City and regional planning software in context : a rating framework for Planning Support Systems

The difficulty of projecting ecological impacts, as well as the increasing familiarity of planners with Geographical Information Systems and other software technology has led to an increase in the use of Planning Support Systems (PSS) by city and regional planners. Due to their newness and rapid development, there is, of yet, a lack of a comprehensive peer-reviewed literature on the design and implementation of these systems. This thesis proposes and applies a rating framework for PSS in order to facilitate accessibility to and critical investigation of PSS. The rating framework’s criteria are based on the “seven sins” of comprehensive land use models identified by Douglass Lee’s 1973 article “Requiem for Large-Scale Models."