The City and Its Sciences

914 Pages·1998·29.6 MB·English

by  Cristoforo S. Bertuglia

The City
and Its Sciences
Cristoforo S. Bertuglia . Giuliano Bianchi
Alfredo Mela (Eds.)
The City
and Its Sciences
With 123 Figures
and 16 Tables
~ Physica-Verlag
U'V
A Springer-Verlag Company
Prof. Cristoforo Sergio Bertuglia
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecniche per i Processi di Insediamento
Politecnico di Torino
Viale Mattioli 39
10 125 Torino
Italia
Prof. Giuliano Bianchi
Rete dell' Alta Tecnologia
Regione Toscana
Via Ciro Menotti 6
50136 Firenze
Italia
Prof. Alfredo Mela
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecniche per i Processi di Insediamento
Politecnico di Torino
Viale Mattioli 39
10 125 Torino
Italia
The editors gratefully acknowledge the fmancial support received from the Italian National
Research Council (CNR) which has pennitted the development of the study on 'The City
and Its Sciences", the results of which are published in this volume. Grants have been pro
vided under the following contracts: Progetto Finalizzato Trasporti 2: no.94.01344.PF74,
no.94.01345.PF74, no.96.000l5.PF74, no.96.00016.PF74, no.97.00l85.PF74, and
no.97.00186.PF74; Comitato Nazionale Scienze e Tecnologie dell'Ambiente e Habitat:
no.AI.96.00495.13.
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-9593\-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-95929-5
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-95929-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
Die Deutsche Bibliothek -CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
The City and its sciences / ed.: Cristo foro S. Bertuglia ... -Heidelberg:
Physica-VerI., 1998
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-9593\-8
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© Physica-Verlag Heidelberg 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1998
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Coverdesign: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg
SPIN 10647032 88/2202-5 4 3 2 1 0 - Printed on acid-free paper
To Ludovico Franco who, at three
months, was the youngest participant
in the seminar.
Preface
This book is the outcome of an ambitious project involving a large
number of urban researchers, analysts and practitioners, mainly from
Italy, but also other countries. The main focus of the work was the
Seminar organised at Perugia in Umbria, from 28-30 September, 1995,
which provided the opportunity for three days of intense discussion on the
principal themes which had emerged from the preparatory stages. As
explained in the Introduction, the project was developed systematically,
with close interaction between the contributors both before the seminar and
in the two years since then, during which the final versions of the papers
have been drawn up.
The aim of the project was to investigate whether and in what way the
concept of complexity has already generated, and is likely to generate in
the future, changes in (i) how the city is seen, (ii) the sciences which deal
with the city, (iii) the way in which city planning is conceived and
practised, and (iv) the methods and tools used in the analysis of the city.
These four issues correspond in fact to the four sections into which this
book has been divided.
The selection of papers published here are those which represent the
most compact discussion around each of the main themes. They cover an
extremely wide range oftopics and points of view, but have as a common
thread their desire to contribute to an improved understanding, and hence
more effective planning and management of the city.
The whole project was made possible by the support of the following
organisations to whom we give our thanks: the Italian Regional Science
Association, for their far-sightedness in promoting the Perugia Seminar,
the Department of Sciences and Techniques for Settlement Processes of
Turin Polytechnic, which served as a logistical base for the network of
VIII
contacts with and between contributors, the Institute of Environmental
Engineering of the University of Perugia, and in particular its Director,
Lorenzo Berna, who made an invaluable contribution to the organisation
of the Perugia seminar, and finally the Regional Authority for Tuscany,
which prepared four volumes containing the initial version of the papers
distributed before the Perugia seminar.
The editors would also like to thank Angela Spence, who has been
involved in all stages of the work and handled with great professionality
the linguistic editing of the book, as well as the translation of several
chapters, and Franco Vaio for his competent checking of the technical
content of the papers and preparation of the camera ready copy.
Lastly, but certainly not least, we wish to acknowledge the scientific
sponsorship of the Italian National Research Council and their financial
and practical support, provided in particular by the Transport Project 2
and the National Committee for the Science and Technology of the
Environment and Habitat, as well as the encouragement of Lucio Bianco,
formerly Director of the Transport Project 2 and currently President of the
National Research Council.
Naturally, the whole project would not have been possible without the
commitment of all the contributors, and their willingness to present,
discuss and develop their personal reflections and experience in the field.
We offer to everyone involved our warmest thanks and gratitude.
Crist%ro S. Bertuglia
Giuliano Bianchi
Alfredo Mela
IX
Contents
Preface VII
1. Introduction
Cristoforo S. Bertuglia, Giuliano Bianchi, Alfredo Mela
1.1 The Guiding Idea Behind the Seminar 1
1.2 The Sciences of the City: A Moment of Crisis? 3
1.3 Some Questions and Initial Replies Emerging from the Seminar 15
1.4 The Concept of Complexity 23
1.5 The Planning of the City 49
1.6 The Papers in this Volume 76
References 86
SESSION 1: THE CITY AS A IllGHLY COMPLEX
ENTITY
2. Cities as Self-Organising Complex Systems
Peter Allen
2.1 Introduction 95
2.2 Evolution and Mechanics 95
2.3 Evolutionary Drive 102
2.4 The Evolution of 'Communities' 105
2.5 Self-Organisation of Cities and Regions 113
2.6 Policy and Decision Exploration in Brussaville 126
2.7 Nested Complexity 132
2.8 An Integrated Framework for Socio-Economic,
Technological and Environmental Evolution 136
X
2.9 Discussion 139
References 143
3. A Short Discussion of Alternative Approaches to Modelling
Complex Self-Organising Systems
Agostino La Bella
3.1 Introduction 145
3.2 Complex Cities and Complex Models 146
3.3 The Perturbation Theory Approach 150
3.4 The Fractal Approach 158
3.5 The Catastrophe Theory Approach 165
3.6 Conclusions 170
References 171
4. The Possibilities and Limits of Self-Organisation
Maria Tinaeci Mossello
4.1 The City as an Object of Study 173
4.2 The Urban Environment 177
4.3 The Value of Historical Memory and of Perception 181
4.4 The Growth and 'Criticality' of Urban Organisation 183
4.5 The Inevitability of Urban Diffusion 187
4.6 The Possibilities and Constraints of Urban Planning 189
4.7 Final Remarks 193
References 200
5. On the Foundations of Social Dynamics:
An Efficient Mathematical Statement of a General Framework
Underlying a Complex Nonlinear Social Determinism,
Incorporating a Supra-Observer and a Suprastructure
Dimitrios S. Dendrinos
5.1 Introduction 203
5.2 Reality and its Agents 205
5.3 The Efficient and General Statement of a Suprastructure 209
5.4 Self-FulfillmentlDefeat 219
5.5 Conclusions 222
References 223
XI
6. Urban Development as a Guided Self-Organisation Process
Federico M Butera
6.1 Introduction 225
6.2 The City as a Neg-Entropy Processor 226
6.3 Evolution by Balancing Novelty and Continnation 228
6.4 Infonnation, Communication and Evolution 230
6.5 Evolution is a Learning Process Based on Communication
between a System and its Environment 234
6.6 From Theory to Practice 236
6.7 Final Remarks 241
References 241
7. Strange Loops, Tangled Hierarchies and Urban
Self-Regulation
Valter Cavallaro
7.1 Introduction 243
7.2 Self-Organising Principles of Systems and Self-Regulation 245
7.3 The Decline/Growth Loop as a Principle of Self-Organisation 260
7.4 Conclusions 265
References 266
8. The Fractal Geometry of Urban Organisation:
Beyond the Crisis of 'Spontaneous Order'
Lorenza Lucchi Basili
8.1 Introduction: the Paradigm of Complexity 267
8.2 The City as a Complex System 272
8.3 Managing Complexity: Issues and Policies 279
8.4 Fractal Geometry: towards a 'Grammar of Urban
Morphogenesis '? 282
8.5 Conclusions 292
References 294
9. The Complexity Paradigm in Architecture
Francesca Bertuglia
9.1 Complexity and the Architectural Product 297
9.2 A 'Complex' Reading of the Architectonic Product 299
9.3 Schemes and Projects Analysed 301
9.4 Conclusions 319
References 319
XII
SESSION 2: THE SCIENCES OF THE CITY
10. Urban Research and Complexity
Denise Pumain
10.1 Introduction 323
10.2 Various Sources of Complexity in Urban Systems 324
10.3. New Paradigms for the Modelling of Complexity 330
10.4 Quantitative Models of Qualitative Structures 334
10.5 Analytical or Micro-Level Approaches 346
10.6 Simulating the Relation between Micro Behaviour
and Macro Structures 349
10.7 The Question of Chaos 353
10.8 Conclusions 354
References 355
11. Beyond Complexity in Urban Development Studies
Roberto Camagni
11.1 Introductory Remarks 363
11.2 From Complexity to Simplification 365
11.3 New Theories for New Problems 371
11.4 A Changing Concept of Time 372
11.5 Some Priorities for the Researcher 373
11.6 An Evolutionary Approach to Urban Sustainable Development 378
11. 7 Conclusions 382
References 384
12. Model, Plan and Process for the Control of Urban Systems
Vittorio Silvestrini
12.1 Introduction 387
12.2 The City in the Technological Era 392
12.3 Market, Technological Innovation and Work Organisation 396
12.4 The City as a 'Factory' of Values 399
12.5 The Planning of Complex Systems 402
References 407
13. Self-Referential Processes of Spatial Integration
Alfredo Mela, Giorgio Preto
13.1 Introduction 409
13.2 The Sciences of the City and their Epistemological Status 410