Social structures for the enhancement of scientific information in urban policy-making and management

The inability of municipal governments to exploit available information resources is viewed as a significant contributor to urban crisis. Often information problems may be attributed to ‘information overload’, but one type information, scientific information, is less commonly available to urban administrators. The problems associated with acquiring and using scientific information are reviewed and possible remedies to those problems are discussed. A tentative model of scientific information use by urban administrators is advanced and suggestions are provided for redesigning organizations and reallocating resources so as to enhance the flow of scientific information in urban administration.