Masterplanning for urban change: A small world metaphor

Abstract

The intent of a masterplanning process is to enable and expedite urban change but sometimes this process is fraught with dissatisfaction. This paper examines the perceptual and conceptual aspects of the masterplanning process and asks (a) What urban qualities make a good place? (b) What are the priorities of a conceptual mas-terplanning process? and (c) What are the short-term and long-term priorities of a contextual masterplanning process? The participantsd' results show that urban density and connectivity are the most important aspects of masterplanning places and that stakeholders need an urban change process to enable certainty in the short term and adaptability in the long term. It is proposed that small world network models offer a self-organizing framework for masterplanning short-term and long-term urban change. © 2013 WIT Press.