Models for Thinking About Human Settlements

Abstract

Bowen and Gleeson begin their book by proposing a new model to describe urban decision-making that helps readers understand the evolution of human settlements . The model can improve urban management and policy making as we enter the early years of the Anthropocene. They begin with Bertalanffy’s classic approach (1952) to general systems theory (GST) and adapt it using Hofkirchner’s (2017) call to improve science-based decision-making with a GST-based transdisciplinary science of systemism. Bowen and Gleeson offer their model as one step toward a new “science of urbanism .” Each urban area is considered to be a series of sub-systems within a broader system. Three most important sub-systems are identified: material systems, living systems, and social systems.