From the program just described came several recommendations that led to the development of a further program targeted at managing the urban environment in Chennai. One recommendation of participants in the Cooum River research had to do with a consistent theme that arose throughout that work: slums and slum dwellers. Slum dwellers were considered to be important stakeholders in the Cooum River problem (as actors within the system who both contributed to, and were impacted by, the problem) but it was not possible to involve them in the program of research. Participants recommended that future research attempt to do so. Furthermore, participants in the Cooum River program believed that many of the themes relevant to management of the Cooum River were also pertinent to other aspects of human-environment interactions throughout the city. They recommended that a research program be designed to broaden the focus of work to the city as a whole.