System Architecture and Complexity

Foreword

The systems that mankind structures and constructs are at the very heart of the modern world: in fact, we only need to think of the social and political systems, complex and industrial systems, monetary and financial systems, energy production and distribution systems, transport systems, communication systems and, more generally, the numerous organizational and technological systems that surround us to realize that “engineered” systems¹ are simply everywhere…

All these systems are becoming characterized more and more both by a very high level of intrinsic complexity and by ever-increasing interdependences. Mastering these systems has therefore become a real challenge, in a world that is undergoing profound transformation where they must be able to resist the constant and often contradictory pressure of citizens and consumers, markets and regulations, competition and technological innovation, to cite just a few examples of forces that they are subject to² in almost all fields of industry and services where complex systems play a role (aeronautical, automobile, digital, energy, civil engineering, high tech, naval, railways, mines, spatial, information systems, etc.).

Mastering the complexity of a system fundamentally means being capable of mastering its integration process – in other words, its construction by interconnection and/or connection of smaller systems. This process certainly still remains largely misunderstood insofar as it generates the mysterious phenomenon ...