ABSTRACT
The nature of urban planning, management and decision making Theoretical context The roots of current problems associated with our understanding of sustainable urban form lie in the notion of' separation' . Continuing work in the area of sustainable development has emphasised the holistic nature of the concept but has then gone on to compartmentalise, sectorise and separate individual issues, specific scales of investigation and the substantive response from the analytical and procedural theories. The continuing conceptual evolution of sustainability paralleled with the dynamic nature of physical, socio-economic and demographic change within cities have also been considered in isolation from urban form. As a result there is confosion over meanings and definitions, contradictions between topic-based advice, and conflicts with competing and incomparable trade-offs. Overall, our response and thinking has been sub-optimal rather than systemic.
