Complexity, Coordination Dynamics and the Urban Landscape

Abstract

Similar to living complex systems, cities are composed of a huge number of interacting parts, each with its specific properties, rhythm, etc., that, by means of self-organization, give rise to a functioning complex system. A major challenge is thus to follow the self-organized adaptation process by which the huge number of diverse parts coordinate their action and behavior into a coherent whole. Coordination dynamics, the science of coordination, elaborates on this issue, showing how patterns of coordination form, adapt, persist and change in living things. Recent studies on cities and complexity exposed that human agents differ from other living things in that they adapt not only through behavior but also through the construction of artifacts, thus giving rise to hybrid complex systems (HCSs) and to cities as such. This entails a new challenge regarding the various aspects and roles of artifacts in coordination dynamics. This study introduces the notions of hybrid complex systems and coordination dynamics and then focuses on one aspect that concerns coordination in cities: the ways the artificial urban landscape participates in coordinating the dynamics between the human urban agents.