Complexity Theories of Cities Have Come of Age: Achievements, Criticism, and Potentials

Complexity theories of cities (CTC) have come of age. What some two and a half decades ago was a narrow stream of studies – written mainly by physicists applying theories from physics – has now become not a flood but an established interdisciplinary research domain engaging urban geographers, planners, urban designers, regional scientists, mathematicians, physicists and others. In addition to the constant flow of articles, we start to see attempts at integration in the form of spatial theme issues (Environment and Planning A, 2006) and of books (Pumain 2006; Benenson and Torrens 2004; Allen (1997), Portugali 2000, 2006; Batty 2005). In such attempts at integration it is just natural to find appraisals of what has been achieved by CTC in the last two decades and a half.