Understanding Complex Urban Systems

This book is devoted to the modeling and understanding§of complex urban systems. This second volume of Understanding Complex Urban§Systems focuses on the challenges of the modeling tools, concerning, e.g., the§quality and quantity of data and the selection of an appropriate modeling§approach. It is meant to support urban decision-makers-including municipal§politicians, spatial planners, and citizen groups-in choosing an appropriate§modeling approach for their particular modeling requirements. The contributors§to this volume are from different disciplines, but all share the same goal:§optimizing the representation of complex urban systems. They present and§discuss a variety of approaches for dealing with data-availability problems and§finding appropriate modeling approaches-and not only in terms of computer§modeling.§§The selection of articles featured in this volume reflect§a broad variety of new and established modeling approaches such as:§§- An argument for using Big Data methods in§conjunction with Agent-based Modeling;§§- The introduction of a participatory approach§involving citizens, in order to utilize an Agent-based Modeling approach to§simulate urban-growth scenarios;§§- A presentation of semantic modeling to enable a§flexible application of modeling methods and a flexible exchange of data;§§- An article about a nested-systems approach to§analyzing a city's interdependent subsystems (according to these subsystems'§different velocities of change);§§- An article about methods that use Luhmann's system§theory to characterize cities as systems that are composed of flows;§§- An article that demonstrates how the Sen-Nussbaum§Capabilities Approach can be used in urban systems to measure household well-being§shifts that occur in response to the resettlement of urban households;§§- A final article that illustrates how Adaptive Cycles§of Complex Adaptive Systems, as well as innovation, can be applied to gain a§better understanding of cities and to promote more resilient and more§sustainable urban futures.§