Nonlinear Dynamics of a Multi-City System

Abstract

It may be said that we are in the midst of a profound rupture between older and emergent notions of scientific explanation (e.g., Haken, 1977, 1983, Nicolis and Prigogine, 1977, Prigogine, 1980, 1997, Prigogine and Stengers, 1984). The revolution has been much influenced by developments in nonlinear dynamics and computation in the past few decades. Stability and instability, order and chaos, determinism and stochasticity have been reconceptualized. This may be witnessed by about sixty volumes of the Series in Synergetics edited by Haken. Synergetics, a name for nonlinear interactive dynamics, deals with systems composed of many parts, interacting with each other over time and space. It may be considered as a strategy for coping with complex systems, by focusing on those situations where these systems qualitatively change their macroscopic behavior.