Spatial Planning, Complexity and a World 'Out of Equilibrium' Outline of a Non-linear Approach to Planning

• Published in: Complexity and Planning pp. 141 - 176
• Main Author: de Roo, Gert
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2012
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Aristotle's Law; WMAP Science Team; Complexity Sciences; Rank Size Distributions; Complex Adaptive Behaviour; Communicative Rationale; Wicked Problems; Vice Versa; ABM; Cellular Automata; Van Wezemael; Adaptive Rationale; Urban Heat Islands; Manage Nature Reserves; Planning Issues; Complex Adaptive Systems; Feed Forward Loop; Scenario Planning; De Roo; Erasmus University Rotterdam; WMAP Data; Space Time Geographic Information Systems; Spatial Planning; Non-linear World
• ISBN: 1138109584; 9781409403470; 1409403475; 9781138109582
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315573199-8

This chapter explains the complexity theory perspective on planning processes from this axiom: planning takes place in a complex social and physical world that is constantly changing, consequently distorting the intentions of planning initiatives. Planning effectiveness is still also about rational and powerful planning schemes and project management approaches. The application of a coevolutionary framework explicitly focuses on the empirical reality that planning processes are subject to patterns of reciprocal selection. Although coevolutionary planning processes ask planners to focus on the local space of possibilities, it does not mean that they should focus on a narrow planning scope. The concept of coevolution is rooted in evolutionary biology and was first coined by Ehrlich and Raven, who observed that groups of organisms evolved through reciprocal selective interaction. The nature of perceptible and blind reciprocal selection as part of coevolutionary processes raises the ostensible complexity and inherent uncertainty experienced by actors.