Urban Modelling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Jochen Gönsch and Jens Martin Gurr focus on the role of models in understanding and managing urban complexity. A primer on quantitative models from the operations research community shows their advantages and disadvantages. By contrast, from the perspective of literary urban studies, texts are discussed as qualitative models, and a novel on spatial and temporal layers in the Ruhr region serves as a case study on modelling complexities in a literary text. Finally, the role of models in both approaches is compared. The essay thus highlights intersections, transfers and complementarities between quantitative and qualitative models.