Systemic and Cognitive Processes for Indicator System Modeling. Application to Urban Diagnosis

摘要

This paper enlightens the importance of elaborating indicator systems so as to sustain processes of urban diagnosis. They are usually limited to the observation of the territory with indicators that are juxtaposed and gathered in the form of catalogues, without a strong structure nor interrelations. Every stakeholder living and acting on urban area has intuitively a perception of these dynamics and thus relations between indicators. The systemic framework presented in this paper is mainly based on the concepts of cognitive process and qualitative modeling. During a discussion process structured in several stages, a questioned stakeholder progressively self-constructs the system of interrelated indicators. The perceptions expressed are then integrated into a global system of indicators that constitutes his representation of the urban functioning. The methodology has been applied to sixteen stakeholders in the context of urban changes in the city of Quebec. The analysis of their system enlightens elements of its functioning, such as strategic indicators, retroactions and contradictory aspirations that should be taken into account down the decision process.