Complexity, complex systems and complexity theories are becoming increasingly important within a variety disciplines. While these issues are less well known within the discipline of spatial planning, there has been a recent growing awareness and interest. As planners grapple with how to consider the vagaries of the real world when putting together proposals for future development, they question how complexity, complex systems and complexity theories might prove useful with regard to spatial planning and the physical environment. This book provides a readable overview, presenting and relating a range of understandings and characteristics of complexity and complex systems as they are relevant to planning. It recognizes multiple, relational approaches of dynamic complexity which enhance understandings of, and facilitate working with, contingencies of place, time and the various participants' behaviours. In doing so, it should contribute to a better understanding of processes with regard to our physical and social worlds.

Complexity theory has become popular in the natural and social sciences over the last few decades as a result of the advancements in our understanding of the complexities in natural and social phenomena. Concepts and methods of complexity theory have been applied by scholars of public affairs in North America and Europe, but a comprehensive framework for these applications is lacking. A Complexity Theory for Public Policy proposes a conceptual synthesis and sets a foundation for future developments and applications. In this book, Göktuğ Morçöl convincingly makes the case that complexity theory can help us understand better the self-organizational, emergent, and co-evolutionary characteristics of complex policy systems. In doing so, he discuss the epistemological implications of complexity theory and the methods complexity researchers use, and those methods they could use. As the complexity studies spread more around the world in the coming decades, the contents of this book will become appealing to larger audiences, particularly to scholars and graduate students in public affairs. The unique combination of synthesis and explanation of concepts and methods found in this book will serve as reference frames for future works.

Awareness of complexity in science and technology dates back to the 1970s. However, all social systems tend to develop structures that become more complex over time, be it within families, tribes, cities, states, or societal and economic organizations. Complexities 2 covers a broad array of fields, from justice and linguistics to education and organizational management. The aim of this book is to show, without aiming to provide a comprehensive overview, the diversity of approaches and behaviors towards the obstacle of complexity in understanding and achieving human actions. When we see complexity as the incompleteness of knowledge and the uncertainty of the future, we realize that simplifying is not an adequate approach to complexity, even in the humanities and social sciences. This book explores the relationship between order and disorder in this field of knowledge.

• End: pro?t and loss account. As a result, there will be a stage at which the parties have developed relations and prospects of gain, while there are still a number of problems that are dif?cult to solve and that fail to evoke consensus. Each party will then draw up a pro?t and loss account. On the positive side of the balance are the relations developed and the gains collected, on the negative side there are the losses and the unsolved problems. For particular parties, who have no interest in the problem, the latter side is uninteresting; for others, who have an interest in a particular solution of this problem, it represents a form of loss. • Pro?t and loss balance positive for a critical mass: speed. The speed of the process will increase if the pro?t and loss account shows a positive balance for a critical mass of parties. They wish to collect their gains and therefore to make ?nal decisions. At this point there will be an important psychological mec- nism: parties tend to anticipate on collecting their gains, which increases their urge to speed up the process. It is clear from the above, however, that the end of a process is dif?cult to predict.

One of the main challenges facing contemporary society is to understand how people can make decisions together. Understanding Collective Decision Making builds on evolutionary theories and presents an analytical tool to analyse and visualise collective decision making. By combining theoretical research with real world case studies, the authors provide a coherent and conclusive solution to the often fragmented and dispersed literature on the subject.

Politicians and public managers utilize branding to communicate with the public as well as to position themselves within the ever-present media now so central to political and administrative life. They must further contend with stakeholders holding contradictory opinions about the nature of a problem, the desirable solutions , and the values at stake. Branding is used as a strategy to manage perceptions, motivate stakeholders, communicate clear messages in the media, and position policies and projects. Brands have a unique ability to simplify such messages and motivate different actors to invest their energy in governance processes. Public administration scholars so far have however paid little attention to branding. This book provides a systematic analysis of branding as phenomenon in governance. It deals with the nature of public branding, its relation to existing theories in public administration, the way branding is used as a managerial strategy in governance processes, and the risks and limitations of branding. Branding in Public Governance and Management highlights the growing importance of public banding as a public management strategy to influence political events, decision-making processes and outcomes in governance processes.