Model-theory interaction in urban planning
A critical review
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16775879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Farshad Nourian (0000-0003-2286-9738, University of Tehran, Iran, corresponding author), Meisam Alipour (0000-0003-0003-238X, University of Bojnord, Iran), Peter Ache (0000-0002-8742-6471, Radboud University Nijmegen) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 229-247 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Planning Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1473-0952 • E-ISSN: 1741-3052 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14730952211026693 |
| OpenAlex | W3178543228 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 48 |
More than half a century has passed since the first use of models in urban planning. Most urban planners have agreed on using models either to simplify complicated systems or to make simulations of such systems in order to predict their future. There is, however, disagreement on how far such simplifications and simulations have worked toward the planners’ goals and objectives. In this paper, through historical analysis, we placed the model-theory interaction into the broader scope of scientific modeling to develop guidelines applicable to the narrow field of urban modeling. Here, we developed an argument that models’ applicability and meaningfulness in urban planning are primarily dependent on planning theories, that is, models and theories should move parallel to achieve all the functions and capabilities claimed by models. Thus, an interactive process shapes the model as the mediator between the theory and the phenomenon: (a) the theory explains an abstract phenomenon, (b) the model provides an understanding of that phenomenon, and (c) the original abstract explanation is revisited and made more practical. This evolutionary process is our view of the “mediator model,” that is, a new definition of the urban model
Civil engineering · Epistemology · Management science · Operations research · Phenomenon · Urban planning · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · demographic modeling and climate adaptation · Engineering · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Mathematics
Making Social Science Matter
The New Science of Cities
Models as Mediators
Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies
The measurement of urban travel demand
Information in Communicative Planning
Requiem for Large-Scale Models
The Dappled World
Practising theory
Theory(izing)/practice
Re-Examining the Role of Knowledge Within Planning Theory
Theoryless Planning
Notes on the Uses and Scope of City Planning Theory
Coherentist Theories of Planning are Possible and Useful
Renaissance of Large‐scale Models
Communicative Planning Theory
Mechanism, Organism, and Society
The Role of Models in Science
The Role of Models in Physics
Planning through debate
Understanding Urban Models versus Understanding Cities
Progress, Success, and Failure in Urban Modelling
Urban Transportation Network-Equilibrium and Design Models
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |