The politics of computer-aided planning

Recent advances in microcomputer technology have revived dreams that computers will revolutionise planning practice. Drawing on the experience of previous attempts to incorporate computers in planning, this paper suggests that planners must recognise that computer models, analyses and information are inherently political and develop explicitly political processes of adversary modelling. It then suggests four guidelines which should guide current efforts to introduce computer technology into planning: (i) acknowledge limitations of knowledge and technique; (ii) build simple and opaque models; (iii) make policy choices and assumptions explicit; and (iv) document fully.