Self-organisation in Urban Systems Undergoing Transformation

Abstract

The theory of self-organisation is an efficient tool for reconstructing the dynamics and evolution of urban and regional systems. It allows the adoption of realistic assumptions concerning socio-economic and spatial conditions of the operation and development of multi-component systems, and offers flexible methods that can be employed to derive from these assumptions a mechanism of the transformation of the macrostructures of such systems. The mechanism includes: nonlinearity, instability and disequilibrium, self- -reinforcement, interaction with the surroundings, and the formation of new (dissipative) structures capable of performing new functions. The author has participated in a research project on spatial self-organisation from an early stage of its development. In the present article, he gives a survey of selected conceptions of self-organisation and achievements in the application of this theory. He also presents the results of an empirical study of the economy of the city of Poznañ. The study focused on the question of the stability/instability of the principal domains of the city.s economic life in order to find out if there were mechanisms permitting the economy to regain stability and a new equilibrium after the profound structural changes brought about by the systemic transformation. (original abstract)