wE have entered a new era of research on urban phenomena which will have a tremendous effect on both campus and government. Urban studies are increasingly being characterized by model building, simulation, and the applications of systems theory. This article will attempt to assess the present high priority research problems of the city as seen from the Federal vantage point, and suggest how the &dquo;new wave&dquo; research coming from the defense field and from industry can be employed in urban studies. We will also deal with the complex institutional problems which are involved in urban research, especially the relations among government, the universities, and private industry.How soon and to what degree will the new techniques be applied in urban research? The major proposition of this paper is that the newer methodologies will for the next several years have significant value only for a limited number of urban problems, and that continued use of conventional research will be essential. No research millenium is in sight for the urbanist. This does not mean that until urban areas can be analyzed and urban programs be rationalized by &dquo;systems analysis&dquo; that we must rely on guesswork and intuition. We will be in a period of &dquo;sub-optimization&dquo;-where the at UNIV OF MICHIGAN on June 24, 2015 uar.sagepub.com Downloaded from
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