Managing the Interrelations Among Urban Infrastructure, Population, and Institutions

Increases in urban populations, aging infrastructures and global environmental change have begun to highlight the need and urgency to address urban resilience through research and stakeholder-based dialog. The number of case studies for individual locations and on individual challenges – such as meeting water or energy demands – are increasing. Many of those studies reveal the complexity of managing interrelations among population, infrastructure, and institutions, though many ultimately choose a narrow, sector-specific approach to the issue. Few approaches have built on insights from complexity theory and related bodies of knowledge which are more consistent with the perspective that urban infrastructure systems are tightly coupled with one another and must respond to often subtle, long-term changes of technological, social and environmental conditions. Drawing on that knowledge, and building on insights from previous case studies, this paper explores the potential roles of complexity theory in guiding investment and policy decisions in the urban context, focusing on strategies to promote resilience and adaptability in the light of population, infrastructure, and institutional dynamics.