Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.054
Title (Primary) Advancing understanding of the complex nature of urban systems
Author McPhearson, T.; Haase, D.; Kabisch, N.; Gren, Å.
Source Titel Ecological Indicators
Year 2016
Department CLE; iDiv; ESS
Volume 70
Page From 566
Page To 573
Language englisch
Keywords Urban complexity; Social–ecological–technical systems; Resilience; Sustainability; Cities
UFZ wide themes RU1
Abstract Cities and urbanized regions are complex, dynamic, and highly integrated systems linking social, ecological, and technical infrastructure domains in ways that create deep challenges for good governance, policymaking, and planning. The combination of impacts from climate change in cities, air pollution, rapid population growth, multiple sources of development pressure and overall urban system complexity make it difficult for decision-makers to develop and guide development trajectories along more livable, equitable, and at the same time, more resilient pathways. Advancing urban sustainability and resilience agendas requires expanding the scope of inter- and trans-disciplinarity approaches, moving beyond the historically separate social–ecological and socio-technical approaches to jointly study social–ecological–technical infrastructure systems in cities. We take urban complexity as a given and suggest that in both research and practice we need to better capture and understand feedbacks, interdependencies, and non-linearities which create uncertainties and challenge the efficacy of governance practices to achieve normative goals for society. Here, we explore new methods, tools, and approaches to advance our understanding of urban system complexity through a series of journal special issue articles that examine urban structure–function relationships, urban sustainability transitions, green space availability, social–ecological memory, functional traits, and urban land use scenarios.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=17534
McPhearson, T., Haase, D., Kabisch, N., Gren, Å. (2016):
Advancing understanding of the complex nature of urban systems
Ecol. Indic. 70 , 566 - 573 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.054