The ORSA New Orleans Address on Compact City

The failure of urban planners, politicians, and bureaucrats to cope with urban crises and come up with solutions that work, stems from a fundamental inability to deal with complexity. The urban environment is complex, inter-related, highly dynamic. Nothing less than a total-system approach using the tools of mathematical and computer simulation models can hope to attack the problems of urban over growth. It is important to develop analytic, computer and simulation type models of the total urban system and of detailed subsystems in order to compare various arrangements such as the current megalopolis with its sprawl, and new satelite towns and cities built to make more effective use of vertical space and the round-the-clock use of facilities. Cities that make effective use of the vertical dimension and time, represent a viable alternative and should be given serious consideration.