A system-of-systems approach to understanding urbanization – state of the art and prospect

Purpose

City is an artificial dynamic open giant complex system, whose multifunctional and interdisciplinary characteristics leads to significant complexity. While challenges arising from individual urban functions have been the focus of urban studies, major urban challenges such as traffic congestion and inefficiency of resource usages may originate from the “interface” where different urban functions interact. Previous research has revealed the potential that regarding city as a system-of-systems (SoS) may shed light on solutions to various urban challenges. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

To examine this research potential, this paper begins with an overview of challenges in urbanization and current approaches which lack systematic solutions. The idea of applying SoS approach is then inspired by existing studies on urban metabolism where city is regarded as an entire system. This idea is followed by definition and characteristics of SoS, as well as comprehensive overview of the state of the art on SoS-based solutions to urban challenges. This paper then discusses the merits and limitations of current studies on SoS for urbanization, followed by a case study which precedes research visions.

Findings

The paper finds that regarding city as SoS is a potentially effective approach for urban studies. This is highlighted by original research visions on how to advance this line of research. These research visions point out a few ideas for future research. It particularly highlights the role of human and information in the establishment, management and evolution of various urban functions.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper lies in the use of the conception of “SoS” to emphasize the importance of properly modeling human and information in an urban system so as to better reveal the intra-SoS mechanism.