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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Research Questions for Kioloa 3 Background 3.1 Example of Urban Growth 3.2 Working in the field 3.3 Reading

Introduction

Established cities like Tokyo, London and Beijing (and also smaller cities like Munich or San Francisco) exhibit complex structures in their transport and utility networks and in their governance that derives from many generations of physical and institutional adaptation. The basic dynamics of supplying to the needs of the population in these cities has also evolved with the changing size of the city and the technology available but constrained by the inertia of past technology and developments. For example, the dockside that was once a major locus of industry for the city of Liverpool in the UK is only now being renewed into different land uses many decades since the docks were last worked.

More recent cities, those like Shenzen in China, also display complex structures and dynamics but their rapid expansion in the last 50 years is not so restricted by a deep history of development. The complexity displayed here is one of fast change and adaptation and equally fast moving environmental consequences.

Both these classes of city demonstrate the complex dynamics of urban function and development. Planning for the former type is fraught with decisions that have multiple dimensions and feedbacks, are influenced by several actors (concurrently and often competitively) and by trade-offs. Planning for the latter type may not be as relevant as trying to adaptively manage the current velocity of change.

It is suggested that complex systems approaches have a greater role to play in describing the morphology and dynamics of cities and in informing their management

Research Questions for Kioloa

• Can we understand the growth of cities in general? Are there city archetypes that emerge from particular initial conditions?
• Can we undestand the growth of particular cities in the context of their local geography and society?
• Can we influence more but intervene less? i.e. respond to Jane Jacob's ideas of a more bottom-up approach to influencing how cities work. See also link to Batty's 2008 article in Science below
• Dealing with uncertainties: can we predict less but explain more? It may be tempting to create large computer models representing every component of the urban system to be as precise as possible. While this may help with simulating for prediction, you can lose sight of the essential dynamics in the detail. Can we/ should we compromise some precision and remove the temptation to predict in order to get a clearer picture of the mechanics?

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SEE ALSO DISCUSSION TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE

Background

Reporting about urban performance and sustainability that concentrates on presenting aggregate data does not necessarily present us with a better appreciation of urban dynamics, intervention points or help address dynamic problems. Recognising and modelling interaction typologies (system, network and agent) presents a way forward. In this regard there are opportunities to use the strengths of complex systems models and methods to gain insight into urban dynamics and thus better inform planning and management decisions.

Example of Urban Growth

Can we grow a city? Full Movie from University of California, Santa Barbara Department of Geography

Working in the field

Reading

Books

• Cities and Complexity by Michael Batty, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005, ISBN 0-262-02583-3
• Fractal Cities: A Geometry of Form and Function, Batty, M. and P. A. Longley. San Diego, CA: Academic Press 1994
• The Dynamics of Complex Urban Systems - An Interdisciplinary Approach, Sergio Albeverio, Denise Andrey, Paolo Giordano and Alberto Vancheri Editors, 2008, Physica-Verlag Heidelberg, NewYork ISBN 9783790819366
• Self-Organisation and the City by Juval Portugali, Springer, Berlin, 1999, ISBN 103540654836
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, Vintage, New York, 1961, ISBN 10067974195X
• Principles of Urban Structure by Nikos A. Salingaros, Techne Press, Amsterdam, 2005 ISBN90-8594-001-X

Papers

• The City is Not a Tree online essay by Christopher Alexander the originator of the pattern language idea in computer science, architecture and urban design.
• Batty, M. 2008. The Size, Scale, and Shape of Cities Science 319: 769-772
• Meadows, D. H. 1999. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. Hartland VT: The Sustainability Institute
• White, R. W. and G. Engelen. 1993. Cellular automata and fractal urban form: a cellular automata modelling approach to the evolution of urban land use patterns. Environment and Planning A 25: 1175-1193
• UNESCO World of Science article on Megacities

Links

• The Complex Dynamics of Urban Systems Project, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Division
• Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London
• Fenner School for Environment and Society at the Australian National University
• Complex Systems and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Sydney
• Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan
• City Futures Research Centre at the University of New South Wales
• Centre for Developing Cities at the University of Canberra

(please add refs/links as you think-of/find them)