A Planner’s Encounter with Complexity

Bringing together a team of leading spatiial theorists, this book argues that a view of environments which are confronted with discontinuous, non-linear evolving processes is more realistic than the notion that an environment is simply a planner's creation, and that recognising the 'complexity' of our environment offers an entirely new perspective on our world, our environment, planning theory and practice, and on the role of planners. At a time when the importance of complexity in planning is finally being recognised, this book clarifies many of the concepts and theories, presenting the best practice on planning and complexity and proposing new ideas and methods for planning.

Contents: Preface; Planning and complexity: an introduction, Gert de Roo; Being or becoming? That is the question! Confronting complexity with contemporary planning theory, Gert de Roo; Dealing with society's 'big messes', Jens-Peter Grunau and Walter L. Schönwandt; Complexity in spatial planning practice and theory: the case of Kiruna mining town, Kristina L. Nilsson; Complex systems, evolutionary planning?, Luca Bertolini; Complexity in city systems: understanding evolution and design, Michael Batty; Emergence, spatial order, transaction costs and planning, Chris Webster; Spatial planning processes: applying a dynamic complex systems perspective, Menno Huys and Marcel van Gils; The awakening of complexity in conceptualisations of space in planning, Janneke E. Hagens; Process and transient scenarios in collaborative planning: managing the time dimension, Adele Celino and Grazia Concilio; Complexity and cellular automaton: exploring its practical application, Elisabete A. Silva; Complexity and travel behaviour: modelling influence of social interactions on travellers' behaviour using a multi-agent simulation, Yos Sunitiyoso, Erel Avineri and Kiron Chatterjee; Complexity theory and transport planning: fractal traffic networks, Erel Avineri; Going beyond the metaphor of the machine: complexity and participatory ecological design, Joanne Tippett; Rethinking brownfields: discourses, networks and space-time, Nikos Karadimitriou, Joe Doak and Elisabete Cidre; Urban governance and social complexity, Joris van Wezemael; Waves of complexity: theory, models, and practice, Elisabete A. Silva; Index.