Textbook on the problems of regional planning and economic development - relates the economic theories of regional development to the problems of planning which are regarded as problems of decision making, the delineation of polarised regions and homogeneous developing areas, the co-ordination of regional planning processes, etc. References.

Physical change and human ecology; What is planning?; Systems; Planning as a conceptual system; On space and spatial planning; Goals; Projecting the system: What is the future?; Models; Some operational models and their underlying theories; Modelling "the whole system"; Evaluation; A spatial method for regional planning; Satisfaction or optimisation? The bounds of rationality; Plan or programme?; A mixed-programming strategy.

This report shows how the systems approach may be applied in urban planning. It outlines a framework for utilizing the systems approach, identifies the steps of analysis that are fundamental and develops guidelines that stress the operational problems involved.