Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
26.1 Introduction
realms of phenomena (Rothbart, 1997). Intractable obstacles to
understanding complex processes can be overcome by analogical
comparisons to ostensibly distinct domains. Such comparisons
often span different disciplinary boundaries.
The field of urban analysis and modeling is no excep-
tion. Urban modelers have relied on analogies and metaphors
borrowed from many other fields to construct models for under-
standing the complexity of cities. A few modelers have made
explicit acknowledgement of the use of metaphors/analogies in
their work (Wilson, 1969a, b; Isard, 1999) while the major-
ity of them have been silent on this issue, often taking some
of the fundamental assumptions in their urban models for
granted. Reflecting on the general trend of interests in the
role of metaphors in scientific process (Leatherdale, 1974; Lakoff
and Johnson, 1980), social scientists in general (Mirowski, 1988,
1994; Verma, 1993) and geographers in particular have probed
their role in developing theoretical discourses.
Geographers have examined the use of metaphors in economic
geography (Barnes, 1992, 1996), cultural geography (Tuan, 1978;
Duncan, 1980), health geography (Kearns, 1997), environmental
geography (Mills, 1982; Norwick, 2006), geographic methodol-
ogy (Livingston and Harrison, 1981), and geographical thought
in general (Sui, 2000). Although both Buttimer (1993) and
Barnes (1996) have touched on the role of metaphors related
to urban analysis and modeling indirectly, so far our collec-
tive knowledge about urban analysis and modeling efforts are
still dominated by technical discussions on the methodological
details without probing deeply the root metaphors in urban
models. There exist few systematic, comprehensive works exam-
ining the role of metaphors in urban modeling except Couclelis's
(1984) early work, which drew little immediate attention among
urban modelers.
This chapter aims to fill in this void in the literature by present-
ing some preliminary discussions on analogies and metaphors in
various urban models. By doing so, it aims to raise the sensitivity
level of both modelers and users about the power (and also the
constraints) each metaphor brings, and to better appreciate the
intended and unintended consequences in the real world when
policies are made according to the results of these modeling
efforts. Unlike the post-modernists or post-structuralists, my
goal here is not to denigrate or discard urban models, but to
make both modelers and users more keenly aware of the theo-
retical commitment they made prior to their number-crunching
modeling efforts, and the impacts of these metaphorical commit-
ments on their understanding of the urban reality. I also hope
that this chapter will open new dialogs about possible alternative
metaphors we can rely on for launching our next generation of
operational models.
The chapter is composed of five sections. After a brief intro-
duction, Stephen Pepper's world hypotheses and their related
root metaphors are introduced in Section 26.2. Using Pepper's
framework as a guide, the third section identifies four traditions
in urban modeling and the driving metaphors urban modelers
created in each tradition. Section 26.4 presents further discussions
on the meaning of progress in urban modeling from a metaphor-
ical perspective, followed by a summary and concluding remarks
in the last section 1 .
According to a new estimate by the United Nations, starting in
2009 more than half of the world's 6.7 billion people are living in
urban areas starting in 2009, marking the beginning of the first
urban century in human history (http://esa.un.org/unup). The
pace of the world's urbanization has been continuing to accelerate
at an astonishing rate (Cohen, 2004). By 2030, nearly 5 bil-
lion people will be urban residents (www.sciencemag.org/cities).
Many of the challenges facing humanity today, from the economy,
environment, and education to health, security, and develop-
ment, are all manifesting (though not exclusively) in the world's
urban areas. Thus, a better understanding of diverse urban forms
and processes will be of paramount importance. Not surprisingly,
we have witnessed renewed interests by both the academic world
and the general public on issues related to urban development in
recent years (Ash et al ., 2008).
As we enter the very first urban century in human history, it is
fitting to consider what progress has been made in understanding
and modeling urban phenomena and how well equipped we are
to deal with issues that are likely to arise. Over the past 50
years, the geospatial community in general and urban modelers
in particular have made significant contributions to improving
our understanding of various complex issues related to urban
development. As reflected from the diverse and informative
chapters included in this and the related volume (Rashed and
Juergens, 2006), many exciting interdisciplinary advances in
urban analysis and modeling have taken place during the first
decade of the 21st century, from data acquisition, spatial metrics,
and dynamic visualization to model construction, calibration,
and applications. At the time this chapter was written (November,
2009), a simple query of ''urban analysis and modeling'' in Google
had more than 6.6 million returns, with the same query in
Google Scholar having 1.3 million returns. To better understand
such a voluminous literature, we need a more robust, inclusive
framework. The primary goal of this chapter is to initiate such an
endeavor to take a synoptic overview of the recent development
of urban analysis and modeling. Moving away from technical
and methodological discussions, as most the chapters in this
volume have so eloquently presented, this chapter aims to present
a panoramic overview of urban analysis and modeling from
a conceptual/theoretical perspective. I hope this chapter, not
intended to be exhaustive due to space limitations, does provide
enough food for thoughts in future discussions.
The particular angle this chapter takes for looking at the
urban analysis and modeling efforts is to probe the dominant
metaphors used in various urban analyses and modeling efforts.
Human languages are metaphorical by nature, and rhetorical
devices are instrumental in creating meaning. Metaphors assert a
similarity between two or more different things while converting
the unfamiliar to the familiar. As historians and philosophers of
science have demonstrated (Black, 1962; Hesse, 1963, 1980), ana-
logical thinking and metaphoric description play a pivotal role in
the formation of scientific ideas. Throughout history, scientific
knowledge has advanced through the creative insights ema-
nating from analogical connections between ostensibly distinct
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