ABSTRACT
Urban planning is a complex force field with a multiplicity of actors, a variety of – often conflicting – interests, and a great deal of site-specific circumstances or features. In the history of urban planning, various methodological strands have emerged, such as purely economic perspectives (reflected inter alia in urban land rent theories or social cost-benefit analyses), ecological perspectives (dealing with historical driving forces of the city), evolutionary perspectives (considering the city as a dynamic and self-organising entity), or interactive-democratic perspectives (emphasising the city as a joint workshop with distinct responsibilities of urban agents). In recent years we have witnessed the emergence of a new paradigm for urban planning, such as the microcosmic perspective, in which individual actors represent part of the urban interest and shape together the urban future. The methodological challenge is then to design a toolbox through which mutually complementary and mutually contrasting interests can be integrated in a decision support method that helps to identify a common pathway for the urban future.
