Complexity Challenges of Regional Planning and Design

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Complexity Challenges of Regional Planning and
Design

• Viveca Asproth, Stig C Holmberg, Anita Håkansson
• Mid Sweden University

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Purpose

• The purpose is to increase the possibility to
  handle complexity issues in future spatial
  planning support tools.
• This will be achieved by proposing a Spatial
  Complexity Model combining the complexity
  challenges of spatial planning with complexity
  findings of systemic research.
• The model may serve as a conceptual base for
  future designs of support tools.

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Spatial Planning Super Complexity

• The complexity of spatial planning expresses
  itself in many dimensions
• Actor and Negotiation Complexity
• Process and Structure Complexity
• Space Complexity
• Using Complexity
• Tools Complexity

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1. Actor and Negotiation Complexity

• Negotiation Support Systems (NSS) permits
• to join different points of view and positions,
• to conciliate differences and
• to suggest solutions for compromises.
• As an advanced tool in the negotiation process,
  it helps
• to identify the true interests,
• evaluate the importance, and
• to place them in the context of the confrontation
  with the other interests.

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2. Process and Structure Complexity

• Problem
• - One source of complexity is due to the
  interwoven structure of the many systems
  occupying geographical space (GS) and
• another is the delay and anticipation effects
  taking place between different system processes
  (the great delays between an action in one point
  of the system and the effects eventually emerging
  in quite another one)
• Needs
• some sort of model of the GS of concern
• GIS
• MMSM, the Multi-Modal Systems Model (de Raadt)

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(2. Process and Structure Complexity)
From an anticipatory point of view

• Higher modalities work as indicators for the
  later outcome of the lower ones. Here MMSM may
  serve as a Soft Early Warning System (it will be
  possible to act as soon as any variable tends to
  go outside of its critical boundaries).

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(2. Process and Structure Complexity)
From an anticipatory point of view

• - Control variables at higher logical levels of
  management have a predictive power over variables
  at lower levels (Schwaninger and Espejo)
• - Higher modalities have an inspirational
  influence on lower ones and those, in their turn,
  have a restrictive effect on higher ones (de
  Raadt)

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3. Space Complexity

• First there are problems related to the
  visualization and presentation of GS. In its
  present classical map form the communicated
  picture will become far too rigid and clean.
  This is a consequence of the fact that current
  support systems are based on a standard
  geographical information system (GIS).
• Second there are problems with crisp
  classifications. As a consequence, gradual
  changes, smooth transitions, and overlaps in land
  use, soil types, topography, and other features
  of relevance for human life on earth cannot be
  handled in a proper way.
• Third, demands different actors and interest
  groups may put on the land and its resources may
  vary both in character and intensity. Some
  demands are of a quantitative type while others
  are qualitative. All those factors may be more or
  less impossible to handle in a proper way with
  help of a standard GIS based support system.
• Fourth, there are difficulties to take care of
  inherent ambiguity and vagueness in GS. The
  inherent goal of any GIS being that the
  information has to be as accurate as possible.
  Hence, there is no room for an informed tradeoffs
  between accuracy and relevance.

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4. Using Complexity

• A model can be seen as a more or less realistic
  and objective representation of a part of
  reality.
• OR to se the model as a representation of a
  users current understanding of a situation or
  system in focus. With this interpretation the
  complexity of the model will easily adopt to the
  users ability to cope with complexity.

The planner (user) switching between reflecting,
simulating, and acting mode.
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5 Tools Complexity
Coming to artificial planning support tools, the
complexity will emerge in yet another form. -
There is the unavoidable trade off between
relevance, complexity, and uncertainty. This
means that in order to be relevant, or useful, a
tool may not be too complex at the same time as
it may not exhibit too great uncertainty.
Relevance
Complexity
Accuracy
The balance between Accuracy, Complexity and
Relevance.
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Synthesis and Results
The Spatial Complexity Model.
The support tool has to attenuate complexity to
match the users capacity to handle complexity.
The challenge is to perform that attenuation in
maintaining the relevance and without filtering
important information away.
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Conclusion

• So far
• identified some core complexity dimensions
  challenging the spatial planner
• identified a set of systemic models and
  procedures aiming at complexity handling
• matched the complexity dimensions with the
  complexity procedures in our Spatial Complexity
  Model (SCM)
• Remaining
• To develop a first tentative implementation of a
  computer support tool based on SCM, an
  anticipatory, fuzzy, and constructivist system
• in using the tool our understanding of spatial
  issues will increase
• with increased understanding we will be able to
  improve the tool