A systems approach to city design: Exploring the compatibility of sociotechnical systems

This paper responds to the UN-Habitat (2016) call for a systems approach to achieve a new urban paradigm and provide the city we need. A systems approach offers a better understanding of the complex social, economic and political interconnections inherent in city systems. One of the key challenges city designers encounter is the absence of integrated methodological approaches for assessing design suitability. We set out that city design methods struggle with the complex nature of these urban environments as they have difficulty translating to ‘on ground’ initiatives across discipline and spatial silos. The aim of this paper is to explore if cities are complex sociotechnical systems (STS) and whether or not city design is compatible with STS approaches. It does this by assessing city characteristics against the theoretical characteristics of systems complexity and STS. The paper then utilises main streets as a case study to explore the applicability of city design and STS theory content principles. The findings set out cities as containing characteristics of complexity and STS and that STS theory content principles are applicable to city design. A STS approach to city design is discussed as an advancement to current approaches. This new approach offers a more holistic understanding of cities to optimise urban renewal and accommodate an urbanising world population