“Systems” as Boundary Objects: Systems Ecology and Urban Planning in the Inter-institutional Policy Simulator (IIPS) Project, 1970–1974

Abstract

This article studies the intersection of systems ecology and urban planning in the Inter-Institutional Policy Simulator (IIPS) project, conducted between 1970 and 1974 in Metro Vancouver, and tries to understand how ecologists influenced the planning of urban systems. I analyze the rise and fall of IIPS as the interaction between “IIPS the Platform” and “IIPS the Product,” or between the network of experts and the simulator they aimed to create. Although IIPS failed to create a desirable product, I argue that the project can exemplify ecologists’ desire to reform the practice of urban planning through the power of systems science.