Abstract:

A NEW ERA, NEW TOOLS.
Within the framework of town-planning, the brand-new standardisation and normalisation of geographical information is making the development of a series of interactive, flexible tools possible, guaranteeing a real interoperability amongst different systems and agents through the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI), data specifications, data sets and the advance towards the aforesaid information’s use in a collective network. This new field of opportunities to process information must necessarily lead to innovation within the teaching of town-planning, so that there is place for the learning of the new modes.
The development, among others, of systematisation projects of cartographical production (topography, plans, digital models, land registers...), town and land-use-planning, as well as the coordinated management of natural areas, make their most of the creation of more complex and multifunctional spatial databases (environmental, sectoral and those related to town and/or land-use planning). Nonetheless, its use and optimisation in nowadays’ technical teaching at universities is fairly unusual.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURES WITHIN THE TEACHING OF TOWN-PLANNING.
In the future, the knowledge of these new tools will guarantee opportunities aiming at better integrating information from a local to a European level, at comparing data beyond physical borders and at giving continuity to important information. The teaching of town-planning cannot be alien to the students’ training as regards the instrumental bases of their future career, assuming that linking the different agents is one of the main objectives.

THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS TO APPROACH THE NEW MODES
We intend to offer:
- An overview (from the General State Administration to the Local Administration).
- A comparative view (cases abroad, in Spain and in different Spanish regions).
- A practical view (actual projects in progress).
The teaching method must take into account the theoretical-practical approach to an overview of the National Cartographical System as a reference and its interactions with the Autonomous Communities and the City Councils (Decree 1545/2007) through the Regional Cartographical Plans and its normalisation (stages, scope, etc...), for instance. It can also be carried out through spotlights using the analysis and discussion of practical cases through the presentation of projects such as the local sustainable indicators (conclusions from the Network of Sustainability Observatories of Spain), the management of buildings (especially through the Land Registers) and its potential use in the Technical Building Inspections (LOE, in its Spanish acronym) and the Local SDI. Lastly, the student is provided with a more practical view through an approach to actual projects in progress and to finish off with a stage consisting of more proposals.

Keywords:

Town-planning, New tools, Systematisation projects, Spatial Data Infrastructures.