OUT OF BALANCE

Discussion and analysis of contemporary approaches to urban complexity

Abstract

The present article aims to explore some assumptions about how complexity operates more flexible approaches to urbanism. To this end, were analyzed theoretical productions and contemporary design strategies that eschew very deterministic and generalizing logics, thus admitting the possibility of characterizing cities as a system far-from-equilibrium. After characterizing such condition, some properties inherent to the complex nature of cities were defined, without very clear outlines. An indication – or arrangement - that makes possible to understand some alternatives of acting in the city, not in an imperative way, but recognizing its indeterminacies as project tools. They are:  Interactions, which operate and engender dynamics, establishing constructive relations of new realities; Becoming, as an expression of the creative force, the possibilities of multiple and mutual fecundations; and Entropy, which reveals our ability to recognize the possibilities of a system facing off unpredictability and new arrangements.

Keywords: Complexity, Urban Design, Cities.