ABSTRACT
Dr. Weaver lists three stages of development in the history of scientific thought: ability to deal with problems of simplicity; ability to deal with problems of disorganized complexity; and ability to deal with problems of organized complexity. Problems of simplicity are problems that contain two factors which are directly related to each other in their behaviour, two variables, and these problems of simplicity, Dr. Weaver points out, where the first kinds of problems that science learned to attack: Speaking roughly, one may say that seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries formed period in which physical science learned how to analyze two-variable problems. Cities happen to be problems in organized complexity, like the life sciences. In life sciences, organized complexity is handled by identifying specific factor or quantity, say enzyme, and painstakingly learning its intricate relationships and interconnections with other factors or quantities. Vital cities have marvelous innate abilities for understanding, communicating, contriving and inventing what is required to combat their difficulties.
