This special issue will focus on the challenges of territorialising public policies and on the role of (big) data, information and technologies in planning and regional development. The lack of the territorial dimension in the formulation and implementation of sectoral policies, currently, coexists with efforts to implement decentralized policies. In this context, the development and evaluation of public policies faces an increasing number of challenges, not only because of the multidimensional nature of the problems, but also because of the unpredictability of factors and the way in which they interact. This justifies the need to involve a diversity of actors and knowledge and the use of information to better inform and support decision-making. The ability to integrate and articulate technical and political criteria with motivational and preferential criteria of policy takers are necessary and required conditions to make collective decisions policy effective, efficient and sustainable. Additionally, new (big) data, continuously generated by information and communication technologies, justifies a major research effort to identify innovative and integrated methodologies for better using this type of input in the definition of regional and urban development policy, adapting them to specific territorial contexts.

Thus, this special issue emphasizes the interactions between three dimensions: i) data and information; ii) tools and models; iii) policies and instruments. More and better territorial information: in the context of the definition of regional development policies, discuss the big data and the existence of limitations in its use and availability and reflect on the use of small samples and adaptive models to support decision-making; ii) Better Methodologies (Innovative and Integrated): assess how information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to meet the needs and expectations of populations and foster regional development dynamics; iii) More effective regional development policies: identify the needs and challenges posed by policy makers, institutions and enterprises, as well as society in general, for the qualification of the territories and improvement of people's living conditions. The editors invite proposals for this Special Issue relating to any area of the three previous topics

Papers should be submitted to the regular review process of the journal until December 30th of 2019 at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rspp. With a regular review process it is expected that the papers will be publish on the 3rd Issue of 2020. For guidance from the editors abstracts can be send to Elisabete A. Silva <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> until December 15th of 2019.

The coordinators of the Special Issue

João Lourenço Marques This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elisabete Silva This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.