Intelligent Urban Management: Learning to Manage and Managing to Learn Together for a Change

Abstract

Increasing awareness of the complexity of the modern urban setting has led to the questioning of management approaches founded on institutional, administrative and geographical compartmentalisation. The paper develops a conceptualisation of management for responding to complex urban issues that confound bounded problem-solving. The article shows how an interagency management response was fostered in relation to issues of urban air quality in the south-central region of the UK. The notion of intelligent urban management that arises from this experience focuses on improving communication within and between agencies about the highly connected and emergent nature of problems for which management responsibility has been assumed. In conclusion, the paper considers how this kind of transboundary action and learning can be further inspired and sustained.

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