The metaverse as lab to experiment with problems of organized complexity

Devisch, O. 2009. The metaverse as lab to experiment with problems of organized complexity. In: De Roo, G., J. Hiller and J. Van Wezemael (eds.) Complexity and the Planning of the Built Environment, gepland voor 2009.

Abstract: In 1948 Warren Weaver, later accredited with being one of the founding fathers of complexity theory, introduced the term Problems of Organized Complexity, referring to complex problems displaying essential features of organization, and proclaimed simulations as the tool to tackle these problems. Since Weaver’s proclamation, (computer) simulations have indeed been explored, also within the field of planning, to operate in –in the case of planning- complex physical settings. Such explorations typically start off as theoretical experiments, but seldom make it to the planning practice.
In 2007, in their Metaverse Roadmap, Smart, Cascio and Paffendorf proclaim that electronic computing (including simulations) is increasingly becoming an indispensible part of our everyday life, to the degree that is no longer always clear what is real and what is virtual (i.e. computed).
So, whereas planners only seem to hesitantly adopt electronic computing in their practice, they increasingly do so, without resistance, in their daily life. This ambiguous attitude is taken as the point of origin to, on the one hand, reassess Weaver’s proclamation -now that electronic computing seems to be everywhere, does it help answering problems of organized complexity?- and to, on the other hand, explore how electronic computing can help planners and urban designers addressing complex physical settings? To answer both questions we first introduce the Metaverse Roadmap, to then define three avenues along which electronic computing can be employed by planners, to finally illustrate one avenue in more detail and return to Weaver.