In this contribution, Kees Breed of the Dutch Council for Public Administration reflects on Roel in ‘t Veld’s discussion of the 2012 Council’s report ‘Letting go and public trust’ in the previous issue of Bestuurskunde (vol. 22, issue 3, pp. 88-94). The discussion focuses on the report’s shortcomings regarding the analysis of tensions and conflicts between government, market, and society. In ‘t Veld regrets that understandings from complex systems’ theories were not used. In this reaction, Breed argues that in order to contribute to the current debates, theoretical and abstract concepts from systems’ theories will have to be confronted and matched with the actual experiences by practitioners. Reports as the one discussed, published by Advisory Coucil’s, stimulate debate and can thus contribute to bridge this gap.

In the section Review Essay, Gert-Jan Hospers discusses four recent monographies on urban design as a means to achieve political ambitions.