Planning theory, laws, and systems are essentially procedural in that they focus on the process of planning and decision-making but do not deal with the substance of the decisions nor their impact on cities. They emphasize the role of the many (f)actors that shape the built environment rather than the resultant properties of the built environment itself. This is true both for the rational comprehensive theory of the 1960s and the 1990s postmodern theory of communicative planning theory. In this article we claim that current planning weaknesses, on the one hand, and viewing cities as complex self-organizing systems, on the other, require re-linking planning theory, law, and administration to the substantive qualitative relations between the various urban elements. We then introduce, first, an example for theorizing such an `Urban Code' that turns the spatial relations into a planning rule and, second, a suggestion for a planning system that is responsive to these qualitative relations and is capable of updating them.

Purpose: The article aims to examine the extent to which ageism is connected with the social integration of older adults in their neighborhoods and to identify factors that explain social integration. Design and Methods: A convenience sample that included 300 older adults aged 65 and older and 300 younger people under the age of 65 who resided in 3 neighborhoods in Tel-Aviv with varied socioeconomic status were interviewed. Kogan’s Attitudes toward Old People scale was used to probe ageism. Social integration index included 3 dimensions: frequency of participation in activities in the neighborhood, familiarity with neighbors, and sense of neighborhood. Hierarchical regression analyses examined 3 groups of independent variables: older adults’ sociodemographic characteristics, their perceived health and outdoor mobility, and neighborhoods’ characteristics including level of ageism. Results: Neighborhoods varied by levels of ageism and social integration. Higher level of social integration of older neighborhoods’ residents was explained by a combination of factors: younger age, better self-rated health, and fewer limitations of outdoor mobility, lower levels of ageism reported by a sample of younger respondents, and higher socioeconomic status of the neighborhood. Implications: To enable better social integration, intergeneration programs should be developed to decrease ageism, and in order to make communities more age-friendly, there is need to facilitate accessibility to services and public spaces.

The article deals with the growing tendency to articulate planning policies through principles and codes, a feature of recent planning theory and practice. While this tool arouses interest and enthusiasm, very little attention is given to how it affects planning thought and impacts – or should impact – the act of planning and the institutions involved. After reviewing pre-modern decision-making frameworks that accompanied the use of planning codes, this article highlights the role of mutual agreement and shared responsibility in the application of the past planning codes. It then discusses the meaning of the transition to planning codes and elaborates on the opportunity to remedy the embedded pitfalls created by applying comprehensive land-use plans as a regulatory tool, and to institute planning that is based on the principles of liberal democracy.