Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science

The challenge for managing urban change is to identify ways in which to build up a capacity for governance and for capturing opportunities, the active construction of arenas for informed policy debate, and the development of a coherent local view on the process of “place-making”. Such considerations were brought into sharp focus by the bombing of Manchester City Centre and the destruction of its commercial core in June 1996. The paper focuses on the impact of this disaster for the promoting of the city's entrepreneurial credentials, and the rapid response to the challenges of rebuilding. The promotion of established collaborative arrangements and network linkages culminated in the rapid emergence of both a master plan and an implementation agenda, encompassing a range of programmes and projects that collectively aim to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of the core.

We present here an analysis of the development of the Tel Aviv metropolis by using the concept of fractals. The fractal dimension of the entire metropolis, and of its parts, was estimated as a function of time, from 1935 onwards. The central part and the northern tier are fractal at all times. Their fractal dimension increased with time. However, the metropolis as a whole can be said to be fractal only after 1985. There is a general tendency towards fractality, in the sense that the fractal dimension of the different parts converge towards the same value.

The use of three-dimensional computer visualisation in shaping our urban environments has been discussed in the literature for the past ten years. In particular, the use of visualisation in design control has been of interest in opening up the planning process to those outside the design profession with a view to improving decisionmaking. Despite research demonstrating that this occurs, implementation of visualisation on a routine basis within planning authorities remains limited. In this paper a literature review is presented concerning visualisation of urban environments to explore the reasons for this lack of implementation. The interrelation of abstraction, accuracy, and realism in visualisation is used as a framework for this examination.

In this paper we propose numerical measures for evaluating the aesthetic interest of simple patterns. The patterns consist of elements (symbols, pixels, etc) in regular square arrays. The measures depend on two characteristics of the patterns: the number of different types of element, and the number of symmetries in their arrangement. We define two complementary composite measures L and C for the degree of pattern in a design, and compute them here for 2 × 2 and 6 × 6 arrays. The results distinguish simple from high-variation cases. We suspect that the measure L corresponds to the degree that human beings intuitively feel a design to be “interesting”, so this model would aid in quantifying the visual connection of two-dimensional designs with viewers. The other composite measure C based on these numerical properties characterizes the extent of randomness of an array. Combining symbol variety with symmetry calculations allows us to employ hierarchical scaling to count the relative impact of different levels of scale. By identifying substructures we can distinguish between organized patterns and disorganized complexity. The measures described here are related to verbal descriptors derived from work by psychologists on responses to visual environments.

In this study I will analyse the growth of an urban cluster resulting from interaction with a dynamic spatial pattern comprised of cells and roads. In this case, the cells grow in an irregular pattern and can change in number and state, and the roads direct the growth pattern of the urban cluster and stimulate cell generation. The coupled effects of a cellular mechanism and a road network and the long-distance effects determined by spatial mobility are presented in two forms: first in a theoretical framework, and then through numerical simulation in which various sets of key parameters are utilised. A model is proposed in which growth is related to the fractal dimension of the cluster. Finally, conclusions are drawn for the long-run effects of morphology modification in relation to land use and to spatial pattern.

We live in increasingly planned and controlled environments. The places we live, work, interact, visit, and travel through are the products of designers and planning regulations. The planners, designers, and others in the property development industry, employ a wide range of means by which to identify the needs and aspirations of the clients, the property owners, and the potential users of such spaces. But this paper is interested in a “single-user” group that has not often been routinely consulted as to its use of our everyday spaces. Children live and interact in neighbourhoods, and many of these spaces have been expressly designed as “child-centred” or “child-rearing” landscapes. Yet how can planners and designers learn more from children about their use of, and needs in, such neighbourhood spaces? Following a review of the literatures on cognitive mapping and some of the limitations and possibilities in using these types of techniques with young children, we recount here a project called KIDSMAP in which children draw mental or cognitive “maps”. Although there are limitations in the application of cognitive map work with children, we have found that they do work hard at representing places which are important to them. In this paper we review the children's maps against Lynch's well-known typology of urban design elements. Through this illustration, we hope to show how cognitive map techniques may provide one way to collect information on what is really of interest and importance to this often overlooked user “constituency”.

Despite the historically close relationship between GIS and land-use studies, there has been little constructive dialogue on the relationship between GIS theory and land-use analysis. The distinctive feature of land-use studies is their grounding in the idea of social purpose. “Purpose”—the telic dimension—is one of four dimensions of meaning discussed by Moravcsik and based ultimately on the work of Aristotle. So far in GIS, however, only the formal dimension has been emphasised. In this paper we draw on the work of philosophers such as Searle and Goodman to show the significance of the telic and constitutive dimensions of meaning for GIS and land-use studies. We also consider the relationship between terms in natural language and GIS-based analysis. Against this background we consider how GIS applications can be classified in relation to their treatment of language — purpose” and “space — time”. We conclude by suggesting that familiar GIS problems such as the modifiable areal unit problem and the ecological fallacy are instances of more general philosophical problems and that insights from linguistic philosophy can contribute to GIS development.

When using the rating and weighting (RAW) method in land suitability assessment, planners often substitute the theoretical weight-value range [0, 1] with a weight-value set, an ordered set of discrete values reduced from the continuous weight-value range. In constructing such a weight-value set, one needs to decide on how many weight values should be used (size of the value set) and where in the value range they should be placed (the choice of weight values). At present, one must make these decisions and defend their credibility on the basis of “professional judgments”, as a theoretical framework for such purposes is simply not available. Can a theoretical framework be established so that one can make these decisions systematically? If so, is it advantageous to use such a framework, instead of the existing methods, in constructing weight-value sets? In this paper these two issues are explored. I found that the theoretical weight-value range [0, 1] is actually sliced into segments; that in producing land suitability scores, weight-value sets that are constructed from these segments function just as effectively as the weight-value range; and that a five-rule framework comprised of these weight-value sets offers a higher level of efficiency and greater transparency than existing methods.

Shape grammars are shown to be capable of generating coupled form — function devices by first satisfying the minimum required functionality and then modifying the device to obtain the desired specifications. Advantages of a weighted U₂₂ algebra in conjunction with a U₁₂ grammar are also discussed. The approach is demonstrated by describing a shape grammar for the design of MEMS resonators.

In this paper I will show how social network analysis techniques can be used for understanding GIS diffusion at a national scale. In particular, two network models, cohesion and structural equivalence, are explored in the context of the emerging Greek GIS community. A map of this community based on GIS teams and linkages is put forward, and two social constructs, institutional setting and disciplinary background, are used to highlight the heterogeneous context within which GIS are embedded across a whole country. The findings suggest that specific actors such as the Greek ESRI vendor and relevant social groups such as the teams with a surveying engineering background take centre stage in the diffusion of GIS innovations in Greece in the early 1990s.