290103 SE Seminar in Human Geography: Urban Complexity and Systems Thinking (2024W)

The analysis of urban systems, especially in terms of the various struggles they face with regards to climate change and socioeconomic inequalities, require a theoretically grounded systems lens that allows for complexity to be both understood and embraced. More specifically, a systems lens recognizes that urban systems are the sum of a range of various social, technical, institutional, and environmental subsystems that interact across spatial, temporal, and hierarchical scales. In turn, these interactions produce a magnitude of unexpected consequences and behavior that is not possible to predict by simply having knowledge of one system component, but instead must be studied through their interrelations.

Therefore, the aim of this course is to teach students the fundamental pillars of complex adaptive systems, and how their properties, such as adaptation, feedback loops, path dependency, self-organization, non-linear emergence, and resilience, are vital for analyzing cities. By better understanding how macro-level patterns emerge from the interactions of variables at lower levels, one can more effectively identify structural fractures and thereby, develop inclusive and equitable strategies for advancing urban sustainability and resilience goals.

From a practical perspective, this course will compliment theoretical knowledge with numerous case studies that enable students to apply and train their complex systems lens. The various case studies, including those related to environmental sustainability, urban food systems, over-tourism, socio-economic inequality, housing, urban planning and development, and more, will be analyzed using two key complex systems’ methods: Causal Loop Diagrams, and the Adaptive Cycle.

Causal Loop Diagrams, a type of system model for scenario analysis, illustrate the relationships between key system variables, and specifically, the balancing and reinforcing feedback loops, in complex systems. This will be accompanied with the development of practical skills, as students will learn to use Vensim (open-sourced) software, which is one of the main tools for building system models. Secondly, students will learn to analyze complex systems using the Adaptive Cycle method, which is used for understanding aspects of adaptation, resilience, and transformation.

This combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills is designed to support students in analyzing the complexity of urban systems and using such to create more comprehensive and holistic urban development plans which can cope with and adapt to disruptions and unknowns. Accordingly, student's will learn to view the world around them with a new perspective, and thereby, be able to develop multi-faceted and dynamic solutions that strengthen urban resilience capacities and support equitable urban sustainability transformations.