João Lourenço Marques is assistant professor at the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences of the University of Aveiro, lecturing courses in the areas of Urban and Regional Planning (quantitative methods and techniques to support decision making). He also received his PhD degree in Social Sciences from the University of Aveiro (European PhD). Currently he is an integrated member of the Research Unit in Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, coordinating the Research Group of Systems for Decision Support. He has been conducting and coordinating several research and projects in the fields of strategic spatial planning, decision support systems, spatial competitiveness analysis, demo-graphic dynamics and forecast, econometric and economic models for regional development.