In this sense, cities are an outstanding example of complex adaptive systems: collections of individual constituents (people, in this case) that interact in myriad ways, usually mediated by some sort of network.

The Properties of Complex Systems We have few general design principles for adaptive components (cells, organisms, nations) in isolation or in the aggregate where new unforeseen properties emerge. Components typically have high failure rates in all tasks and accomplish their objectives through statistical averaging and approximation across multiple