New Directions for Urban Analysis

Quantitative analysis—by which is meant the methodological approach traditionally associated with management science, operations research, and systems analysis—has been applied successfully to improve the operation of many urban service systems. However, its application at the strategic or policy level to solve urban problems has been less successful—a shortcoming that quantitative analysis shares with all other methodologies. The results have been particularly disappointing when measured against the early expectations of some uncritical enthusiasts, that “the urban problem” would be conquered by the modern management armamentarium of operations research, the systems approach, planning-programming-budgeting systems, costs-effective analysis, and the like.

In order to understand the reasons for the modesty of the impact of analysis at the strategic level, it is necessary to examine the barriers to success and the nature of the larger systems within which urban service systems are nested. Then one can more readily perceive the new challenges and the new opportunities which beckon urban analysts.