Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This thesis draws the point of departure from the issues between planning and
complexity. On the one hand, planning reduces complexity in order to organize
cities, while on the other hand, complexity studies, a growing interest in urban
planning discourse, suggest that increased complexity should be allowed to emerge
in cities. Conceptual and practical tendencies between planning and complexity are
investigated to explore the potentials for planning to deal with this issue. The main
concern of the study is to contribute to improved responses to complexity in
planning in order to realize the potentials of emergent complexity. Within this
scope, the available theoretical information was compiled based on a literature
review and then developed with syntheses and insights by means of a case study.
The case study provided this study with the opportunity to illustrate the potential
for actual complexity emerging in new and large-scale urban planning practices,
and also the ways in which planning can foster such a potential.
The results provide insight into different ways of thinking that can be brought to
the development of cities and places, through planning that takes complexity into
account theoretically and practically.