OR/MS and the Management of Cities

Bearing the various shortcomings in mind, we are better prepared to ponder the impact of OR/MS on cities. What we see at once is a coincidence or correlation between widespread utilization of the techniques and spreading fiscal disorder and disarray. While I do not presume to ascribe causality, I might venture the observation that preoccupation with, and unrealistic expectations about, the “powerful tools of technology” may have diverted effort from other activities that could have proved more valuable.

Contrary to the conventional cliches about resistance to innovations in the public sector, I find that there has been enormous hospitality toward OR/MS. We have been persuaded that we can somehow “manage” our way out of the morass of fiscal messes. Perhaps this is because the notions have an aura, however spurious, of being “scientific” and “rational” and thus are accorded high credibility as part of our dominant paradigm.