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Synergetic Cities: Information, Steady State and Phase Transition

Implications to Urban Scaling, Smart Cities and Planning

  • Introduction to the concept of Synergetic Cities which is a view on cities as complex systems from the perspective of Hermann Haken’s theory of Synergetics
  • Discusses implications to three issues that stand at the core of current discourse on complexity theories of cities (CTC): urban scaling, smart cities and city planning
  • Focused on information, steady state and phase transitions of synergetic cities

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Synergetics (SSSYN)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
    Pages 1-4
  3. Theoretical Foundations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5
    2. Cities as Hybrid Complex Systems

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 7-15
    3. Synergetics: A Short Reminder

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 17-30
    4. SIRN, IA and Their Conjunction (SIRNIA)

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 31-50
    5. Relationships. Bayes, Friston, Jaynes and Synergetics 2nd Foundation

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 85-104
  4. Steady State and Phase Transition

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
    2. Steady States and the City

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 107-124
    3. Phase Transitions

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 125-142
    4. Phase Transition and the City

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 143-164
    5. The Slaving Principle, Circular Causality and the City

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 165-176
  5. Implications

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177
    2. Urban Allometry During Steady States and Phase Transitions

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 179-197
    3. Urban Scaling, Urban Regulatory Focus and Their Interrelations

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 199-215
    4. Smart Cities: Distributed Intelligence or Central Planning?

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 217-233
    5. Cognitive Planning and Professional Planning

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 235-248
    6. Concluding Notes

      • Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali
      Pages 249-251

About this book

The book offers a novel approach to the study of the complex dynamics of cities. It is based on (1) Synergetics as a science of cooperation and selforganization, (2) information theory including semantic and pragmatic aspects, and optimization principles, (3) a theory of steady state maintenance, and of (4) phase transition, i.e. qualitative changes of structure or behavior.

From this novel theoretical vantage point, the book addresses particularly three issues that stand at the core of current discourse on cities: Urban Scaling, Smart Cities and City Planning.

An important consequence of “the 21st century as the age of cities”, is that the study of cities currently attracts scientists from a variety of disciplines, ranging from physics, mathematics and computer science, through urban studies, architecture, planning  and human geography, to economics, psychology, sociology, public administration and more. The book is thus likely to attract scholars, researchers andstudents of these research domains, of complexity theories of cities, as well as of general complexity theory. In addition, it is directed also to practitioners of urbanism, city planning and urban design.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Center of Synergetics, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Hermann Haken

  • Department of Geography and Human Environment, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Juval Portugali

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Synergetic Cities: Information, Steady State and Phase Transition

  • Book Subtitle: Implications to Urban Scaling, Smart Cities and Planning

  • Authors: Hermann Haken, Juval Portugali

  • Series Title: Springer Series in Synergetics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63457-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-63456-8Published: 13 February 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-63459-9Published: 13 February 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-63457-5Published: 12 February 2021

  • Series ISSN: 0172-7389

  • Series E-ISSN: 2198-333X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 260

  • Number of Illustrations: 54 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Transportation Technology and Traffic Engineering, Complexity, Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access