop will be the first publication of COST C4.In the next phase the Action will use the results and experience gained in the first two years to expedite further research in the participating countries.In order to improve the co-operation with other COST Actions, specifically in the field of Urban Civil Engineering, the MC has decided to participate in ad hoc working groups with representatives from other Actions when appropriate. One such meeting with Action C2 representatives took place in Italy in 1995. Programme(s) IC-COST - European cooperation in the field of scientific and technical research (COST), 1971- Topic(s) 8 - Civil Engineering Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator Université de Liège EU contribution No data Address Avenue des Tilleuls 15 4000 Liège Belgium See on map Total cost No data
