The objective of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon of mathematical modelling in urban studies and to stimulate a deeper debate about the use of models in planning. This is done by means of an identification of key assumptions made in the process of the...

The systems of building control vary widely between European countries. Some countries have an elaborate and detailed set of requirements and procedures with a dominant (control) role for government bodies. In other European countries private parties are more dominant regarding the quality...

Cities are hierarchical centers of consumption and have had sharp pulses of growth and decline over history. Viewing regional development from an energy perspective is appealing in its analogy to natural systems, though the theory itself as applied to social systems remains undeveloped. The...

Compared with numerous modelling exercises dedicated to continuous population and employment density and land price, the models developed directly from discrete land-use data are relatively few. This is particularly problematic in the context where dynamic land conversions are taking place. The...

Cellular automata (CA) simulation has become a popular method of exploring the behaviour of all kinds of self-organising systems. The city may clearly be viewed as such a system but one with a particularly complex set of transition rules. Many natural processes such as the spread of fire or...

Transit-oriented development (TOD) and (neo)traditional neighborhood development (TND) are variants of the recently emerging models of 'new urbanism'. The compact pattern of the new urbanist models of community development with integrated and mixed uses, pedestrian and vehicular orientation...