Systems Thinking: A Methodological Approach for Understanding Urban Complexity

Abstract

The environmental, economic, and social changes in the last decades demand the readdressing of the city as an adaptable one defined through a network of interwoven relations rather than well-defined rigid structures. This intricacy forges the redefinition of accustomed design practices to manage the desired inclusive, adaptive, fluid, and responsive conditions of cities. However, incorporating these coexistences in defining urban conditions necessitates a multi-focal rendering of the associations and a speculative practice of a new methodological approach. Therefore, we need novel methodologies of research in the field of architecture. This paper will propose revisiting ‘systems thinking’ as a new methodology to research the pluralities, contradictions, degradations, and climatic challenges of contemporary cities. Rather than a top-down design approach, ‘systems thinking’ initiates a non-linear process by focusing on the relationships and interdependent variables. Therefore, embracing ‘systems thinking’ in the definition of contemporary cities can respond to the ever-changing conditions, which can alter the design practices and teaching-based research processes.

However, to envisage and structure a system that can respond to the pluralities, complexities, and contingencies of the ever-changing conditions, a deep reading of the city should be provided that can be produced, processed, or engaged in all phases of the design process. In this respect, experienced data avalanche and interaction with the large scale of bytes used for data-driven practices can be considered as a challenging transformation that proposes deep readings of cities and hence can be used in practicing a ‘systems thinking’ approach. This new method of engagement with data-driven practices cultivates an architectural transformation by sourcing, inspiring, and informing the architectural design processes for understanding the notion of resilient cities. The paper speculates on the potential of systems thinking initiated by data visualizations in producing deep readings and research on contemporary cities and its use as a methodological approach in architectural design education.