In 2022, the Competence Field of Metropolitan Research (KoMet), with support from the Mercator Foundation, the Emschergenossenschaft, and NRW.BANK, hosted the 4th KoMet Day on the topic of “Urban Complexity: Perspectives from Complexity Science and Transformation Studies on Sustainable Urban Development.”
Cities are complex adaptive systems. A defining feature of these systems is the diverse interactions among heterogeneous actors, whose behavior changes over time as they respond to the actions of other actors and to shifting environmental conditions. Since the 1980s, cities around the world have been studied from the perspective of complexity science. The goal is to gain a better understanding of how cities emerge, develop, grow, or shrink; what factors promote or hinder social and technical innovations in cities; and what planning and management tools are necessary for their development.
Against the backdrop of the primacy of sustainability, the focus is increasingly turning to the transformative capacity of urban spaces. The challenges associated with this are “wicked problems,” meaning they are characterized by high complexity, uncertainty, and divergent values and objectives. Addressing these challenges requires an adequate set of tools for managing complexity and uncertainty. Furthermore, the divergent objectives of the stakeholders and the resulting conflicts must be addressed. Participatory approaches in transformation research make an important contribution to this.
Opening Remarks and Introduction: Thorsten Wiechmann (TU DO/KoMet Spokesperson), Uli Paetzel (EGLV), Birgit Maria Roscyzk (NRW.BANK), Michael Roos (RUB/KoMet)
In their opening remarks, Thorsten Wiechmann, Uli Paetzel, and Birgit Maria Roscyzk all emphasized that, despite the Ruhr Metropolis’s significant potential for transformation, there remains a lack of concrete implementation of sustainability projects. Following this, Michael Roos provided a substantive introduction to the conference. He began his remarks by stating that the approach to transformation is of great importance for the Ruhr Metropolis. The cities of the Ruhr Metropolis are facing significant pressure to innovate due to structural change, advancing digitalization, demographic shifts, and, above all, climate change. He described cities as complex adaptive systems whose transformative developments are context- and path-dependent and characterized by nonlinearity. In cities, multiple causalities also interact—the resulting interdependencies make planning a challenge. Michael Roos illustrated the confrontation of complex adaptive systems with the “wicked problems” to be solved, which are accompanied by structural challenges, using the migration and climate crises as examples. From a complexity science perspective, cities worldwide have been studied with regard to these characteristics since the 1980s. During the 4th KoMet Day, Michael Roos primarily raised the following questions for discussion: Scientific perspective: What new insights does complexity theory offer us regarding how to address “wicked problems” in cities? Practical perspective:
▶ What are we doing right and wrong in the Ruhr region?
▶ Do we need to rethink urban policy and administration?
▶ Perspective on Science and Practice: How do we need to rethink research and practice in order to better integrate them?
Cities as Complex Systems Diego Rybski (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy)
In his lecture, Diego Rybski described metropolises as complex systems characterized by emergent properties that, in turn, arise continuously through the interaction of countless entities. Rybski illustrated this complexity using two examples: First, he discussed the interplay between the distribution of city sizes (Auerbach 1913, Zipf 1949), the theory of central places (Christaller 1933), and increasing returns to scale in economic aggregates in cities (Bettencourt 2007). On the other hand, he demonstrated the spatial complexity of urban systems using percolation theory, borrowed from statistical physics. In his view, there is an abrupt transition between connected and fragmented structures. In this context, Rybski then drew on the 2019 study of the German building stock conducted by Behnisch et al. for further clarification, which quantifies urban development: 99% of all buildings nationwide could be reached in 1.5-kilometer increments. In conclusion, he explained that the “points of inaccessibility”—that is, the points furthest from any buildings—are predominantly found on military training grounds in Germany.
Governance in Complex Adaptive Systems Lasse Gerrits (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
In his presentation on governance in and of complex adaptive systems, Lasse Gerrits emphasized the strong path dependence of governance structures. This means that it would always be extremely difficult to make radical planning decisions in rapidly changing circumstances. However, chance plays an important role in path dependencies, as decisions made on the basis of chance continue to have effects even after those chances have been forgotten. According to Gerrits, this results in both multi-finalities (same initial conditions, different outcomes) and equifinalities (vice versa) occurring in urban transformations. This presents planners with considerable difficulties in managing the complexity of the circumstances. In these complex situations, planners draw on their own wealth of experience. In doing so, they employ various heuristics to recognize their own role and act accordingly. Lasse Gerrits explained that experiential knowledge and heuristics are sometimes more effective than formal planning procedures and legal structures.
Presentation of two KoMet Awards: Uta Hohn (RUB/KoMet Spokesperson), Jens Gurr (UDE/KoMet Spokesperson), Uli Paetzel (EGLV)
At this year’s KoMet Day, the KoMet Award for outstanding master’s theses and dissertations—sponsored by the Emschergenossenschaft—was presented for the first time by KoMet spokespersons Uta Hohn and Jens Gurr, along with Uli Paetzel, Chairman of the Board of the Emschergenossenschaft. The award went to the master’s thesis by Anna-Lena Bergmann (RUB) titled “Essen 51. – The Neighborhood of Tomorrow in the City of Today. The Development of New Urban Neighborhoods and Their Integration into the Urban Landscape.” Helen Wagner (UDE) was honored for her dissertation on the topic “The Past as the Future? Historical Culture as a Field of Future Action for Managing Structural Change in the Ruhr Region.”
Technological and Social Innovations – Limitations and Synergies in the Sustainable Transformation of Cities 1. Claudia Binder (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL)
In her presentation, which examined the limits and complementarities of sustainable urban transformation from a social science perspective, Claudia Binder raised the question of tipping points in socio-technical-ecological systems. She noted that past experience suggests there is no single, clearly definable tipping point that can be precisely measured in terms of time. Rather, it is a cascade of tipping points that—once triggered—could set the transformation process in motion. While tipping points have traditionally been viewed negatively in the past and in ecological systems, Binder raised the question of to what extent “positive” tipping points could be initiated or supported. She posited that three elements are relevant: (i) framework conditions that generate the necessary “energy” for change (e.g., political framework conditions, financial incentives); (ii) a trigger (e.g., Fridays for Future, wars); and (iii) social networks that could either facilitate or hinder transformations. Using the energy transition as an example, she moved on to discuss the relevance of technological innovations, which, together with social innovations, support and promote transformation.
2. Markus Schläpfer (Columbia University, New York)
In his presentation, which focused on the technological perspective, Markus Schläpfer emphasized the importance of aggregated data for modeling complexity in cities, citing the “15-minute city” as an example—a concept that is on the political and planning agenda in Paris, among other places. According to current data, this concept, in addition to its positive impact on individual neighborhoods, poses a risk of segregation. Segregation, however, contradicts the city’s fundamental function of connecting people. To counteract such hidden undesirable developments, technological innovations are essential—even if they significantly increase complexity.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Transformative Practice – A Discussion of Current Developments in the Ruhr Region Simone Raskob (City of Essen, Executive Director of Environment, Transportation, and Sports), Denes Kücük (City of Bochum, Chief Digital Officer), Volker Lindner (City of Herten, h2-Netzwerk Ruhr)
Simone Raskob, Denes Kücük, and Volker Lindner discussed current transformative practices in the Ruhr region. Klaus Kordowski began by holding one-on-one discussions with each of the panelists. Simone Raskob was asked about the current status of climate neutrality in Essen and her assessment of the manageability of the transportation system. She emphasized that while the city of Essen is on track to achieve climate neutrality by 2040, the effects of the current “general” energy crisis are unpredictable. Furthermore, she noted that intermunicipal cooperation among all local transit companies in the Ruhr region is absolutely essential for the success of a functional and attractive transportation system.
Klaus Kordowski asked Denes Kücük to elaborate on the city of Bochum’s digitalization strategy and smart city concept: The Bochum concept, he explained, encompasses a shared understanding of the smart city and defines five key areas in which the city of Bochum aims to advance digitalization. These key themes are Future-Proof Infrastructure, Smart City Management, Digital Society, Sustainable Mobility & Environment, and Innovative Economy & Science. What makes the Smart City concept unique, he noted, is above all its participatory approach, which is continuously refined in collaboration with all partners, citizens, and municipal bodies.
In their latest discussion, Klaus Kordowski asked Volker Lindner for his assessment of the expansion of the hydrogen economy in the Ruhr region. Lindner affirmed that hydrogen, as a secondary energy source, could make a valuable contribution to the energy transition. However, he clarified that only “brown” hydrogen has been available in the Ruhr region so far. Like Simone Raskob, he also urged transportation companies to recognize that cooperation among the Ruhr region’s energy suppliers is crucial for its further development.
New Perspectives on Transformative Urban Research?! Findings from the Early-Career Researchers Workshop Julia-Lena Reinermann, Bettina Pahlen, Anna Lea Eggert, Klaus Krumme (UDE/Urban Systems Group)
Julia Reinermann and Bettina Pahlen focused their presentation on the global North-South perspective and the methods used in transformative research. The speakers then discussed the role of researchers as change agents in research processes. The early-career researchers pointed to a dichotomy in transformative research. On the one hand, prevailing power structures are challenged in order to, among other things, foster more emancipatory research; on the other hand, the research field is at times heavily influenced by Western ways of thinking. As they continued their remarks, they advocated for inclusive methods such as Decision Theatre and emphasized the high potential for identification with agent-based modeling. Ensuring the interdisciplinarity of the team is both important and challenging. With regard to the academic system, Julia Reinermann and Bettina Pahlen criticized persistent structures that do not allow for transformative research at the beginning of an academic career (e.g., due to financial restrictions).
Transformative Research: How to do it and how to institutionalize it?
Derk Loorbach (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Derk Loorbach argued for initiating a fundamental, systemic shift toward greater interdisciplinarity, a culture of experimentation, collaboration, and reflection within universities as well. Only in this way, he argued, can academia contribute constructively to the transition toward sustainability. The approach of transformation research provides a suitable framework for identifying the origins of persistent social problems in cities and regions, enabling experimental collaboration between academia and practice, and thus experimentally exploring alternative and desired futures and ultimately implementing them in practice.
Closing Remarks by Michael Roos (RUB/KoMet)
According to Michael Roos, cities were defined as complex adaptive systems during this KoMet conference. Building on this premise, the conference highlighted a number of areas of tension: self-organization versus planning, science versus practice, and the tension between different conceptions of science. All of these are elements of complex urban systems, which in turn can give rise to various types of “wicked problems.”
Michael Roos summarized the day’s presentations by noting that, in such complex systems, the diverse range of actors must combine, on the one hand, a willingness to experiment and clear visions of the future, and on the other hand, knowledge and acceptance of the uncontrollability of complex adaptive systems. It is through this combination of competence and “humility” that the “wicked problems” in cities can be adequately addressed. Complexity theory and transformation research can be important tools for this, as they already incorporate openness to new ideas and adaptability as scientific and political imperatives.
You can find out more about all KoMet Days HERE.