Cities are often seen as symbols of order: the existence of city
walls, fortified gates, palaces, temples, roads, pavements,
highways, public institutions, city centers and residential areas
is interpreted as indicating the existence of a central authority
that plans and controls the city. On the other hand, the very same
cities are also seen as symbols of chaos, disorder and spontaneous
growth. The little winding streets and alleys, the mixture of
physical structures, styles and human activities have often given
the impression that cities, like forests, and other natural
entities are organic structures - strange, natural artefacts. Tokyo
is a good example for this dual nature of cities. When you first
encounter it, you get the impression of chaos: old buildings with
one or two storeys next to 30-, 40- or 50-storey skyscrapers;
pedestrians, cars, trains moving in all directions, each with its
own trajectory and so on. But then you realise that this seemingly
chaotic structure provides a context for perfectly ordered human
activities: trains leave and arrive as timetabled, their doors open
at the exact points that are marked with yellow lines on the
platforms, every morning after midnight fishermen bring their catch
to Tokyo's big fish market, auctions are held, and by six o'clock
in the morning this huge amount of sea food has already been
distributed among thousands of restaurants all over the city. And
if you look deeper you learn that the chaotic face of Tokyo is the
pre-condition for its ordered and organised life. Complexity theory
or self-organisation theory are umbrella terms for a set of
theories that study the interplay between chaos and order.
Originating in the sciences, these theories have been applied to
the study of cities in the last three decades. They show that as in
natural systems, in the artificial systems that we call cities,
chaos and order do not stand in opposition to each other. Rather,
they coexist in an ongoing interplay of circular causality: chaos
is the precondition for new urban orders to emerge and then to
reproduce themselves, whereas order and organisation set the
boundaries within which chaotic structures and behaviours can take
place.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
