Complexity Science for Fundamental Urban Challenges

http://www.berlinscienceweek.com/programme/complexity-science-for-fundamental-urban-challenges

Complexity Science for Fundamental Urban Challenges

The grand challenges of the 21st century are becoming increasingly ‘systemic’. Regional developments can cause global effects. In the context of climate change, unstable financial markets, or massive urbanization rates, undesirable developments can lead to extreme costs for society.

Such risks are scientifically not well understood and therefore cannot be managed strategically. The quantitative and predictive understanding of complexity is one of the grand challenges for science of the 21st century. There is evidence that the size of cities significantly affects factors such as health, communication, or opinion formation of people. Hence, how should cities be planned, built, and governed in an intelligent way? How can the immense data streams cities are producing be transformed into useful knowledge that can be used to develop a city in a sustainable, resilient, and resource-friendly way?

Speakers

Luís M. Bettencourt
Robert Louis Clark
Dirk Helbing
Ross King
Wolfgang Knoll
Reinhard König
Elke Pahl-Weber
Heike Riel
Stefan Thurner