This article examines the weaknesses of liberal planning institutions when dealing with organised group action. The case under review, the Kiryat-Ha'Yovel neighbourhood in Jerusalem, was considered as secular for many years. In 2000 the neighbourhood became attractive to the nearby Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jews) group of the “Kol-Torah’ community. Differences in lifestyle led to a collision between the group of “Kol-Torah”, who began “Haredification” processes to change the character of the area to be suitable to Haredim, and the veteran population, who tried to prevent it. Identifying the main engines of organised neighbourhood change and evaluating the difficulties of liberalism dealing with non-autonomous individuals in the housing market sheds light on similar processes occurring in other city centres with diverse population groups.

This article examines how the policy-maker’s ‘decision not to decide’ affects different levels of internal organization and how it is reflected in the residential patterns of different population groups. The article explores the dynamics of residential patterns in two case studies: the Collective behaviour of the Sylheti community along Whitechapel Road in Eastern London and the Group Action of the ‘Kol-Torah’ Community in Zangwill Street, Jerusalem, where Inner-markets activities create clear property lines around/within their boundaries and result in a similar homogeneous pattern. Identifying the main engines of organized neighbourhood change and the difficulties of planning and dealing with individuals in the housing market shed light on similar processes occurring in other city centres with diverse population groups.

This study examines how non-economic inter- and intra-group relationships are reflected in residential pattern, uses a mixed methods approach designed to overcome the principal weaknesses of existing data sources for understanding micro residential dynamics. Micro–macro qualitative and quantitative analysis of the infrastructure of residential dynamics offers a holistic understanding of urban spaces organized according to cultural codes. The case study, the Haredi community, is composed of sects, and residential preferences of the Haredi sect members are highly affected by the need to live amongst ‘friends’ – other members of the same sect. Based on the independent residential records at the resolution of a single family and apartment that cover the period of 20 years the study examine residential dynamics in the Hassidic area of Stamford-Hill, reveal and analyze powerful Schelling-like mechanisms of residential segregation at the apartment, building and the near neighbourhood level. Taken together, these mechanisms are candidates for explaining the dynamics of residential segregation in the area during 1995–2015.

Research regarding the complex issues in planning negotiation is sparse. This article aims to shed light on the characteristics of “the negotiation issue” in planning and how to deal with negotiation-related complexity towards planning implementation. It conceptualizes processes of negotiation that are represented/implemented via graphic and geographic elements, where the topology is a crucial factor. Our case study of the CAMKOX corridor at UCL’s geodesign workshop provides new insights into the potential of digital negotiations for assessing the characteristics of planning negotiation issues and their associated complexity drivers to enhance the quality of spatiality. The findings provide a detailed description of issue-based planning complexity. A shift of focus away from the products of planning to the negotiation process—as the most important consideration in planning—opens the possibility of implementing “shared” interventions on which there is consensus.