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Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age

An Overview with Implications to Urban Planning and Design

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
  2. Introduction

    • Juval Portugali
    Pages 1-2
  3. Complexity Theories and Complexity Theories of Cities: An Overview

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 3-5
  4. Complexity theories and complexity theories of cities: An overview

    1. The Origins of Complexity Theory in Cities and Planning

      • Michael Batty, Stephen Marshall
      Pages 21-45
  5. Aspects of Cities as Complex Systems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-66
  6. Complexity Theories of Cities: Implications to Urban Planning and Design

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-189

About this book

Today, our cities are an embodiment of the complex, historical evolution of knowledge, desires and technology. Our planned and designed activities co-evolve with our aspirations, mediated by the existing technologies and social structures.  The city represents the accretion and accumulation of successive layers of collective activity, structuring and being structured by other, increasingly distant cities, reaching now right around the globe.

This historical and structural development cannot therefore be understood or captured by any set of fixed quantitative relations. Structural changes imply that the patterns of growth, and their underlying reasons change over time, and therefore that any attempt to control the morphology of cities and their patterns of flow by means of planning and design, must be dynamical, based on the mechanisms that drive the changes occurring at a given moment.

This carefully edited post-proceedings volume gathers a snapshot view by leading researchers in field, of current complexity theories of cities. In it, the achievements, criticisms and potentials yet to be realized are reviewed and the implications to planning and urban design are assessed.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Dept. Geography, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Juval Portugali

  • Research laboratory ULab., Urban Design - Theory & Methods, TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

    Han Meyer

  • , Environmental Planning and Ecology, TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

    Egbert Stolk

  • , International New Town Institute, TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

    Ekim Tan

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age

  • Book Subtitle: An Overview with Implications to Urban Planning and Design

  • Editors: Juval Portugali, Han Meyer, Egbert Stolk, Ekim Tan

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24544-2

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-24543-5Published: 05 February 2012

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-44659-7Published: 13 April 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-24544-2Published: 03 February 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 434

  • Topics: Urbanism, Human Geography, Complexity, Data-driven Science, Modeling and Theory Building

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
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