Learning in urban renewal - PhD project Janneke van Bemmel OTB Delft
intensive design processes a more professional approach to process design is needed. In such design
processes, potential mistakes are less likely to be corrected by face-to-face contacts and informal
feedback. This applies to urban renewal processes, since many urban renewal processes are complex,
large-scale, and knowledge intensive. Therefore, the methods Van Aken describes to develop a
process design are used for the research project of which this paper is part.
To approach the design process more professionally, Van Aken promotes the development of
prescriptive process models, or solution concepts, to be used in process design. With these solution
concepts, technological rules can be developed. A Technological rule is defined by Bunge (1967:132)
as ‘an instruction to perform a finite number of acts in a given order and with a given aim’.
Technological rules have a logical structure. Van Aken explains that as follows: ‘This logical structure
is: ifyou want to achieve Y in setting Z, then do (something like) X. The core of the technological rule
is this X, a general solution concept for a type of field problem. The remainder of the rule is a kind of
user instruction for the solution concept, connecting it to an expected performance and a type of field
problem, including indications and contra-indications.’ (van Aken, 2005a:389)
It is important to indicate that a technological rule does not guarantee a certain outcome, but
it facilitates its achievement. For the process design of complex design processes, a technological rule
is not an instruction to be followed unquestionably, but a general starting point that must be
developed to suit the specific situation at hand. The principle of minimal specification should be
employed; a solution concept should only specify what is necessary and restrain from excess details.
Professionals in the field in question can use technological rules to design their specific design
process, considering the specific problem in a specific setting at hand. People’s actions are not
determined by a solution concept; they have to internalize the concept and be motivated to design
and manage their own specific activities according to it (Van Aken, 2005a; Van Aken, 2005b).
For the research project of which this paper is part, the relevant technological rule should be
something like this: if you want to achieve increased knowledge use in decision making (Y) in large
scale complex urban renewal processes (Z), then do - something like - improve the learning process
(X). The desired outcome (Y) is a good quality urban renewal project, specified as increased
knowledge use in decision making. The solution concept, X, improving the learning process, is very
generally stated because the aim of the research is to develop that solution concept.
A first step towards the development of the process design is a review of existing research in
search for relevant building blocks. This approach is called research synthesis, “in which the results of
a variety of field research projects are used to develop a broader range of technological rules for a
certain design process problem and with more evidence on their performance than an individual
research project can produce” (Van Aken, 2005a:400). The second step is to further develop the
process design through the method of the multiple case study. Three urban renewal processes are
studied with a focus on learning, and in specific, the use of knowledge in decision-making. Successful
and poor examples of knowledge use in decision-making are analysed in order to deduce insights for
the process design. And because a technological rule should be field-tested which means that the rule
has been tested in the relevant setting, the third step is to submit the process design to expert panel
testing. Professionals in the urban renewal field will be involved in thought experiments with which