ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the field of planning has witnessed a change as the ad hoc management solutions of the 1980s are gradually taken over by new systematic and strategic planning approaches (Breheny, 1994). To illustrate this point we could mention the ACT-VILL initiative launched in 1994 by the European Communities (1994) ‘in the framework of the preparation of new programmes, coordination of national policies, and their coordination with Community policies, technological monitoring and strategic analysis…’. To serve this purpose, the initiative launched five studies ‘…to deepen our understanding of the difficulties of cities and the elaboration of a diverse portfolio of technological options…’, and aimed for the development of ‘new “urban concepts”, instruments for the integration of cities, simulation models, intraand trans-urban networks’ and ‘evaluation of technological options,…’.
