When you're planning something big, problems appear rather quickly. We hear of them on a daily basis. The bigger or more complex a task, the more we have to deal with complicated, multidisciplinary task formulations. In many cases it is architecture, including urban and spatial planning, but also politics and all types of organizational forms, irrespective of whether they are public authorities or private enterprises, which are expected to deliver functional solutions for such challenges. This is precisely where this book is helpful. It introduces a methodology for developing target-specific, systematic and problem-oriented as well as action-oriented solutions. In doing so, knowledge is created that goes beyond discipline limits while conflicts of values and of interests are integrated into the solution process. Only if one knows exactly where to start and what must be borne in mind is the task of solving complex problems doable and ultimately successful.

This book is addressed to architects as well as to urban and spatial planners, and likewise to politicians and managers. After all, all these different professionals are repeatedly confronted with the task of handling complex, multidisciplinary problems which cannot be solved by applying routine solutions but, indeed, can be successfully addressed by applying the problem-solving system described in this book.

Walter Schönwandt / Katrin Voermanek / Jürgen Utz / Jens Grunau / Christoph Hemberger