[CPU]lab

Complexity Planning & Urbanism

Cities have emerged as a new type of complex system combining social, ecological and technological dimensions. We face uncertainty, adaptation, temporal dynamics and competing dilemmas. As a design field we explore ways to change trajectories of urban transformation towards sustainable and desirable futures. We explore, use, develop and critique emerging technologies.

Complexity, Planning and Urbanism (CPU) develops new theoretical approaches and computational tools using a complexity science framework (systems, self-organisation, emergence, intelligence, structural change, adaptation) for the design, management, governance and understanding of future cities related to climate change, citizen participation, development strategies, resilient interventions, policy making and urban morphology.

Computational methods are used to expand the realms of static design methods and theory by enabling a temporal and dynamic process. Research activity is essential to the development of new approaches. Our research is transdisciplinary and currently spans Future Cities, Smart Cities, the Internet of Things, agile governance and cities as complex adaptive systems.

Research Themes

Complexity Theories of Cities

Adaptation, Evolution, and Emergence

Complexity Modelling

Data-driven Urban Simulation, Visualisation, and Participation

Procedural Design Science

Computational Philosophy and Procedural Design

Speculative Urban Futures

Probabilities and Projections of Future Cities

Research Networks

  • Data and Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems

    DACAS is an ESRC funded Strategic Network. It was part of the Urban Transformations (UT) program coordinated between 2015 and 2020 by Professor Michael Keith from the University of Oxford, showcasing research on cities. The UT portfolio included over 120 research projects that engaged with the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly urban world.

Our Work

Partners