Emergent Urbanism

Rediscovering Urban Complexity

fractals

A demonstration of complexity in New York City

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Sun, 07/06/2008 - 21:47, last updated Mon, 04/09/2012 - 15:10

This discussion originally appeared on the Wired New York forums.

Allow me to point to a great example of contemporary emergence in New York City, and perhaps clarify the principles involved.

This, as most of you probably know, is Times Square.

Fake Complexity - CCTV Headquarters

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Tue, 06/24/2008 - 19:06, last updated Mon, 04/09/2012 - 15:42

Engineering firm ARUP provided the complexity for this project.

From time to time I happen upon an attempt to "do" complexity that completely misses the point. In this first installment of many "Fake Complexity" topics, the culprit is Rem Koolhaas and his CCTV Headquarters for Beijing.

Complex geometry and structured chaos

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 00:08, last updated Mon, 04/09/2012 - 15:02

Fractal geometry has infiltrated popular culture since it was formalized in the early 80's from the works of Benoit Mandelbrot. While it has been used to study the form of cities by researchers such as Pierre Frankhauser and Michael Batty, the insights to be drawn from this field of mathematics have not yet penetrated the field of urbanism, defined as the construction of cities.

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