Designing infrastructures using a complex systems perspective

Networked infrastructures are complex socio-technical systems. Their complexity shows in the physical networks, in the actor networks, and the combination thereof. This paper addresses the question, 'how should the design of these systems be undertaken?' Both for physical networks and for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Design Research (JDR) 2008-01, Vol.7 (1), p.17-34
Main Authors: Herder, Paulien M, Bouwmans, Ivo, Dijkema, Gerard P.J, Stikkelman, Rob M
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Networked infrastructures are complex socio-technical systems. Their complexity shows in the physical networks, in the actor networks, and the combination thereof. This paper addresses the question, 'how should the design of these systems be undertaken?' Both for physical networks and for actor networks, design processes exist that can be applied separately. For integrated networks, however, an integrated approach is proposed. Three case studies are discussed concerning the design of a district heating system, a gas network and a seaport development, respectively. It is concluded that the integrated socio-technical complex system design process proposed has merit for networked infrastructures.
ISSN:1748-3050
1569-1551
DOI:10.1504/JDR.2008.018775