The Office of Policy Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban Development provided a grant to the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) for a project titled "Global Urban Quality: An Analysis of Urban Indicators Using Geographic Information Science (GIS). The project supported five university efforts in the development of urban indicators at the sub-city level. Each university collaborated with academic institutions and government agencies in emerging nations to develop web-based training and analysis programs on the application of geographic information systems for urban indicator modeling.

The project complements the Urban Indicators Programme of the United Nation's Global Urban Observatory, by use of UCGIS member institutions to develop programs to train personnel in developing countries on the application of geographic information systems (GIS) technology. GIS is used to disaggregate country and city indicator data to sub-areas within cities to help evaluate the spatial dynamics of urban quality within larger metropolitan areas. The project developed implementing strategies of: 1) forming partnerships; 2) adopting enabling approaches; 3) activating participatory mechanisms; 4) building capacity; and 5) monitoring progress through networking and modern information technologies.

An important finding is that regular monitoring of indicators is needed to identify emerging urban issues. The international partners stress the importance of capacity building and continuous monitoring, and analysis. Although, inter-city comparisons are useful to assess comparative status and progress, intra-city monitoring and indicators are crucial to good practices for managing urban systems. The partnerships of UCGIS universities and their international collaborators emphasize the strengthening of local capacity, wherein issues are clarified and key stakeholders are involved to set priorities through an informed consultative process. Within the context of the mutual goals of HUD and UCGIS for the project, the unique perspective and approach of each university results in a broader set of findings than could be achieved by a single perspective and approach.

Now that the five university teams have experience with urban indicators at the sub-area level and with GIS-based instructional materials, it is time to compare experience and results to assess strengths and weaknesses of various measures and approaches. This will set the stage for exploring opportunities for increasing consistency in the development of the regular monitoring of GIS-based urban indicators.

The GIS and spatial analysis methods used in this project were applied in developing countries that are characterized by poor data and where local authorities have limited capacity to monitor urban growth and change. The emerging colonias settlements along the US-Mexican border mirror those of informal settlements on the urban fringe in developing countries in that they lack adequate infrastructure and other basic facilities or develop spontaneously without jurisdictional sanction and viable livelihood systems. Thus, the project may lead to additional applications for monitoring urban development.