ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the semiotic triangle as a basic scientific construction, one that will both allow to avoid the aforementioned confusions and aid there in developing a comprehension of situations by acting as a supportive 'conceptual tool' in that endeavour. A construct is called 'factual' if it is correlated with one or more material objects or events as referents. An example of a factual construct with empirical referents in planning is the construct 'degree of motorization'. Here, the material objects to which the construct refers are the cars and the people living in a particular area. Another example is the factual construct 'individual traffic' which refers to material objects like traffic lights, cars, or people. A description of a process without any reference to the underlying mechanism is called kinematical. Kinematical representations of changes are purely descriptive and contain no explanations. In contrast, so-called dynamic representations make explicit reference to the mechanism in question.
