Geographic information systems (GIS) are designed as general-purpose systems to manage spatial information. They are similar to commercial database management systems except for their strong spatial context. This recent technology has inspired many users who have, for generations, been faced...

In an attempt to show how technology impacts politics as well as economics, some political implications of 'appropriate technology' for developing nations are examined. Contradictions appear in considering issues of dependency and exploitation, because the use of advanced technologies implies...

A formalism for describing stylistic change in design is used to analyze transformations of the De Stijl style of painting in the works of two artists.

Consistent with requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), over 17000 local governments in the USA have enacted local floodplain-management programs. This paper is an analysis of whether and to what extent these local riverine regulatory policies decrease riverbank development...

This paper concerns the distinction between 'good' and 'bad' planning. Three views of the planning process are distinguished, with their associated criteria of the quality of plans: planning as control of the future, implying that plans not implemented indicate failure; planning as a process of...

Urban planning theory has been widely criticised by academics and practitioners as being confused and impractical. In this review paper a tentative first step to remedy the situation is proposed, outlining a new typology of urban planning theories with an aim to clarify the academic discourse...

The problem of facility siting in a districted region is discussed and a two-stage algorithm proposed. The first stage consists of solving a particular facility siting problem (for example, a <I>p</I>-median problem, or a maximal location covering problem) in each district for all possible allocations...</i>

Negative externalities generated by the rational actions of individual decisionmakers sometimes have large-scale repercussions on urban structure that backfire on all concerned. Such a situation, involving the externalities of intensive development in low-density areas, was recently addressed by...