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Xinhao Wang and Rainer vom Hofe , Springer/Tsinghua University Press, 2007, Hardback, 430pp.,
ISBN: 978-3-540-49657-1
In a field as diverse in its constituency as urban and regional planning, quantitative methods of the type covered in this new text have become something of a poor relation; not because of their inadequacy, but more as a result of what might be viewed as changing fashions of research. Nonetheless, urban and regional planning needs to remain a discipline of coherent method and Wang and vom Hofe stake their claim to a patch of the methodological terra firma that is as fertile as ever, even if it remains under-cultivated at present. Their contribution is a welcome new addition to the discipline and is both comprehensive and ambitious. The book is an introductory text aimed at upper-level undergraduates and graduate students and sets for itself the following three objectives: 'to present a wide variety of urban and regional planning analytical methods'; 'to present these selected analytical methods in a manner that will allow the readers to apply individual methods on their own'; and, 'to emphasise how different subject areas in planning relate to each other' (p. 3). The book runs to 430 pages, divided into eight chapters, and includes 97 figures and 139 tables. The main substantive chapters (3-7) are supplemented with 'Review Questions' and 'Exercises' at the end and ample references are provided for...