290103 SE Seminar in Human Geography: Urban Complexity and Systems Thinking (2022W)

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

The aim of this course is to teach students the fundamental pillars of complex adaptive systems, and how these elements, such as feedback loops, path dependency, self-organization and non-linear emergent behaviour, adaptation, and resilience, can be used to analyse cities and their ability to be resilient during times of change and uncertainty of urban sustainability transformations.

From a practical perspective, this course will compliment theoretical knowledge with various case studies that allow students to apply a complex systems lens. Additionally, students will build practical skills, as they will learn to use Vensim (open-sourced) software, that is one of the main tools for building system models, and in the case of this course, building Causal Loop Diagrams, which illustrate the relationships, and specifically, the balancing and reinforcing feedback loops, in complex systems. It is through this combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, that this course will help students to analyse complex urban systems, and develop inclusive solutions that bolster resilience capacities for urban sustainability transformations.