1. 9TH MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING"
Self - organization on spatial planning: an option or a need? A discussion on planning process and emergent self - organized systems based on a Lisbon’s Metropolitan Area’s experience
PAULO SILVA
Assistant Professor at the Department of Social, Juridical and Political Sciences
Researcher at GOVCOPP (Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy Research Unit)
University of Aveiro, Portugal
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

2. SELF-ORGANIZATION SYSTEMS
Self – organization systems are those in which you can not predict results; “The properties of a system that are not present at the lower level (such as life), but are a product of interactions of elements, are sometimes called emergent (Anderson, 1972, by GERSHENSON, 2006)”
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

3. EMERGENCE
“The term ‘emergence’ refers to a process by which a system of interacting elements acquires qualitatively new pattern and structure that cannot be understood simply as the superposition of the individual contributions. (…) Thus, even if one has a full knowledge of the system’s elements and their mode of interaction, the collective properties of a self – organizing system often seem to arise unexpectedly” (CAMAZINE, 2005)
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

4. MAIN QUESTIONS
How can self – organization be interpreted in the context of spatial planning?
Why is self - organization so scarcely used on spatial planning?
Which kinds of contribution can self - organization bring to spatial planning (in metropolitan areas)?
How can the concept of self - organization influence planning tools?
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

5. THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE WHOLE
In certain circumstances individual actions create dynamics that were not pre conceived as a whole (GERSHENSON, 2006).
Different levels of action are distinguished as the key to combine independent scales, corresponding to higher “strategy” and local “tactics” (NELSON, ALLEN, 2008).
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

6. LISBON’S METROPOLITAN AREA
CIRCA 3 MILLION INHABITANTS
HIGHER GROWTH IN THE 60’S AND 70’S
URBAN AND SUBURBAN SPRAWL AROUND MAIN ACESSIBILITIES
ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS ON MOST REMOTE TERRITORIES
PART OF AN URBAN FRINGE OF 500 KM x 50 KM ALONG THE WEST COAST OF IBERIAN PENINSULA
CONCENTRATES ONE FOURTH OF PORTUGAL’S POPULATION
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

7. LISBON METROPOLITAN AREA’S REGIONAL PLAN (CCDRLVT, 2002)
Patterns of ocupation of illegal settlements:
Fragmented areas
Non – structured areas
Two different realities:
north bank (small allotments, discontinuous)
south bank (large interventions, continuous but with scarce occupation)
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

8. LISBON METROPOLITAN AREA’S REGIONAL PLAN (CCDRLVT, 2002)
The vision:
Spaces of opportunity coinciding with illegal settlements and fragmented areas
New infrastructures
New polarities
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

9. SELF – ORGANIZATION AND SPATIAL PLANNING
To question old planning approaches’ of production systems and forms of organization
To define principles for a self - organizing planning
To see decision making agents as self - organizing systems (PORTUGALI, HAKEN, 2000)
“just like social insects (such as ant colonies) exhibit the capacity to store information and recognize patterns so do human societies contribute to the emergence of global brainpower on sustainable development through simple interactions and local learning. LA21 may be the required spur.” (QUEIRÓS, 2007, p.: 65)
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

10. NORTH BANK PLANS FOR ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS (MUNICIPALITY OF VILA FRANCA DE XIRA, 1999-2007)
FRAGMENTED SOLUTIONS FOR FRAGMENTED TERRITORIES
SMALL - MEDIUM SIZE INTERVENTIONS
LACK OF FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY (EXCLUSIVELY RESIDENTIAL) DESPITE OF PROXIMITY TO ACCESIBILITIES
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

11. SOUTH BANK - AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF QUINTA DO CONDE (MUNICIPALITY OF SESIMBRA, 1999)
ORIGINALLY ILLEGAL SETTLEMENT STARTED IN THE 60’S
FIRST PERIOD OF OCCUPATION DATED FROM THE MID 70’S UNTIL MID 80’S
FIRST URBAN PLAN APROVED IN 1986
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW METROPOLITAN ACCESSIBILITIES DURING THE 90’S
LATEST REVISION OF URBAN PLAN IN 2008
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

12. SOME STUDIES MADE IN THE MEANTIME (1986-2008)
EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE NEW TIPOLOGIES
DETAILED STUDIES FOR RESIDENTIAL BLOCKS AND FOR ROW-HOUSES
LACK OF SPATIAL CONTINUITY BETWEEN NEW SPACES
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

13. URBAN PLAN OF QUINTA DO CONDE (MUNICIPALITY OF SESIMBRA, 2008)
OVER 400 HECTARES
ALMOST LOTS
OVER INHABITANTS FROM A MAXIMUM CAPACITY OF CIRCA INHABITANTS
FRAGMENTATION OF COLECTIVE AND PUBLIC SPACES
A SUPER IMPOSED STRUCTURE
THE ATTEMPT TO CREATE A (NEW) URBAN STRUCTURE
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

14. SMALL OR …
1999
2008
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

15. … BIG CHANGES?
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

16. LEARNING FROM PLANNING ON ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS
MORE FLEXIBILITY, SPACE FOR NEGOTIATION BETWEEN SPATIAL PLANNERS, ADMINISTRATION AND LAND-OWNERS THAN IN A CONTEXT OF LEGAL SETTLEMENTS
A WIDE RANGE OF SCENARIOS BETWEEN FULFILLING TOTAL EXPECTATIONS OF LOCAL AGENTS OR SUPERIMPOSING A METROPOLITAN STRUCTURE
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE

17. SOME FINAL IDEAS
The need of new approaches in spatial planning to deal with self – organizing systems
Self – organizing systems as a contribute to the interpretation of urban structures
Two patterns of spatial planning approaches to “self – organizing territories”
The metropolitan scale tends to impose solutions to local structures
9th MEETING OF AESOP THEMATIC GROUP ON "COMPLEXITY AND PLANNING“ SELF-ORGANIZING AND SPATIAL PLANNING APRIL, YTU, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, ISTANBUL, TURKIYE