The York Research Database

As the world’s population becomes increasingly urbanised the problems of building sustainable cities also grows. Using Susan Stepney’s response, “Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow”, to a science fiction story by Adam Marek titled “Growing Skyscrapers”, this chapter looks at what a living city of the future might look like, and how that might solve some of the problems of the control and development of cities. There is a long history of the application of systems thinking, cybernetics, and complex systems and the growth and control of cities. However, many problems still remain in the deployment and applications of these frameworks and methodologies, and in the potential consequences of their use. However, perhaps many of these could be solved by the development of a living city.