In September 1980, the Special Programme Panel on Systems Sciences of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored an Advanced Research Institute (ARI) on "Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning" which was held at New College, Univer­ sity of Oxford, from 21st to 27th September. This week-long meeting brought together 35 invited delegates from most countries of the NATO Alliance to discuss the impact which syst~ms analysis has had and is likely to have on urban affairs. The manuscript was submitted to the publisher in June of 1982. Although the goal of the ARI was to assess the impact of urban systems analysis as seen through the eyes of those closely involved in such work, the meeting also addressed opportunities for future research and development, and therefore in this book we have attempted to synthesize discussions at the meeting with this in mind. But before we describe the structure of this book, it is worth recounting in a little more detail the intentions and organi­ zation of the meeting, for this has had an important effect on the type of papers produced here, the way they have been written, and the issues they address.

Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning: Background to the NATO Advanced Research Institute.- to the Papers.- The Poverty of Problem-Solving.- 1: Critical Assessments.- The Technology of Urban Systems Modelling: Nagging Questions, Sagging Hopes and Reasons for Continued Research.- The Effectiveness of Urban Transport Systems Analysis.- Systematic Methods in Strategic Land Use Planning: Reflections on Recent British Experience.- Strategic Land Use Planning: An Evaluation of Procedural Methodology.- Systems Analysis in Planning: A Critique of Critiques.- 2: Systems Analysis in Diverse Contexts.- The Impact of Systems Analysis on Urban Planning: The West German Experience.- On the Use of Strategic Planning Models in Iberian Cities.- Systems Analysis in a Developing Country: The Case in Turkey.- Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning: The Munich Experience.- French Local Planning Practice.- 3: Applications of Systems Models.- Early Warning Systems for Urban Policy-Making and Planning.- Multiregional Population Analysis for Urban and Regional Planning.- The Sao Paulo Metropolitan Study: A Case Study of the Effectiveness of Urban Systems Analysis.- Agency Policy Requirements and System Design.- 4: Policy Analysis.- The Failure of Model Use for Policy Analysis in Regional Planning.- Applications of Corporate Planning in Urban Policy Analysis and Decision-Making.- Political Realities and the Implementation of Urban Transport Policies.- Tyne and Wear and Hong Kong: Can Systems Analysis Tackle the Realities of Decision-Making?.- Systems Concepts in Government Planning: Experience and Prospects.- 5: Philosophies of Systems Analysis.- Systems Analysis and Urban Policy.- Reflections on and Implications of Systems Analysis as a Sociological Phenomenon.- Models, Metaphors and the State of Knowledge.- On Systems Theory in Urban Planning: An Assessment.- What Reasons for Rationality? In Search of a Future for Rational Methods in Urban Planning.- 6: Emerging Themes.- Positive and Normative Aspects of Modelling Large-Scale Social Systems.- Planning and Decision-Making in Human Systems: Modelling Self-Organization.- Technology Considerations in Urban Systems Analysis.- A Plea for Planning-Oriented Research.- Conclusions.- Attitudes towards Urban Systems Analysis: A Survey of Participants.- The Future of Urban Systems Analysis: Issues, Themes and Recommendations of the Institute.- The Authors and Participants in the Institute.- Author Index.