The Importance Of Complexity In Planning

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Cities are socio-ecological systems that are by nature dynamic and complex structures and planning them always comes with its own challenges. The planning processes we have relied on are linear in nature. This type of planning which is focused on the market, serving the elite’s interests and other power figures leads to uneven development of the cities (Soja 2010) and devoid of the social context. This has widely affected the working class and the marginal groups (Bryne 2012, pg.12). Moreover, it has affected the city itself as it leads to segregation (Fainstine 2014, pg.5) of people in physical planning as well as policies making. Due to this reason, the importance of non-linearity in reference to the cities becomes important. The planning is in need of more organic framework of which can go one step ahead of scientific method (Byrne 2012, pg.6). This essay will talk about the role of ‘complexity’ in planning and how can it be beneficial in attaining a more ‘just environment’ in terms of segregation. Complex systems have emergent behavior and are self-organized, meaning they operate in accordance with the condition of their surroundings. Cities being a social system have multiple networks, institutes and other entities like physical structures, tangible and intangibles working together in forming urban landscape (Byrne 2012, pg.7). These systems have a reflexive relationship and influence each other without the hierarchical difference. Furthermore, the systems have no

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