Collating state-of-the-art developments in the area of complexity and design into a unique and authoritative resource for both the design and complex systems communities, this book is essential reading for those studying complexity or design, as it touches on different themes and domains such as architecture, engineering, environmental design, art, fashion and management.

Outlining state-of-the-art developments in the area of complexity and design, this book collates them into a unique and authoritative resource for both the design and complex systems communities. The book is based on research which focuses on a variety of different themes and domains, including architecture, engineering, environmental design, art, fashion and management. A ground-breaking publication marking a new era of appreciation of the import of complexity on design, this book is essential reading for those studying complexity or design.

The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.

The way we design and work within our organizations is profoundly impacted by digital technologies and complexity. Speed of flow is critical for innovation, production, communication, and delivery. Arguably, silo-based, functional hierarchies are failing to guarantee the necessary speed of flow as well as quality, and involvement of people. Applying techniques is insufficient. What is required is a radical rethink to compete and thrive. Nothing less than a new way of understanding – an epistemological framework – will do. This book aims to provide such a framework and show how we can break free from silos and silo thinking through a truly systemic approach. It presents an operational solution that allows organizations to effectively adopt digital technologies and reap their benefits. It highlights the new kind of leadership that our increasingly network-based and distributed business world requires to achieve sustainable prosperity.

First Published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

As we become familiar with the 21st century we can see that what we are designing is changing, new technologies support the creation of new forms of product and service, and new pressures on business and society demand the design of solutions to increasingly complex problems, sometimes local, often global in nature. Customers, users and stakeholders are no longer passive recipients of design, expectations are higher, and increased participation is often essential. This book explores these issues through the work of 21 research teams. Over a twelve-month period each of these groups held a series of workshops and events to examine different facets of future design activity as part of the UK's research council supported Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative. Each of these 21 contributions describes the context of enquiry, the journey taken by the research team and key insights generated through discourse. Editor and Initiative Director, Tom Inns, provides an introductory chapter that suggests ways that the reader might navigate these different viewpoints.

This book contains all refereed papers that were accepted to the fourth edition of the « Complex Systems Design & Management » (CSD&M 2013) international conference which took place in Paris (France) from December 4-6, 2013. These proceedings cover the most recent trends in the emerging field of complex systems sciences & practices from an industrial and academic perspective, including the main industrial domains (transport, defense & security, electronics, energy & environment, e-services), scientific & technical topics (systems fundamentals, systems architecture & engineering, systems metrics & quality, systemic tools) and system types (transportation systems, embedded systems, software & information systems, systems of systems, artificial ecosystems). The CSD&M 2013 conference is organized under the guidance of the CESAMES non-profit organization.