Emergence in Complex Urban Systems: Blessing or Curse of Planning Efforts?

Abstract

Today’s urban planning practice largely relies on the assumption that the same interventions create the same results in comparable cities. However, in complex urban systems, where emergent, i.e. unplanned and in principle unpredictable, qualities lead to successive qualitative changes of the environment, the repetition of interventions does not guarantee the same results. Where emergent qualities cannot be foreseen or planned, and where the outcome of urban interventions depends on emergent qualities, urban planning practice has to widen its scope towards emergent qualities. In this vein, the present article discusses the potentially significant impacts of emergent qualities using examples from non-capital cities in Central and Eastern Europe. On the one hand, this article calls for an increase in sensitivity for detecting emergent qualities. One the other hand, it concludes that emergence of new qualities can be a source of a city’s unique characteristics, setting it apart from other cities that try to re-implement ‘best practices’ from elsewhere.