Emergent Behavior in Complex Systems Engineering

Chapter 13FROM MODULARITY TO COMPLEXITY: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK FOR CHARACTERIZING SYSTEMS

Chih-Chun Chen, and Nathan Crilly

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK

SUMMARY

This chapter introduces a domain-neutral framework and diagrammatic scheme that allow researchers and practitioners from different disciplines to share methods, theories, and findings related to the design and study of different systems. The framework is not tied to any established mode of representation (e.g., networks, equations, and formal modeling languages) nor to any domain-specific terminology (e.g., “vertex,” “eigenvector,” and “entropy”). Instead, it consists of basic system constructs and three fundamental attributes of system architecture, namely structural encapsulation, function-structure mapping, and interfacing. This allows different aspects of complexity (e.g., degeneracy, multi-structural function realization, emergence, and heterarchy) and different abstractions relating to modularity (e.g., function-driven encapsulation and interface compatibility) to be characterized within a common framework. It also relates these characterizations to existing system characterization schemes (e.g., those based on structure, behavior, and function). Thus, modularity and complexity are seen as two ends of a spectrum of systems possessing the three attributes to different degrees.

This develops much of the content from Chen and Crilly (2016a), which includes a ...