Urban Artificial Intelligence as a Meta-Modelling Framework: Repositioning AI in Urban Analysis and Planning

The rapid increase of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the urban studies has substantially broadened the analytical capability of the urban modelling, spatial analysis, as well as planning practice. Although this has increased adoption, the conceptual place of AI in the urban planning knowledge is still not well established, tied to a solitary application of technology as opposed to an analytical system. This paper takes a conceptual and review-based approach and contends that Urban Artificial Intelligence needs to be re-valuated as a meta-modelling framework that complements and restructures existing analytical traditions and not replacing them. Drawing on a critical synthesis of recent literature, the paper examines the integration of AI with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), configurational approaches such as space syntax, and urban morphology. The review identifies the predominance of predictive accuracy, automation and computational efficiency at the expense of interpretability, spatially reasoning and planning relevance. To fill this gap, the paper suggests a conceptual framework, which considers AI as an enabling analytical stratum, which will aid data integration, pattern recognition, and exploration of scenarios, yet retain human interpretation and normative judgment as the central components to planning processes. By introducing AI to a broader urban modelling ecology, the presented framework defines the role of the former in the generation of spatial knowledge and decision support, but not the autonomous decision-making. Implications of transparency, methodological coherence and people-centered planning with a focus on explainable and situation-dependent applications of AI are also provided in the paper. The study contributes to ongoing debates on the epistemological and methodological foundations of Urban Artificial Intelligence and offers a planning-oriented perspective for its responsible integration into urban modelling and analysis workflows.