Methods for exploring ill-defined problems are now being developed. Claims for these methods are frequently based on analogies with optimization processes. More persuasive backing for these claims can be obtained by conducting experiments that consider both the analyst or decision-maker and the...

A description of the structure of research specialities requires the definition of a series of sets and relations. A set of papers concerned with spatial diffusion modelling is defined, and the structure of the citation relation defined on that set is explored. A detailed reading of the texts of...

In this paper, the second in a series of three, are described the sources used by architects in forming their images of the council tenants for whom they design. The content of the images was discussed in the first paper. The architects made only limited attempts to gain systematic information...

Facility-layout problems are well-known members of the class of wicked problems. Not only are these problems computationally intractable, they defy precise formulation which underscores their 'wickedness'. A conversational optimization methodology is developed for solving the facility-layout...

This series of three papers reports on interviews with the architects of a sample of six public-sector housing schemes in London. In this paper are described their images of the council tenants for whom they design. These images are generalised, imprecise, and stereotyped. Occupiers are seen as...

In the previous two papers were examined the content and the source of architects' images of the users of public-sector housing schemes they had recently designed. In this concluding paper are made recommendations for change. Findings from interviews with occupiers show that existing procedures...

In this paper, basic concepts of the methodology known as <I>Q</I>-analysis are used to expose aspects of the involvement of local authorities in energy conservation. The involvement of 333 local authorities is examined in respect of 48 different energy conservation activities of potential relevance to...</i>

This work is an examination of the possibility of formalizing local design problems. A translation is proposed of peculiar design notions into mathematical concepts, with particular reference to Thorn's theory, such as: manifolds, dynamical systems, tangent spaces, attractors. Definitions of...