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Leaflet of the 2nd Annual AESOP Congress The Environment in Planning Education, 1988
(AESOP, 1988)
Association of European Schools Of Planning Universität Dortmund About AESOP The reasons for establishing AESOP are among others: 1. There is little comparative information about planning schools in Europe. As a rule one knows very little about curricula, aims, research, degrees, professional career prospects and the relation between educational provision and the structure of planning in each country 2. Given the small number of planning schools in most European countries (Britain is an exception), there is a need for a network of European allies to find international support and backing. The discipline which is still young and emerging needs the confidence which an international alliance can foster. 3. The increasing economic integration of Europe will also have an effect on the job market for planners. It will encourage planners to work outside their own country, and require a better knowledge of planning-related conditions and systems in other European countries. 4. Planning problems and environmental issues in all European countries have become much more internationalized. Euro- pean policies effect local and regional economic development and have an impact on the environment. Consequently planning schools have to introduce a more intemnational dimension into planning curricula. The AESOP network is one means to communicate ideas and approaches about how this may be done. 5. By creating a European network of those involved in planning education, opportunities are created which may lead to new comparative research within Europe, lead to the exchange of staff and students and to mutual visits of student groups 6. The policy of the European Commission of intensifying the exchange of students within its members countries will require mutual recognition of credits, of academic degrees and diplomas. AESOP could contribute to facilities such mutual re- cognition by better and comparative information. 7. In Europe, the development of planning knowledge, theory and method is hampered by language constraints. The AESOP network and its activities should encourage communication in other than our respective mother tongues, thus contributing to more cross-national communication and the consolidation of planning as a discipline.
Open Access
Book of Abstracts : Planning in Border Regions, Volos, Greece, 10-12 July 2002
(AESOP, 2002)
Open Access
Program of the ACSP - AESOP Third joint congress Leuven, Belgium July 8th - 12th 2003
(AESOP, 2003)
Open Access
Book of abstracts : The Dream of a greater Europe, Vienna, Austria, July 13-17, 2005
(AESOP, 2005) Voigt, Andreas; Kanonier, Arthur
This Book of Abstracts is intended to serve as a valuable guidance for the 2005 AESOP Congress, enabling the participants to organise their schedules for “The Dream of a GREATER Europe”. The book in hand can serve as a quick reference to the main aspects of the many different issues arising for the planning profession in Europe within the unification process. But in a deeper sense, it is also intended to represent a focal point, a key node in the network of communication among the many disciplines which have their part to play in the challenges of the enlargement process. Due to the variety of topics addressed as well as the large number of abstracts we received, the abstracts are structured by topic in the main tracks and by alphabetical order of the author’s surname within each topic. An alphabetical person index at the end of this book will assist you in finding articles. On the basis of the general theme “The Dream of a GREATER Europe” and 15 thematic tracks including detailed track statements, the conference received over 500 abstracts from 45 countries worldwide. The abstracts were blind-reviewed by an international jury consisting of 29 track chairs and additional anonymous readers who scored the papers and entered more than 700 reviews and comments, thus making an essential contribution to scientific quality assurance. The jury members were assigned in accordance with their fields of expertise and the papers’ keywords. The scores were used as the basis for selecting papers for the conference. Reviews and comments were delivered to the authors in order to improve the quality of the full papers. Authors could select between the following further procedures for submitting full papers: – Best AESOP Congress Paper Procedure: as part of a general effort to promote the submission and dissemination of high quality congress papers, AESOP in cooperation with the local organizing committee organized the first ”Best AESOP Congress Paper Competition” - full papers had to be sent in via the electronic submission interface; – AESOP Optional Standard Procedure: full papers had to be sent in via the electronic submission interface; – AESOP Standard Procedure: full paper is to be delivered at the conference. A total of 410 papers are now being presented; many of these contributions brought new knowledge and/or extended and improved on the previous status of information. While we have made every effort to achieve uniformity of style, the presented results and the final shape of the manuscript remain the sole responsibility of the presenting authors. Two Chairs were responsible for each Track (namely: Andreas Faludi, Karina Pallagst, Simin Davoudi, Walter Schönwandt, Stanley Stein, Marco van der Land, Jens S. Dangschat, Rachelle Alterman, Benjamin Davy, Marcel Bazin, Alex Fubini, Angela Hull, Luca Bertolini, Alan Reeve, Ivan Stanic, Klaus R. Kunzmann, Mervi Ilmonen, Jørgen Amdam, Garri Raagmaa, Alessandro Balducci, Louis Albrechts, Bohdan Tscherkes, Andreas Hofer, Bob Martens, Andrew Roberts, Gerlind Weber, Norio Okada, Wilfried Schönbäck), the task of each being to substantiate the thematic approach of the respective Track within his/her scope of discretion. We greatly appreciate the intensive cooperation and excellent support! We would also like to express our sincere thanks to the reviewing team for shepherding these abstracts to publication. The whole submission and reviewing procedure was supported by an electronic database. A simple version of the current AESOP2005 solution was made available in 2001 and went through a process of continuing improvements/adaptations. The solution was customized for the IAPS 2004 conference within the framework of the SciX project. The contributions to AESOP’05 Vienna (including full papers as far as available) are accessible via this system. The local organizing team would like to thank Tomo Cerovsek of the University of Ljubljana who developed and customized the system and Bob Martens of the Vienna University of Technology for their wonderful support.
Open Access
Program AESOP 2005 Annual Congress The Dream of a Greater Europe
(AESOP, 2005)
Since May 1, 2004, the European Union has ten new member states. While on first sight this date merely marked the enlargement of the territory of the European Union, it was a very special step - as some say - towards the "Europeanisation" of the European Union, which for the first time now includes countries which until 1989 belonged to the former "Eastern bloc" and which for the first time now embraces important parts of the Slavic-speaking world of Europe. The enlargement is a fascinating step in the slow process of this "peace project" of the unification of Europe, which not only creates cultural, economic, legal, social and democratic problems but under the "cohesion" principle of the European Union also poses a challenge to spatial planning in Europe. Vienna, traditionally a multicultural city, had been located on the "fringe of the western world" just 60 kilometres from the former "iron curtain" for more than 40 years, and all of a sudden found itself back at the centre of Europe. Vienna is a place where all the emotional, political and social consequences of the enlargement process of the European Union become acutely perceptible. The AESOP Congress will be dealing with the challenges this unification process poses for the planning profession in Europe. Is the European Union as the core of the European unification process becoming larger or greater? Is it a chance, a vision or a dream?
Open Access
Book of Abstracts : ACSP-AESOP 4th Joint Congress Chicago, Illinois, July 6-11, 2008
(AESOP, 2008)
The abstracts are first sorted by track, then by the last name of the presenting author. The final printed program distributed in Chicago and posted to the web following the Congress will also list the presenting author first. For roundtables, the moderators name is listed first. New abstract numbers have been assigned to the works and these numbers will also reference the abstracts in the final printed program. The author index follows this introduction. A keyword index is provided at the back of this publication. The Joint Congress Committee will publish a compact disk of conference abstracts. In addition, we are providing authors the opportunity to make their full papers available to Congress attendees included on the same disk. In considering whether to take advantage of this opportunity, you should be aware of a potential pitfall in providing the full paper via the conference compact disk. The issue is that some peer-reviewed journals (many in the U.S.) consider such reproduction to be prior publication and will not review for publication a paper disseminated in this way. It would be prudent to discuss this issue with the editor of a publication outlet you may be targeting prior to submitting your full conference paper for inclusion on the conference compact disk. If you are interested in having your paper available via the conference CD, please email your final PDF to ddodd@acsp.org no later than June 2, 2008. Final papers can not be edited by the Congress staff after we receive them. You may submit an edited completed paper in another PDF file. As indicated in the Call for Papers, the abstracts included in this book are UNEDITED and are included as they were submitted to the on-line abstract submission system. If you discover an error by Congress staff in the creation of this book, please let us know immediately by contacting ddodd@acsp.org, but there will be no editing of individual abstracts. Author additions, withdrawals and presentation title edits may be provided for the final printed program only. We will not incorporate substitution of one work for another by the same author, and only the peer-reviewed, accepted work can be presented at the Congress. As a reminder, the presentation schedule for the Joint Congress will be created in the second week of May, so it will be approximately the third week of May before email notifications are delivered with your presentation time. We cannot re-schedule presentations according to personal travel itineraries. If you must withdraw your presentation, please let us know as soon as possible by contacting ddodd@acsp.org.
Open Access
Program of the Fourth Joint Congress July 6 – 11, 2008 Chicago, Illinois Local host: University of Illinois at Chicago
(AESOP, 2008)
Open Access
Theorizing Planning for Climate Change: Critical Reading for New York City’s Recent
(AESOP, 2010) Jabareen, Yosef
Climate change and its resulting uncertainties challenge the concepts, procedures, and scope of conventional approaches to planning, thus creating a need to rethink and revise current planning methods and theories. The aim of this paper is twofold: to propose a new multifaceted conceptual framework for theorizing planning for climate change; and to apply this framework for critically analyzing the recent master plan for New York City: PlaNYC 2030. The proposed conceptual framework consists of eight concepts that were identified through a conceptual analysis of planning and interdisciplinary literature on sustainability and climate change. These concepts, which together constitute the theoretical framework of planning for climate change, are: Utopian Vision, Equity, Uncertainty, Natural Capital, Eco- Form, Integrative Approach, Ecological Energy, and Ecological Economics. Each concept is composed of several criteria of evaluation. Using the proposed conceptual framework to evaluate PlaNYC 2030 reveals important merits and shortcomings of the Plan. On the bright side, the Plan promotes greater compactness and density, enhanced mixed land use, sustainable transportation, greening, and renewal, and utilization of underused land. It also addresses future uncertainties related to climate change with institutional measures and recommends efficient ways of using the city‘s natural capital assets. Finally, the Plan creates mechanisms to promote its climate change goals and to create a cleaner environment for economic investment, offers an ambitious vision of reducing emissions by 30% and of a ―greener, greater New York,‖ and links this vision to the international agenda on climate change. On the down side, the assessment reveals that PlaNYC did not make a radical shift toward planning for climate change and adaptation and inadequately addresses social planning issues that are crucial to New York City. Like other cities, New York is ―socially differentiated‖ in terms of communities‘ capacity to address the uncertainties of climate change, and the Plan fails to address issues facing vulnerable communities. Moreover, the Plan calls for an integrative approach to meeting the challenges of climate change on the institutional level but fails to effectively integrate civil society, communities, and grassroots organizations into the process. Another critical shortcoming, particularly during the current age of climate change uncertainty, is the lack of a systematic procedure for public participation in the planning process throughout the city‘s neighborhoods and among different social groupings and stakeholders.
Open Access
Book of abstracts : Space is Luxury, 24th AESOP Annual Conference, Aalto University, FInland, July 7-10 2010
(AESOP, 2010) Ilmonen, Mervi; Ache, Peter
Dear Participants! Tervetuloa - Välkommen – Welcome to space is luxury — the 24th AESOP Annual Conference In 2010, the world is clearly one that can be called 'urban'. In relative terms, more than half of the world's population dwells in urban settings — about one billion under 'slum conditions'. Having quality space available equals commanding a 'luxury'! Planning and urban design are key factors in shaping and managing space and generate the wished for quality spaces. The concept of space and concomitantly that of spatial quality includes different meanings and dimensions. Space is physical, including architecture and urban form. Space is also socially constructed through various forms of human interventions. Space is contested and a reason for serious conflicts. Space is presented and space represents. For planning, the management of the competing uses for space requires complex interventions. The making of better places that are valued and have identity is an enduring ambition of planning. And, returning to the start of this brief reflection, the major challenge of spatial planning is to find solutions for a more sustainable urban millennium. Space is expensive and exhaustive, a luxury we cannot afford any longer, if it means excessive use of space in terms of energy inefficiency and traffic pollution. The Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at Aalto University welcomes more than six hundred planning scholars and professionals from all over the world to Finland to discuss the manifold issues of space is luxury and to explore the multitude of related planning issues. As a participant, with this Book of Abstracts you hold one of the many elements in your hands which were produced for this conference with the help or input of a number of people. First of all, we need to mention here the Track Co-Chairs who so effectively worked together and helped us create an event that is stimulating and challenging in its scientific content. Following on to the Track Invitation Texts, the Call for Papers was issued in October 2009. Abstract submission was possible during January 2010. Track Co-Chairs provided an assessment of the abstracts until mid March 2010. LOC checked the outcome and also proposed some re-arrangements to balance out tracks in terms of paper presentations. From April onwards, notifications of acceptance were sent out to authors and we started scheduling tracks and sessions. All of this profited from the invaluable support of our international teams of Track Co-Chairs (see list on following pages).The 24th AESOP Annual Conference generated a huge interest. More than six hundred abstracts were submitted out of which more than five hundred papers were accepted — which finally translated into slightly more than four hundred and fifty abstracts presented in this book. All in all a very laborious process, for which we would like to thank especially Mikko Johansson who was the web master of the conference (and who also became a first time father during the process. Congratulations!). AESOP 2010 was also used to implement new policies towards a higher scientific quality of AESOP conferences. LOC provided for that purpose more detailed prescriptions regarding abstract submission. LOC also followed in part the proposal to introduce different paper categories, anchor papers (having more floor for presentation but also requiring a full draft paper) or distributed papers. This policy received a mixed echo from many sides — a good indication of the interest that the AESOP community has in such issues. Thanks for sharing your many views on the pros and cons of such a policy. It is certain, that AESOP needs to continue its discussion about quality standards in conferences. Last, we would of course like to thank all authors and presenters for their interest in the 24th AESOP Annual Conference. Without your intellectual contributions, without the research work which you do at your home institutions, without your willingness to share, present and discuss this knowledge, such a conference would have not been possible. This book of abstracts has been organized along the sixteen main tracks of the conference. In each section, at the beginning the reader will find the Track Invitation Text that was provided by Track Co-Chairs for the Call for Papers. This will be followed by an alphabetical listing of the abstracts of all those authors, who met the registration deadline of May 31st 2010. At the end of the Book of Abstracts, again an alphabetical list of all authors is provided, which the reader can use to find authors across all tracks. Finally, we would like to thank Marina Johansson, who brought together this Book of Abstracts in a very efficient way. Thank You! Sydämelliset ja Iämpimät kiitoksemme! Mervi Ilmonen & Peter Ache Local Organising Committee
Open Access
Selected proceedings : Space is Luxury, 24th AESOP Annual Conference, Aalto University, FInland, July 7-10 2010
(AESOP, 2010) Ache, Peter; Ilmonen, Mervi
On the occasion of the 24th AESOP Annual Conference, the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at Aalto University welcomed more than six hundred planning scholars and professionals from all over the world to Finland. The purpose was to discuss the manifold issues related to „space is luxury‟ and to explore the multitude of related planning issues in more than four hundred paper presentations. The rational for choosing such a title has many dimensions. In 2010, the world is clearly one that can be called „urban‟. In relative terms, more than half of the world‟s population dwells in urban settings – about one billion under „slum conditions‟ (UN Habitat, 2006). Not only in such a deprived situation, having quality space available equals commanding a „luxury‟! Planning and urban design are key factors in shaping and managing space and generate the wished for quality spaces (UN Habitat, 2009). The concept of space and concomitantly that of spatial quality includes different meanings and dimensions. Space is physical, including architecture and urban form (Borden, Kerr, Rendell, & Pivaro, 2001). Space is also socially constructed through various forms of human interventions (Massey, 2005). Space is contested and a reason for serious conflicts (Harvey, 2000). Space is presented and space represents (Lefebvre, 1991). For planning, the management of the competing uses for space requires complex interventions (Ache, 2010). The making of better places that are valued and have identity is an enduring ambition of planning (Hall, 1996). And, returning to the start of this brief reflection, the major challenge of spatial planning is to find solutions for a more sustainable urban millennium (Ministers for Urban Development, 2007).
Open Access
How to Prevent Communicative Planners from Unwittingly Serving Neo-liberalism?
(AESOP, 2010) Sager, Tore
Communicative planning theory has recently been reproached for facilitating neo-liberal market practices to the disadvantage of broader social interests. The paper comments on this critique and clarifies what neo-liberalism demands from urban planning. Moreover, the paper surveys planning theorists‟ attempts to describe the connection between communicative planning theory and neo-liberalism. The critique of being at the service of neo-liberalism should be addressed in communicative planning theory by bringing procedural and substantive recommendations closer together. It must be made evident that what is required from the plan (the outcome) is grounded in substantive values that are closely associated with the values behind the process design. This is what the value approach sketched in the present paper is meant to do, and by insisting on consistency between the values of process and outcome it offers a way to address the charge that CPT facilitates the progress of neo-liberalist urban development.
Open Access
New spaces for the new economy : New patters for the location of advanced services in post-Fordism
(AESOP, 2010) Rocco, Roberto
Previous phases of capitalism produced specific spatial patterns of location and agglomeration of economic activity in different urban contexts around the world. This is particularly true for sophisticated service firms, which used to rely on specific and scarce technical and spatial advantages found almost exclusively in city centres. During the 20th century, the general, albeit uneven expansion and spread of urban technical networks allowed sophisticated services to locate more flexibly. In late capitalism, as Fordism gives way to Post-Fordism, the character of spatial agglomeration of economic activity is bound to change. Knowledgeintensive service industries have a different logic for agglomeration than industrial activities used to have. They still seem to need to agglomerate and cluster, but for different reasons and in completely different ways. This paper reviews current theories on the agglomeration and location of advanced services and investigates the hypothesis that the shift towards a knowledge-based economy and the emphasis on the production, trade and diffusion of knowledge by advanced producer services is triggering specific spatial-structural transformations in cities under globalization. In order to explore this hypothesis, this paper analyses empirical evidence on the location patterns of command activities in the form of advanced producer service firms and transnational firms headquarters in São Paulo, a thriving global city in a rapid growing economy. It analyses the impact of location choices in urban structural transformation; it also explores convergences and divergences in spatial development produced by place-specific conditions. Moreover, it illustrates how governments have acted to provide the spatial conditions for the location and agglomeration of command activities by carrying out large urban projects in partnership with the private sector.
Open Access
Macro-regions as concept for European spatial integration? – discussing co-operation strategies in the Baltic sea regions
(AESOP, 2010) Knieling, Joerg; Othengrafen, Frank
The Baltic Sea Region has a long tradition of integrated regional development. For decades economic, social, cultural and ecological concerns have been tackled in a way that serves well as basis for a sustainable future. Nevertheless, global economic competition has become a challenge for the area. Strengthening a region's global competitiveness requires stronger links as well as synchronised and coordinated action between neighbouring regions and countries (transnational arena). This links „globalisation‟ with the concept of „macro-regions‟ which recently has been introduced by the European Commission adopting the Baltic Sea Region as the first model. The macro-region approach is intended to allow both European Union and its Member States to identify common needs and to allocate available resources to strengthen economic and social development and to enable sustainable development. The paper discusses potentials and restrictions of the Baltic Sea Region as a European macro-region.
Open Access
Territorial cohesion post-2013: to whomsoever it may concern
(AESOP, 2010) Faludi, Andreas
Conceived as a motion for resolution, the paper considers territorial cohesion now being on the statute book, the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion, Barca making the case for integrated, place-based strategies, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and the future of Cohesion policy. The recommendations reaffirm that „geography matters‟, requiring integrated, place-based strategies, making territorial cohesion into an integral part of Cohesion policy. What is required is more intensive cooperation, with the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region a model. Territorial strategies must be a self-evident part of the architecture of Cohesion policy. For this there is a need for requisite provisions at all levels. None of this requires new competences, legislation or institutions. The aim is merely to improve on policy formulation and delivery through more focused attention for territory. For this the shared competence under the Lisbon Treaty and the existing institutional settings are sufficient. Note: This paper represents the author‟s unsolicited advice as a committed academic observer of policies articulating the territorial dimension of Cohesion policy. Addressed to policy makers and taking account of the constellation of forces in which they operate, the statement has two parts: A „Motion for Resolution‟, and an „Explanatory Statement‟. The author has benefited immeasurably from exchanges with Jean Peyrony. Indeed, over the past decade the author and Jean have jointly explored European planning and in particular French thinking on the matter. The interaction was so close that whole parts of this paper – in particular the Explanatory Statement – could easily come under our joint names
Open Access
Luxury is…. Space to write : Using tablet pc technology to enhance learning?
(AESOP, 2010) Peel, Deborah; Gunasekera, Sanwara
This project reports on the use of tablet PC technology in the classroom to enhance student learning. It is based on a literature review, action research and reflective practice through the use of peer review. Research suggests that a critical feature of understanding student interaction with in-class materials is whether lecturers/students construct the lecture experience as being based on transmission and receipt of messages or a complex activity that enhances learning through relatively more active and inter-active processes. The empirical study involved two lecturers working with different undergraduate cohorts in lecture contexts within the built environment (quantity surveying and planning). The paper locates the discussion in relation to the use of PowerPoint, presents the two case studies, describes the use of tablet pc technology to increase student engagement, comments on the benefits of peer review in providing constructive feedback, and reflects on the conference theme in terms of the luxury of having pedagogical research space.
Open Access
Conceptual Apprenticeship – Heuristic Simplification in Training Planning Students in Negotiation and Argumentatio
(AESOP, 2010) Törnqvist, Anders
Educational experiments 2003-2009 at the Swedish School of Planning, Blekinge Institute of Technology, have tested software and other tools in training students to acquire professional skills in negotiation and argumentation. Results indicate that conceptual models, simplified, yet reflecting professional practice, facilitate learning. They do so by organising student efforts to acquire complex skills, providing immediate feedback and help to interpret teachers‟ hints and corrections. Simple models stimulate student elaboration. Complex models may need simplification and modification of target skills. In both cases improvement of learning outcomes can be observed. Software helps in externalising professional methods, visualising outcomes, and diagnosing student errors. Software also presents operating difficulties and may lead to cognitive overload for some students. Contrary to common opinion in the field, results indicate that one should assume no clear relation between features of different software and learning outcomes. Educational contexts are unavoidably different, which makes comparisons difficult. Modifying conceptual models and target skills, improving learning outcomes, should be seen rather as examples of heuristic simplification and conceptual clarification, supporting conceptual apprenticeship. This can be developed and reliably tested in a specific educational context.
Open Access
Theorizing and evaluating Vienna’s concepts and performances of quality spaces
(AESOP, 2010) Hatz, Gerhard
Island urbanism, resulting in a fragmented patchwork of physically disconnected unfinished parts within the urban area (Novy et. al., 2001, Oswalt, 2006). “Instead of cities being determined by pre - planned structures, they are revealed as amorphous,…indeterminant sites,…they are temporary, emergent and transitory,...an endless world made up of tightly interconnected but heterogeneous spaces.” (Wigley, 2001, p.11). “We are in the epoch of simultaneity…in the epoch of juxtaposition,…of the near and far, of the side-byside, of the dispersed” (Foucault & Miskowiec 1986, p.22). Drawing on the meanings shaping urban discourses and utopias, the paper seeks to scrutinize the situationists’ conceptualization of “New Babylon” and its enhancements by Sloterdijk’s concept of “Foam Cities” with the intent to examine physical form, social relations and the ambient qualities of urban space as the relation among sites, simultaneously re-presenting different quality spaces.
Open Access
Repositioning the EU’s Northernmost Regions in a European Territorial Context
(AESOP, 2010) Eskelinen, Heikki; Fritsch, Matti
The growing perception of the European Union as an increasingly single and integrated territory requires specific regions to position themselves and highlight their specifities vis-à-vis the European space. This is amplified by an apparent re-orientation of EU regional policy towards a more spatial approach that takes the territorial diversity existing into account. The Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish northernmost regions have a long tradition in collective action within the framework of Nordic co-operation. Recently, they presented themselves as the so-called Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) and engaged in inter-regional co-operation in order to position themselves on the regional policy map of Europe. Within this setting this paper aims to investigate how actors (regional and national level, EU) attempt to position the northernmost regions within a European territorial context and to examine how European spatial policy concepts are recognized, rejected or adapted during this process. Keywords: EU regional policy, northernmost regions, territorial capital
Open Access
The luxury urbanity of new housing projects. Report of an Urban design and planning course in China
(AESOP, 2010) Frassoldati, F.; Wang, S.; Deng, Z.
'Housing' is an issue combining architecture, planning, and social matters like the role of the market and an equal access to urban resources. Housing is worldwide effectively mirroring the socio-economic changes, as measured by institutional statistics and personal income. The housing stocks supplied by the market, and the public policies correcting that supply, also materialize common or questioned ideas on urbanity. While housing in the real world is mainly considered the result in balancing these different constraints, residential areas are also one of the first applied exercises in the courses of urban planning. The Chinese University context, and particularly that of a large metropolis like Guangzhou, offers a hot spot to look at the role that planning education may - or might have - in preparing professionals for the future challenges and addressing crucial public decisions on the future urbanity.
Open Access
Cognitive skills to deal with the challenge of complexity in planning
(AESOP, 2010) Hemberger, Christoph; Schoenwandt, Walter
Complex problems represent a serious challenge in planning. Planners must make use of incomplete and potentially contradictory information to reach diverse, at times conflicting goals. Nobody can apprehend all of the different variables involved at a glance. Nor is it possible to predict with certainty how they are likely to change in the future. The mental models (i.e. representations of our environment) with which planners operate are therefore prone to errors that inhere in the very process of cognition itself, which only compounds the difficulty that planners face when dealing with complexity. Drawing on foundational insights from planning theory and practice, as well as from cognitive psychology and the interdisciplinary field of complexity theory, this paper seeks to develop and define some key cognitive skills designed to make dealing with complex planning problems easier. Keywords: Cognitive Skills, Mental Models, Complexity