ABSTRACT
As society’s dependence on the finite resources of the built environment increases, the magnitude and complexity of problems associated with the use and management of built environment assets become more apparent. The issue of complexity in the built environment has grown significantly, providing several key application areas, including sustainable development, infrastructure, supply chain, networking, energy utilization, project management, etc. By its
very nature, the built environment is a complex multidisciplinary field that requires integrating expertise and input from various jurisdictions. Complexity theory is poised to propel research into the built environment beyond the traditional approaches. The study of complex systems has grown along many seemingly independent strands and, as with nearly anything that is new, it grew in a disorganized way. Complexity is a property of the universe. Because the built environment ‘universe’ is rich and has many diverse forms and practices, it cannot be understood by using simple and usually mechanistic or linear means (Battram, 1998; Brock et al, 1991). Battram argues that complexity theory studies ninety five percent of situations and traditional sciences study the other five percent. The study of complex systems runs somewhat contrary to the normal (or reductionist) approach followed in physics, chemistry, biology and economics. The basic fundamentals of these disciplines are that if components of the systems are understood, one can easily formulate problems and infer consequences based on the knowledge gained from studying single components. Complex systems like the built environment cannot be understood by studying parts in isolation. The very essence of built environment complex systems lies in the interaction between parts and the overall behaviour that emerges from the interactions. The built environment (BE) systems must be analyzed as a whole. Achieving this goal will require a shift in the current built environment research. The new focus should be on coordinated built environment research through developing interoperable complex systems to address the needs for integrated systems in order to optimize and deliver future sustainable built environment.
