IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v16y1984i3p319-338.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Notion of Prior Structure in Urban Modelling

Author

Listed:
  • H Couclelis

    (Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA)

Abstract

Most work in urban modelling to date has proceeded under the tacit assumption that there are mechanisms of urban process, either deterministic or nondeterministic, which can be approximately described in models. An alternative hypothesis is suggested proposing that urban process as such cannot be objectively specified, although urban system behaviour may appear deterministic or nondeterministic according to the frame of representation chosen by the modeller. Besides explaining the paradox of the relative predictive success of certain simple deterministic models in the face of more sophisticated theories stressing the impossibility of deterministic evolution, this hypothesis also throws light on the reason why physical analogies may work in the field of urban studies. This latter point is elaborated by means of an illustration involving the ‘Brussels paradigm’ of bifurcation. It is suggested that predictive ability and success of analogical transfer both depend on the presence in a model of a ‘logical prior’, a formal element which, being nonempirical, maintains its validity, not only in repeated applications across time and space, but also in transfers from one substantive field to another.

Suggested Citation

  • H Couclelis, 1984. "The Notion of Prior Structure in Urban Modelling," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 16(3), pages 319-338, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:16:y:1984:i:3:p:319-338
    DOI: 10.1068/a160319
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a160319
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a160319?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sylvie Occelli & Giovanni A. Rabino, 1998. "Simulating a Post-Fordist urban system: Results from the PF.US model," ERSA conference papers ersa98p300, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:16:y:1984:i:3:p:319-338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.