ABSTRACT
Despite the difficulties presented by modelling, and the uncertainty and possible ambiguity of the outcomes that can be generated, we must face up to our responsibilities and try to improve our decision making. We cannot simply decide that it is all too complicated and so there is no point doing anything. And we must give answers to certain questions to the best of our ability, even though there can be no ‘objective’ justification for the particular answers we arrive at. Who should play a role in the decision making, and who should be considered in a decision? How much weight should the opinion of each type of actor carry? How does the present system’s hierarchy of structure and function depend on the rules and behaviours of individuals in the system? The problem is that individuals matter in the performance of firms and of organizations, and these play a role within towns and the rules, values and structures of towns, and of firms affects individuals. Each town and city plays a role within the larger region, and is in turn affected by the larger region. So, which decisions should be regional, which should be local and which should be left to firms and to individuals? This is the essence of the issue of ‘subsidiarity’, and if we take it seriously, then we must admit that, probably, we know very little about the real ‘causal relations’ that underlie the particular functional characteristics of a social system.
