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The author discusses the publication of the online journal "Cybergeo" by Denise Pumain in 1996. The author mentions the challenges and respect obtain by Pumain's journal due to its use of the Internet for publication wherein net was barely known during the year. He highlights the 20th anniversary celebration of the online journal at meeting the author attended.

The author reflects on an article by Ira S. Lowry regarding urban development models that was published in the 1965 issue of the "Journal of the American Institute of Planners." Topics include agent-based models and modelling (ABM), geometric three-dimensional (3D) representations of cities, and Lowry's classification of urban models.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including growth of housing across China, rise in developments and property market of China, and urbanization across China.

The article offers information on a the Planning Educators Electronic Mail Network debate started by professor Martin Krieger on February 17, 2015 discussing the role of complexity in thinking about cities and their planning. Topics discussed include models having quantitative predictions, improvement of simulation of the existing situation, and difficulty in convincing policy makers of the value of computer models.

The article presents an obituary for English town planner Peter Hall.

We are building a series of fast, visually accessible, cross-sectional, hence static urban models for large metropolitan areas that will enable us to rapidly test many different scenarios pertaining to both short-term and long-term urban futures. We call this framework SIMULACRA which is a forum for developing many different model variants which can be finely tuned to different problem contexts and future scenarios. The models are multisector, dealing with residential, retail/service, and employment location, are highly disaggregate, and subject to constraints on land availability and transport capacities. They have an explicit urban economic focus around transport costs, incomes, and house prices and thus encapsulate simple market-clearing mechanisms. Here we will briefly outline this class of models, paying particular attention to their structure and the way physical flows and locations are mirrored by economic flows in terms of costs and prices. Several versions of the model now exist, but we will focus, first, on the simplest 'one-window' desktop pilot version with the most obvious graphical interface; and, second, on a much more elaborated framework developed for web access, extensible to web service architectures and other related services. To demonstrate its flexibility and intelligibility, we define the various interfaces and demonstrate how the aggregate model can be calibrated to the wider London region to which it is applied. We will demonstrate the model, albeit briefly with respect to the rapid assessment of different urban futures--"what-if" scenarios, based on the impact of new London airports in the Thames Estuary. The key feature of this entire project is that the model and its variants can be run in a matter of seconds, thus entirely changing the traditional dialogue associated with their use and experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author looks at all-round development of cities in future prospect. He mentions that revival of public interest in cities is attributed to the transition from a world based on energy to information technology-based world. He explores significant issues concerning the development of cities in future. He adds that migration will become the significant determinant of local growth of cities.

The author reflects on the size of the cities. The author states that cities' average density at time and parameter drop as people sprawl and spread due to increased reliance on fast transport. The author says that city size characteristic can already be defined by interaction, instead of location. The author adds that the chances for interaction increase as cities become bigger.

The editor discusses the theory of the essence of cities. Topics discussed, include the illustration of the method of residues that is necessary to filter out elements of human behaviour, the ideal cities with a space syntax representation as lines of sight and the filtering out of features, attributes and elements to the theoretical mission relating to the development of digital virtual realities.

The author reflects on the prospect about the impact of smart city technologies. Topics discussed include the emergence of data from public places and populating cities, personalised taxi service Uber, and the improvement of social relationships by social media, while health and education are being enriched by physical and non-physical transactions.

The author reflects on the theoretical concept of accessibility. He states the fundamental role of accessibility to physical planning, location theory, and regional economic planning. He demonstrates and made distinctions on the two types of accessibility, in which the type 1 works on the abstracting of spatial system for a set of points while the type 2 focuses on ways to which such points can be physically connected.

The author reflects on generative social science, a challenge. The author states that generative social science can be minimalist in theory and models based on principles of local action and interaction. He relates that the challenge in embracing generative social science is to use the paradigm to stimulate the way they should develop theories and theoretical tools. He believes that it will require resources, effort and will to predict the future of the cities using generative social science.

The article examines the factors affecting the creative destruction of cities following massive destruction caused by war and other calamities. According to economist Joseph Schumpeter, capitalist urbanization and development is a process not defined by simple expansion and growth but rather by a vibrant and often chaotic process of destruction and rebuilding. The transformations made are results of decisions to employ technology and other innovations in rebuilding a city in a belief that more profit will be gained from land development.

The article comments on the digital culture and the transformation of real cities into virtual cities through digital representation. The author talks about the developments in digital application like computer-aided design (CAD), games of quality graphics and geographic information systems (GIS) that feature the transformation from 2D map representation to 3D. The author foresees the possibility of embedding data from the real city into virtual city, which is updated from sensors in the city.

The authors discuss recent progress in extracting road networks from digital imagery. We briefly review recent developments in methods for the automatic extraction of road centre line networks and propose a related algorithm aimed at encoding the geometry of road networks with line segments. Our algorithm is inspired by 'axial lines', which have been defined as lines of uninterrupted movement within urban streetscapes or buildings. We show that axial lines appear as ridges in isovist fields. These are formed from the maximum diametric lengths of the individual isovists, sometimes called viewsheds, which make up these fields. We present an image-processing technique for the identification of lines from ridges, discuss current strengths and weaknesses of the method, and show how it can be implemented easily and effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space syntax is a technique for measuring the relative accessibility of different locations in a spatial system which has been loosely partitioned into convex spaces. These spaces are approximated by straight lines, called axial lines, and the topological graph associated with their intersection is used to generate indices of distance, called integration, which are then used as proxies for accessibility. The most controversial problem in applying the technique involves the definition of these lines. There is no unique method for their generation; hence different users generate different sets of lines for the same application. In this paper we explore this problem, arguing that to make progress, there need to be unambiguous, agreed procedures for generating such maps. The methods we suggest for generating such lines depend on defining viewsheds, called isovists, which can be approximated by their maximum diameters, these lengths being used to form axial maps similar to those used in space syntax. We propose a generic algorithm for sorting isovists according to various measures, approximating them by their diameters and using the axial map as a summary of the extent to which isovists overlap (intersect) and are accessible to one another. We demonstrate our techniques for the small French town of Gassin used originally by Hillier and Hanson in a 1984 book to illustrate the theory, exploring different criteria for sorting isovists, and generating different axial maps by changing the level of resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Explains the need for the development of agent-based models for understanding and predicting pedestrian movements. Models concerned with the geometry of movement; Models that broaden the context to link location to movement; Distinct approaches to modelling pedestrian walking.

Examines shape and space in architectural and urban morphology. Definition of isovist fields based on different geometric properties; Basic geometrical elements of morphologies; Problem with partitioning space.

The author discusses formation of cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries and problems related to increasing population such as quality of life. Topics discussed include the need to ideal size for cities and towns; economic imbalance and inequality due to oversize of population; and the need to urban planning in order to the ideal city.

The author discusses cities in an urbanized world. Topics discussed include definition of the word urbanization according to web resource Wikipedia, Zipf's law that states the frequency of any word is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table and need to link city size distributions to their densities.

The author discusses the metropolis of Wuhan city in China, and states that is really three cities that occupy the three locations formed by the intersection of the Han River with the Yangtze River. Topics discussed include the city hall Wuhan Citizens' Home, containing an exhibition of city planning expertise, industrialization and urban growth in the city, and debt and economic conditions of China.

The author focuses on the application of resilience to the short-term and long-term future of city systems. He reflects on the significance and role of networks in the transmission of materials and information to the source of any destination. He informs that disruption in the networks affects the process in the measurement of performance resilience for the cities.

The author focuses on the prospects of data mining from several database resources including Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. He informs about the relevance of data collection and data sampling techniques to analyze the responses of the respondents. An overview of the database of intentions that provides an easy way to its everyday accessibility is presented.

The author argues on defining the extent of a city as no one can define the boundaries of city with any certainty. According to the author, the influence of globalization, trade linkages across the world and social contacts have made difficult to define the extent and boundaries of the city. The author comments that now-a-days people of different cities are connected with each other with the help of networking channels.

The author reflects on several visualization tools for the interpretation of large data. He states that collecting and analyzing data from large datasets required several weeks. An overview of the huge set of datasets belonging to several companies is offered. The author suggests that there is growing evidence that formal tools have evolved to examine much finer interpretation of data.

The author reflects on the developments on the utilization of network technologies on instrumenting a city and the production of urban technologies of massive streams of data in real time and space. According to the author, the development of ubiquitous devices of comparatively low cost has changed the initial conceptions of the wired city. The impact of big data on urban theory and planning is also discussed.

The author reflects on the importance of big cities. It note the evidence that big cities as measure by the size of their populations has been prosperous than smaller cities. The author believes that big cities generate more innovations, greater density of cultural and educational institutions, and creative pursuits. He cites the book "The Triumph of the City" which recounts success of big cities through reinvention and dynamism.

The author reflects on the idea of randomness in terms of order and chaos. He believes that in cities randomness relates to order-disorder spectrum which means that if everyone lived in one location, it will correspond to an ordered situation whereas if anyone could live everywhere, people will distribute themselves randomly. He states that the role of randomness has something to do with measuring differences and understanding spatial structures.

The author reflects on the analysis on the predictions for what will happen to the future in the next 100 years. An overview of the changes that is predicted such as the Apollo moon programme in 1969 and the digital computation for space exploration in 1971 is offered. The author mentions the argument of Karl Popper that the future can not be predicted though technology and human knowledge exists. He also emphasizes the unpredictability for the complexity of science and radical change.

The author reflects on the changing picture of the cities in the U.S. He mentions that in a professional skill, planning already see cities as way of resolving conflict and engendering development of various kinds through collaboration. He also revealed the changes about the correlation between the ideas of the city and planning in the early issues of the professional journals and the journals of the 21st century.

The author reflects on the impact of technological innovations, such as Internet, on urban development. He stresses that the access through wireless devices with geopositioning systems which can be incorporated into ever-smaller recording instruments is enbaling individuals to record their motion at specific locations. He believes that the revolution in tracking human and other movements in digital form enables the collection of various attributes at the finest of scales of urban observation.

The author reflects on the impact of urban change and dynamics on the development of urban areas and people around the world. He relates the changes in the travel behavior of most people in these areas due to the recession and the decline of oil prices. He also refers the changes in the global climate that possibly bring catastrophe.

The author reflects on the argument of Kevin Kelly, editor of "Wired Magazine," significance of network science between the industrial and postindustrial world. He cites the argument of Kelly was in the old way of organizing things from the top down and was rapidly giving way to new forms of network economy and society. He then, believes that network science could be the necessary focus to reach fruition.

The author comments on the notion that Great Britain was divided into a prosperous south and a poorer north. He reflects on his experience of studying economic geography and history at high school and university. He identifies the reasons for this division, including the difference in climate, the physical development and voting patterns. The use of the north-south divide in urban and regional planning is also discussed.

The author discusses how money flows in cities to determine spatial interactions between individuals, firms, governments that impacts national economies. The author discusses two reasons for lack of focus on money including absence of systematic financial data collection and impact of digital technologies on physical transactions of assets. He also mentions predictions published in the journal "The Economist" in the 2014 issue on changes in retailing by online retailer Amazon.

The author reflects on city planning and discusses a TEDxLondon, program focusing on the futures of cities, in one of a sequence of meetings entitled "City 2.0." Topics discussed were urbanization, emergence of cities in Ancient Sumeria around 3000 BCE and the role of the technologies in easing the mode of communication between the cities in terms of information. He states that changes are sometimes problematic because of comparative invisibility with the use of information technologies.

The article explores the importance of technologies that underpin modem society. The invention of electrical technologies is recognized for progressing the population growth upwards. Other topics discussed include the transition from mechanical to electrical technologies, the impact of the world of information on the physical world of the city, and the invisibility of cities due to information technology.

In this article, the author comments on the use of geographic information system (GIS) in landscape designing. The author discusses factors that lead to geodesign including incorporation of information technology in designing, enabling involvement of more than one designer in a process and assemblage of large number of arsenal. The author states that GIS is highly dynamic and is being highly used in spatial decision making.

The author reflects on the impact of predictions made for managing complex situations. He states that when during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia there were unpredictable gridlocks and athletes could not get to their events on time as drivers ferrying them could not find their destinations. He says that during the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, no such situations occurred despite warnings from the authorities before the Games began.

The author reflects on how debt continuously exists within a globally connected system during the global financial crisis. He states that the answers to the financial crisis is not based on resolving the debt, rather, by defining it through the endogenous growth production. He mentions that dissipating of debt can be made by reducing the assets value of debt hold. Furthermore, debt that occurs in a strongly connected system can not be dissipated since it never fades and stays forever.

The authors reflect on the function of cities as sets of interactions flowing across networks. They say that the interaction between networks and flows is complex. They mention the spatial interaction theory in 1961 showing the synthesis of flows into volumes of activity defining locations. They also discuss the two approaches adopted in dynamics called the Eulerian and Lagrangian frame of references, which are defined by location and time, as well as the challenge to develop a theory of flows.

The author reflects on the global financial crisis affecting the investment banks and financial institutions. He argues that the sovereign debt that many nations have to take on to bail the banks is becoming evident and that little is done to address the issue. The author suggest that there is a need for complexity science to adopt issues of cognition more firmly and examine notions of adaptation and expectation.

The author reflects on the development of the World Wide Web since its introduction in the early 1990s. The author notes that Tim Berners-Lee, architect of the Internet, regarded the web as a two-way communication. A means for users to exchange information and interact. The author highlights the latest development such as the Web 2.0 and online social networks.

The author reflects on the two theories on the spatial emergence of poverty. The author states that the first theory contends on the various types of structure and their spatial configurations yield greater levels of wealth. The author says that a second theory debates on power structure and industrial structure of the local society which both distinguish the levels of poverty.

The author reflects on Charles Darwin's impact on contemporary geographic thought. He cites Noel Castree's comment on the 200th birth anniversary celebration of Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origins of Species." He presents Patrick Geddes' conception of evolution. He also discusses the influence of Darwinism on geography and city planning. The author suggests that a new planning theory be built around complexity science and Darwinism.

The author reflects on the context of density defined as a key term that relates the geography of spatial activities to the geometry of places through the built environment. He mentions the distinctions between net and gross densities, with the former being described as those aspects of the building that are intrinsic to its positioning and the latter which is a much wider set of land use and transportation facilities. He relates that both features are essential in relation to density.

The article comments on uncertainty of physical planning. According to the author, the tension between centralization and decentralization represents the essential quest of planning which attempts to manipulate the physical form of the city to meet certain goals which pertain to the dimensions of the physicality: density, capacity, accessibility, propinquity and neighborhood, which affect patterns of physical interaction masking the social and economic networks that allow the city to function.

The article discusses the dynamics of social change in the financial market in Great Britain. The concept of the classical social science for change represents smooth and continuity that is consistent with positive feedbacks. According to scientist Ray Kurzweil, smooth change is also disruptive if applied to many technologies. Change is considered as an unexpected and surprising event because it is result of countless actions. In the financial market, social change will occur when individual make an investment decision associated with the behaviour of the market.

The article discusses urban sustainability and skyscrapers. The author shares his views on the increase in height of buildings which have a worldwide appeal. The Burj Tower in Dubai will have over 800 m exceeding Taipei 101 far greater. The obvious issues in building height remain the same like external energy, natural energy, and others.

The author reflects on the integration of Internet in the different aspects of the telecommunication industry. He states that online world offers an option to the traditional material world of the industry. Academia and universities have been also transformed as they used electronic devices in their daily activities. He believes that everyone can now easily have an access to online information service.