Urban Studies, Vol. 37, No.

10, 1801 – 1811, 2000

Intelligent Urban Management: Learning to

Manage and Managing to Learn Together for a
Change

Mark Stubbs, Mark Lemon and Phil Longhurst

[Paper received in Ž nal form, January 2000]

Summary. Increasing awareness of the complexity of the modern urban setting has led to the
questioning of management approaches founded on institutional, administrative and geographi-
cal 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.

Introduction and Background

Increasing awareness of the complexity of in different ways for different individuals.
the modern urban setting has begun to lead to For us, the inevitability of inadequate
the questioning of management approaches boundaries is impetus for learning to manage
founded on institutional, administrative and within them, and managing to learn in spite
geographical compartmentalisation. Urban of them. Rather than chasing omniscient and
environments act as ‘crucibles’ (Giddens, omnipotent management ideals, we direct
1984), where a multitude of interactions not our attentions to working with the insights
only take place, but also ‘make place’ for and limitations of bounded management. As
large numbers of individuals. The processes Charles Handy (1994, p. 18) observes:
at work rarely respect domains of responsi-
Life will never be easy, nor perfectible,
bility assumed by would-be managers, and
nor completely predictable. It will be best
bounded problem-solving is regularly frus-
understood backwards but we have to live
trated by unanticipated consequences. Such
it forwards.
boundaries, however, are an inescapable fea-
ture of life, enabling specialism and exper- With this in mind, we develop a conceptuali-
tise, concentrating ways of seeing and doing sation of management for responding to
Mark Stubbs is in the Department of Business Information Technology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Aytoun Street,
Manchester, M1 3GH, UK. Fax: 0161 247 6317. E-mail: m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk. Mark Lemon and Phil Longhurst are in the
International Ecotechnology Research Centre, CranŽ eld University, CranŽ eld, Bedford, MK43 0AL, UK. Fax: 01234 750163. E-mail:
M.Lemon@cranŽ eld.ac.uk; and P.J.Longhurst@cranŽ eld.ac.uk.

0042-0980 Print/1360-063X On-line/00/101801-11 Ó 2000 The Editors of Urban Studies

1802 MARK STUBBS ET AL .
complex urban issues that confound boun-
ded problem-solving. Issues like poverty,
drug-related crime and environmental quality
have exposed weaknesses in interventions
framed within the remit of any single agency,
so our conceptualisation looks across, and
not simply within, organisations. In day-
to-day organisational life, complexity is
routinely and necessarily simpliŽ ed. How-
ever, there is merit in being mindful of this
act of simpliŽ cation. Managers—welfare
ofŽ cers, probation ofŽ cers, environmental
health ofŽ cers, transport planners and so
on—focus attention on particular phenomena
within domains for which they assume re-
sponsibility. In so doing, elaborate ways of
making sense of those things are developed,
and actions are shaped accordingly. Ways of
seeing and doing become specialised and
interwoven with organisational routine. So
too do ways of not seeing and not doing
(Morgan, 1986).
Different organisations have different re-
mits and routines. Where those remits over-
lap, different routines can lead to different
perspectives on the complex of processes at
work therein. Attempts to manage in the
name of one organisation can (and do) spill
over into the domains of interest associated
with others. The prospect of making a useful
difference in such a highly connected world
can appear hopeless, or hopeful. Those, like
Mitroff and Linstone (1993), who see hope
in such interconnection, advocate pooling in-
telligence and resources across organisational
boundaries. This is done to maximise in-
sights afforded by diverse perspectives and
to minimise their limitations. Unfortunately,
such transboundary collaboration is not
straightforward. To aid those who might
wish to pursue it, this paper shows how an
interagency management response was fos-
tered in response to issues of urban air qual-
ity in the south-central region of the UK. The
notion of intelligent urban management that
arises from this experience focuses on im-
proving communication within and between
agencies about the highly connected and
emergent nature of problems for which man-
agement responsibility had been assumed. In
our conclusions, we consider how this kind
of transboundary action and learning can be
further inspired and sustained.
In order to illustrate the notion of different
perspectives on complex issues, two air qual-
ity problems are introduced: odour from
land-Ž ll and trafŽ c-derived ozone. Table 1
shows how these problems can appear differ-
ently when conceptualised from different
perspectives. Two broad perspectives are
contrasted—biophysical and social/
behavioural. Each shows elements of
signiŽ cance in accounts of the problem and
typical levers used in managing the problem
at source, in transmission and in reception.
Whilst it is clear that elements in each per-
spective are connected, the phenomena of
interest, and levers used, are qualitatively
very different and typically involve very dif-
ferent agencies. Herein lies the potential for
pooling intelligence and resources.
To develop this point further, a second
table is introduced. Table 2 shows four dif-
ferent agencies that might contribute to an
integrated air quality management initiative,
their interests and possible contributions. As
each could alert the other to potential prob-
lems, this contribution is noted here and ex-
cluded from the table.
Identifying useful contributions from dif-
ferent agencies and ways in which those
contributions might be secured is a central
challenge for any integrated management ini-
tiative. Our case study sheds light on this
process; but it should not be seen as a pre-
scription for an interorganisational super-
structure within which air quality should be
managed. In keeping with the sentiments
which opened this paper, we believe it is
important to be modest about proposing
structures which match (and will continue to
match) such complex issues, even for
speciŽ c contexts. Instead, we offer an ac-
count of how individuals from different or-
ganisations were encouraged to organise
themselves in new ways in response to an
issue which had no respect for historical
boundaries between them. This focus com-
pares favourably with Redclift’s (1996, p. 1)
criticisms of contemporary responses to the
 Table 1. Air quality problems and interventions
Problem Possible interventions
TrafŽ c-derived ozone
A biophysical problem involving the interaction Source—change vehicle fuels, etc.
of non-methane volatile organic compounds and
nitrous oxides to form pollution hotspots (for Transmission—change landscape and climate!
example, near trafŽ c-dense locations); the landscape
and climate-effected transfer of these pollutants over Reception—treat respiratory illnesses
time and space (3 – 5 hours later, 50 – 60 km away
with low wind speed); and increased incidents of
respiratory illness (for example, asthma) amongst
vulnerable populations (particularly the young and
elderly) exposed to high levels of ozone
A social and behavioural problem in which Source—change individuals’ travel choices,
individuals’ travel choices exacerbate pollution transport management
production and their daily life-paths expose them
to varying air quality Transmission—
Reception—change individuals exposure;
keep children inside when summer rush-hour
effects are manifest
Land-Ž ll odour
A biophysical problem arising from the Source—control waste composition and gas
proportion of organic waste and the state of management
decay upon arrival, and the way in which the
resulting gases are managed on site. Physical Transmission—control landscape and climate!
transfer of odour is relatively localised, and
determined by climate and the lie of the land. Reception—disguise unpleasant odour
INTELLIGENT URBAN MANAGEMENT

Individuals vary in sensitivity to odour

A social and behavioural problem in which
organic waste is generated over a wide area but
odour is only experienced by those individuals’
whose daily life-paths take them close to the
disposal site. The impact of odour depends on
how local amenity is effected—for example, house prices—
and this may be complicated by other site activities—
for example, odour may become associated with lorry
movements. Severity further complicated by varying
deŽ nitions of what is unpleasant and what people
will tolerate
Source—reduce organic waste sent to land-Ž ll
Transmission—site land-Ž ll operations to
minimise community effects
Reception—co-ordinate land-Ž ll activity and
community exposure to minimise effects on
local amenity; use unmarked lorries; establish
a responsive complaints scheme; promote
local employment
1803

Sources: Cannibal et al. (1997); Lemon and Longhurst (1996).

1804 MARK STUBBS ET AL .

Table 2. Agency interests and contributions to air quality

Actor/Agency Interest Contribution

Land-use planners Encouraging increasingly Data about and some control

sustainable local development
Transport planners Safe, dependable, accessible
transport infrastructure
Environmental health Safe and healthy local
environment
Public health authority Returning those who are ill to a
better state of health and
preventing illness where possible
over the ‘stations’ in
individuals’daily lives
Data about and some control
over individuals’ habitual travel
Data about pollution
distribution and possible
consequences for public health
Data about general health of
residents (particularly
distribution of poor health) and
capacity to intervene to effect
improvement

agenda raised by the concept of sustainable
development:
We are in effect inventing new institu-
tional structures for managing the environ-
ment which bear little or no relation to the
processes through which the environment
is being transformed.
Bringing Together Potential Contributors
Bringing together those most able to make a
difference to a complex issue, such as urban
air quality management, is unlikely to be
easy. We have shown that potential contribu-
tors may hold different organisational alle-
giances, identities and experiences. This is,
however, both the central challenge and the
raison d’être for integrated management re-
sponses. Bringing together potential contrib-
utors creates the opportunity to share not
only different perspectives on a focal issue,
but also evidence of actions already taken. In
this way, enhanced awareness of the complex
nature of the problems faced can be counter-
balanced with the hope of making a differ-
ence. It is easy to see how each might
triumph at the expense of the other, but the
process of making an integrated response
must maintain a dynamic balance between
the two. Both hope and awareness provide
important resources for action, and these re-
sources are developed, distributed and de-
stroyed when individuals interact with one
another. Being cognisant of this provides an
important foundation for integrated urban
management.
Bringing together potential contributors
inevitably involves two core activities:
Ž nding suitable individuals and engaging
them in meaningful activities. To secure the
involvement of new members—and, for that
matter, the continuing support of any estab-
lished core—participation must appear an at-
tractive proposition. It is probably safe to
assume that any individual who could use-
fully be involved will be experiencing pres-
sures to do other things. It is therefore
important that past achievements and poten-
tial of the network are obvious. They can be
a sign of hope, and thus inspire participation.
They might also point to opportunities to
trade insights with those who prefer less
direct involvement, increasing the pool from
which the core can draw when designing
interventions. In this way, the adaptive man-
agement leitmotiv of learning to manage and
managing to learn (see, for instance, Haney
and Power, 1996; McLain and Lee, 1996)
can be demonstrated in action. Discoveries in
one agency that inform decision-making in
others can provide a clear illustration of
 INTELLIGENT URBAN MANAGEMENT
beneŽ ts, sustaining the perceived value of
network participation. In the case study, we
will explore further how an issue – reponse
network might expand and evolve. But Ž rst,
we should summarise our emerging concep-
tualisation of intelligent urban management.
Our conceptualisation of intelligent urban
management emphasises a process of build-
ing hope and awareness amongst individuals
who appear (to each other and/or any ap-
pointed process facilitator) most able to
make a difference to some complex issue. As
such issues have no respect for the
boundaries of responsibility and authority
marked out by organisational routines and
decision horizons, it is most likely that the
search for appropriate individuals will tran-
scend organisational boundaries and the ca-
pacity for knowing and doing of those who
become involved will inevitably be partial
and parochial, never encapsulating the com-
plexity of emergent phenomena for which
management responsibility has been as-
sumed. This is not an excuse for inaction, but
an invitation to experiment and share hope
and awareness with others who could make a
difference. It is both a challenge and an
opportunity. To demonstrate this, we will
now examine how a network of individuals
learned to manage and managed to learn in
response to emerging issues of urban air
quality, particularly odour and trafŽ c-derived
pollution.
Case Study
In 1995 and 1996, with input from CranŽ eld
University, a number of projects were ini-
tiated at varying levels of local government
in the south-central region of the UK. These
were designed to integrate insights and ex-
perience on air quality, health and trafŽ c. A
group of strategic planners had become par-
ticularly interested in the idea and a work-
shop was arranged to consider how an
integrated response might be taken forward.
In this, the issue of air quality was conceptu-
alised as a metaphorical jigsaw in which
different agencies and departments held dif-
ferent pieces of the puzzle. Air quality man-
1805
agement in the area was not characterised by
a history of interagency co-operation, so the
initial core of interested individuals initiated
efforts to Ž nd and secure access to the
‘pieces of the jigsaw’. This effort took the
form of networking (Kanter, 1994). Individu-
als (who saw themselves as networkers) set
out across organisational boundaries to elicit
the insights of key individuals and gain ac-
cess to datasets that might be of more general
use.
In the management and business literature,
such ‘boundary diplomats’ are often viewed
as performing a difŽ cult but essential role in
facilitating more holistic and less parochial
approaches (Kanter, 1994). Through their ex-
ploration and negotiation, the networkers in
the case study built mental maps of potential
contributors, the resources for which they
acted as gatekeepers and individuals’ particu-
lar areas of concern. Table 2 provides a
high-level illustration of the interests and
possible contributions of key agencies, but
the actual maps were more detailed, encom-
passing speciŽ c contact details, strategies for
approaching the contacts, etc. Interestingly,
whilst endeavouring to piece together the air
quality ‘jigsaw’, networkers became aware
of resources that might prove useful for other
issues. For instance, an enhanced apprecia-
tion of opportunities for joint initiatives on
social deprivation was a welcome by-product
of air quality discussions between social ser-
vices, health and housing agencies. In effect,
networkers sought out stakeholders in a par-
ticular issue—air quality—and discovered
that those stakeholders had interests in and a
power to contribute to other complex issues.
This awareness of the latent potential of the
stakeholder network was considered an out-
come of equal importance to the mobilisation
of expertise and resources to deal with the
issue that was currently considered most
pressing (in this case, air quality).
The networking activity was given new
impetus by the importance attached to a co-
ordinated local response to air quality within
the UK’s National Air Quality Strategy
(DoE, 1997), drafted in 1996. Arrangements
were made for a multiagency meeting to
1806 MARK STUBBS ET AL .
discuss a local response to this draft. The
prospect of a meeting was well received
despite there being no guarantee of a ‘pro-
ductive outcome’ and the observation from
the provisional networking activity that key
players had diverse and sometimes
con icting perceptions of the processes af-
fecting, and affected by, air quality. Each
participant was invited according to their
role, organisational allegiance and personal
perspective (i.e. each was selected to contrib-
ute pieces of the puzzle), and a facilitator
was engaged to manage the process of the
meeting.
Managing to Learn from Diverse
Perspectives
Although the prize of learning from each
other’s perspectives is an attractive one
(Senge, 1990), the assumptions and experi-
ence on which they rest are rarely exposed
for scrutiny by others. Particular ways of
seeing the world tend to be taken for granted
and, when discussing complex issues, indi-
viduals gravitate towards defending, rather
than exploring, the positions they adopt
(Argyris, 1993). Feelings of frustration with
the current state of affairs, coupled with per-
ceptions of constraints and the allocation of
responsibility or blame, can further compli-
cate matters, making shared understanding a
far from assured outcome of group situations.
The challenge was thus to run the air quality
meeting in such a way as to promote shared
understanding and discourage defensive, un-
questioning behaviour. Inspiration for facili-
tating the event came from two sources:
Senge’s (1990) notion of a ‘spirit of inquiry’
and the ideas on creative analysis offered by
Gordon (1961) and Rickards (1990). Tech-
niques for suspending judgement and allow-
ing insights to transcend traditional role
constraints were of most interest, and these
were employed and reŽ ned in the action-
research tradition (for full details, see Stubbs,
1998).
Potential participants were invited to at-
tend two half-day workshops, a week apart.
Splitting the event allowed each workshop to
adopt a distinct  avour and provided scope
for re ection and responsive planning in be-
tween. The overall aim for the Ž rst workshop
was to reveal diverse perceptions and to
think creatively within a common language
for expressing insights about the issue; the
ambitious aim for the second was to build a
shared vision of ways forward. These inten-
tions were communicated to participants. Es-
tablishing an appropriate atmosphere for the
Ž rst workshop was vital and, on arrival, par-
ticipants wrote their name and position on a
 ip chart. They were invited to see this as a
symbol of leaving their positions at the door
so that only experience and insight would
enter the debate (see Senge, 1990, p. 261).
Efforts to build a suitable ‘spirit of inquiry’
continued with a warm-up activity which
acted as both an ‘ice-breaker’ and an oppor-
tunity for the facilitator to establish desired
behavioural norms. By inviting suggestions
for the uses to which a wooden spatula might
be put, rules of brainstorming were intro-
duced in a neutral arena, and judgmental or
defensive behaviours were actively discour-
aged. Participants were then invited, and
helped by interventions from the facilitator,
to carry this ‘spirit of inquiry’ into the collec-
tive consideration of how to respond to is-
sues of local air quality. Following Rickards’
work (1990), participants’ perceptions of im-
portant problems were captured as positive,
goal-oriented ‘how to …’ statements. This
provided an opportunity for each participant
to see the problems that other players saw in
the air quality issue. Similarities and differ-
ences were noted, and consensus was sought
about the diverse nature of the problems
faced and the most appropriate place to start
examining them. To achieve this, problems
(over 200 of them) were clustered and one
cluster was voted most deserving of creative
suggestions: namely, ‘how to target efforts
on air quality’. Some suggestions were made,
but most attention was focused on articulat-
ing the associated problems in more detail.
To inject creativity (see Gordon, 1961; Rick-
ards, 1990), suggestions were invited for an
image or metaphor of the problem at hand,
namely targeting. As imagery was supplied
 INTELLIGENT URBAN MANAGEMENT 1807

and elaborated, participants’ ideas seemed to
spark one another as they oscillated between
the metaphor and the original problem.
For instance, in free- owing discussion
about the image of targeting a weapon, an
analogy between behavioural change and
biological weapons/infection was raised.
This initiated a discussion about how com-
munities might become immune when con-
tinually exposed to the same air quality
messages. One participant suggested that
such messages must ‘mutate’ to be treated as
something new; and another explained how
something similar had been done with a
healthy-eating campaign. Although it was
not easy to maintain this spirit of inquiry,
feedback at the end of the Ž rst meeting sug-
gested that participants felt they had
beneŽ ted from the opportunity to share their
awareness of the problems of air quality
management with those who could also make
a difference. However, there was an air of
general scepticism about the second meeting
achieving its stated aim.
To combat feelings of ‘hopelessness’ cre-
ated by the complexity brought into the open
by the Ž rst workshop, the second focused on
ways to make a positive difference. Senge’s
(1990) notion of leverage was introduced, in
which deep knowledge of pertinent processes
is used to identify small interventions that
have a large desired effect. Participants were
invited to revisit the problems raised in the
previous meeting with a view to seeing
which could beneŽ t from small local action.
To aid the process, the ‘how to …’ state-
ments had been copied onto cards and partic-
ipants divided into groups to reach an
informed consensus about which problems
were (and were not) amenable to leverage.
When groups re ected on their deliberations,
it became clear that ‘education’ was regarded
as an important lever that was currently un-
derexploited. Participants then pooled their
knowledge of local resources that could be
drawn upon to support an air quality manage-
ment response, before breaking into small
groups (across agencies) to deŽ ne illustrative
projects. Three were articulated in some de-
tail, loosely following the template provided
by soft systems root deŽ nitions (Checkland
and Scholes, 1990)—see Table 3. Feedback
after the session indicated that participants
seemed impressed that it had been possible to
reach a consensus with colleagues in other
departments and organisations about ways in
which a positive difference could be made.
Some participants were keen to maintain

Table 3. Example root deŽ nitions

A project co-ordinated by the licensing section of the local authority

to achieve increased frequency of emissions testing for taxis and private-hire vehicles
by means of imposing licence conditions
in order to improve air quality in urban centres
A project co-ordinated by the green business network
to achieve a reduction in fuel use
by means of encouraging business to consider  exible working arrangements
in order to reduce the need to travel
A project to launch a demonstration community transport scheme
by means of community participation and design, monitoring and review and providing information—
for example, through schools initiatives, bus company co-operation and voluntary speed limits
in order to improve local air quality and quality of life, to address resource consumption and to promote
local ownership for local action
co-ordinated by (a speciŽ c) Local Agenda 21 group
involving local authority, community, voluntary groups, police, businesses, bus companies, schools,
LA21, universities and the press
within a time-scale of being up and running within 12 months with regular reviews and further targets
to be set
1808 MARK STUBBS ET AL .
the spirit of learning together beyond the
workshops, and arrangements were made to
pool available data on air quality. The initial
workshops had conŽ rmed that a central prob-
lem for air quality management was that
everything moves. Pollutants, those exposed
and even some sources (for example, motor
vehicles) can be mobile. Exposure is difŽ cult
to appreciate and is unlikely to provide a
complete explanation of how air quality is
perceived. Variety in the sensitivity of indi-
viduals and the potential for triggers of as-
sociation can easily complicate matters (see
Table 1). Against this backdrop, datasets
were pooled not so much to Ž nd answers, as
to ask better questions and to explore what
might already seem apparent.
Determined negotiations prior to the event
secured access to appropriate data—for ex-
ample, on incidents of respiratory hospitali-
sations, trends in respiratory problems
detected by general practitioners, trafŽ c vol-
umes and  ows, measures of air quality and
so on. These data were presented using geo-
graphical information system technology as
coloured maps of the local area over time,
with red being used to highlight areas of
concern and green the opposite. Visualising
the available datasets in this way facilitated
pattern recognition, but meaningful interpret-
ation relied on working knowledge of factors
surrounding the data, and these factors were
highlighted as participants presented their
datasets to the workshop. For instance, pat-
terns of increased diagnosis of asthma (and
similar illnesses) by general practitioners
were set against a backdrop of increased
awareness amongst patients and doctors.
Hospitalisations listing respiratory illness as
primary cause for admission were analysed
by post-code area (the information immedi-
ately available for exploring geographical
distribution). As home is unlikely to be the
only station in an individual’s daily life-path,
it was acknowledged that exposure to poor
air quality was likely to occur at others, and
while travelling between them—for example,
on a daily commute to work. Indeed, debate
about the process through which adverse
health effects might be manifest led to post-
code areas being seen as possible indicators
of susceptibility to poor air quality—as a
consequence of housing stock, income, diet,
etc.—rather than providing an adequate ac-
count of exposure. The workshop was char-
acterised by this kind of tentative theorising
and speculation about processes which might
underlie patterns apparent within the avail-
able data. A composite model of this specu-
lation is shown in Figure 1 which illustrates
the range of factors revealed when partici-
pants from different agencies worked to-
gether to share their awareness of aspects of
a complex phenomenon that appeared rel-
evant to them. To maintain a balance be-
tween hope and awareness, a facilitator
regularly encouraged participants to explain
their current efforts to make a difference and
to discuss new possibilities for individual
and collective action—some of which are
now on-going. In this way, the workshop
afforded another glimpse of the practice of
working together with hope and awareness,
on which our vision of intelligent urban man-
agement is founded.
Re ection and Further Work
When re ecting on these attempts to deal
with emerging issues of air quality in the
urban environment, it is clear that the issues
themselves are complex and transcend estab-
lished boundaries of responsibility and con-
cern. Although the draft National Air Quality
Strategy (now in force) gave local govern-
ment a co-ordinating role, the studies sup-
ported the need for a ‘fantasy air quality
management team’—a network of individu-
als from varied organisations able to contrib-
ute useful insights and action. The challenge
was to build ownership for air quality prob-
lems amongst this virtual team. ‘Network’, in
both its noun and verb senses, was central to
this response (see Kanter and Eccles, 1992).
The issue – response network emerged and
was sustained through networking activities
in which hope and awareness were devel-
oped and distributed. This provided our
glimpse of intelligent urban management.
Unfortunately, the time-frame of the work
 INTELLIGENT URBAN MANAGEMENT 1809

Figure 1. A multi-institutional picture of air quality.

1810 MARK STUBBS ET AL .
did not allow for adequate exploration of the
long-term challenges of maintaining a net-
work response across organisations. As a
starting-point for further study, however, it is
useful to speculate on sources of tension and
opportunity.
The longevity of the management re-
sponses we have proposed rests on individu-
als’ abilities to sustain strong ties with
potentially diverse social networks, particu-
larly the transboundary issue– reponse net-
work and the organisation/stakeholder group
to which they belong. There is some evidence
to suggest that the ‘psychological stress’ of
strong ties to a diverse group can prove too
difŽ cult to endure (Granovetter, 1973). How-
ever, the situation has also been viewed more
optmistically as an inspirational ‘creative ten-
sion’. Action might be inspired by dissonance
between the big picture, sensed through par-
ticipation in the issue – reponse network, and
the day-to-day realities of an individual’s
organisation/stakeholder group (Senge, 1990;
and Pascale, 1990). Our view of intelligent
urban management is similarly optimistic
about individuals’ capacities to think global
and act local: but it is clear that an important
question for further work would concern the
way in which individuals manage con icts
arising from membership of potentially di-
verse social networks.
A second question concerns ways in which
relationships within the network might be
supported. This could include establishing a
network core for a particular sustainable de-
velopment issue—for example, waste, or air
quality. Such a core could be made more
durable by securing (joint) funding from key
agencies involved. This funding could sup-
port permanent staff positions (such as net-
work co-ordinators and brokers), and would
symbolise agency commitment. For air qual-
ity in the south-central region of the UK, this
option is now being pursued and we hope to
study it. However, other, possibly comple-
mentary, mechanisms for network support are
worth exploring, particularly information
technology (IT).
The increasing penetration of the Internet
and the growth in so-called extranets—
restricted areas of the Internet established
across organisations for mutual beneŽ t—offer
opportunities for a durable infrastructure to
support collaborative endeavour. This is not
to say that technology should be explored as
the impetus for creating and sustaining issue –
reponse networks across organisations.
Rather, it is useful to examine mutual inter-
play between the possibilities of IT and or-
ganisational actors’ desires, understanding
and capacities for responding to sustainable
development issues that they regard as com-
plex and transboundary. As a medium in
which network learning could be routinely
enacted, IT offers an interesting avenue for
study. In other arenas, joint investment in IT
has cemented relations across organisations
(Kumar and van Dissel, 1996), formalising
common understanding of problems in shared
databases, and enabling joint-interest cyber-
communities to form across boundaries that
might otherwise inhibit communication. The
potential of the World Wide Web’s role as a
forum for those interested in the complexities
of sustainable development has already re-
ceived some consideration (Ahmed and
Hardaker, 1999). Our call would be to study
the role of IT in the context of speciŽ c
issue– reponses across organisations (and, for
that matter, departments).
The image we set out of working together
with hope and awareness is modest and prag-
matic. The leitmotiv of learning to manage
and managing to learn replaces the ideal of
omniscient and omnipotent management.
Would-be managers must do their best to
think global and act local, but they will never
be perfect. With hindsight, mistakes will be-
come apparent, and they must drive improve-
ment. Unanticipated consequences point to
opportunities to sharpen one’s sense of audi-
ence about those over whom in uence might
be exerted, but one must listen to and be
willing to learn from the voices of relevant
others. Somehow those others must be repre-
sented. This can be difŽ cult, particularly if
they express themselves in ways that are
outside our comprehension (for example,
wildlife) or are not yet born, but this does not
make their say any less important (Senge,
 INTELLIGENT URBAN MANAGEMENT
1990, p. 23). A would-be manager’s sense of
audience can never be perfect, but it can be
open to improvement and enrichment by
those who see and do things differently. Our
view of intelligent urban management is
shaped by these principles and as such there
is much to commend it as a response to
emerging issues of sustainable development
in the urban environment. The challenge is to
make it work.
Our case study has emphasised the critical
role of networking for building an apprecia-
tion of those who might play a part in inte-
grated management responses, and has
highlighted the need for suitable seeds from
which transboundary networks can grow.
Blowers (1993) has portrayed local govern-
ment as a particularly fertile bed for such
initiatives, but other possibilities deserve ex-
ploration—large employers, ofŽ cial Environ-
mental Agencies, Local Agenda 21 forums
and so on. We have offered glimpses of the
conditions under which issue – reponse net-
works can develop—deals being brokered to
trade insights between organisations, stake-
holder workshops that promote a spirit of
inquiry and so on. We have also speculated
on mechanisms which might nurture and sus-
tain such responses, particularly the growing
potential of IT. Dialogue between the princi-
ples and practice of intelligent urban man-
agement must continue, and we therefore
welcome feedback on the ideas herein.
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