Advances in models and methods for planning

Francesco SCARLATTI, Giovanni RABINO (Eds.)

2009, f.to 17x24 cm, pp. 312, € 30.00
ISBN 88-371-1780-9

This book aims to be an overview of the most recent advances in Italy in the domain of models, methods, and techniques applied to urban and territorial planning. Because of their close interconnections to this planning activities, a number of Italian contributions to transport modelling is also considered. Papers are presented in the light of the major contemporary challenges for modellers: • conceptually, to deal with the ongoing changes in urban systems, developing new theories of urban complexity suitable for new planning problems and approaches; • methodologically, to apply both traditional and innovative models (such as M.A.S., N.N., A.C., etc…), being aware of the new role of these methods in planning (i.e. tools for learning, for action and for communication); • operationally, to engineer model applications, using all the power of the new ICT and sharing among researchers and practitioners a quite well established "expert knowledge in modelling". In this frame, thirty Italian original papers add new findings in evergreen research fields (such as understanding spatial patterns, land-use transport interactions, efficacy and efficiency evaluations) and in emerging new problems (like spatial networks, urban time planning, pedestrian and car mobility, risks and emergencies).
Francesco Scarlatti is a professional expert on environmental certification of infrastructures, grant professor of Environmental Impact Analysis at the Faculty of Architecture and Building Engineering of Polytechnic of Milan. His scientific researches are focussed on methods for "qualitative data" handling (text mining, conceptual maps, etc…), mainly oriented to landscape analysis and planning.
Giovanni Rabino is professor of Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture and Building Engineering of Polytechnic of Milan. He is an acknowledged expert in urban studies, especially applying system theories and methods. His main contributions concern operational urban models, evolutionary theory applied to geographical structures and, recently, web technologies supporting multi-agents planning.