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Centre for Liveable Cities Knowledge Hub

Deconstructing Complexity Science

Dr Geoffrey West, Distinguished Professor and Past President, Santa Fe Institute

Last updated 1 March 2025

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Thumbnail for Geoffrey West: Interview with CLC (cities as complex systems)

“You can define a city as all the people that are connected to a network, meaning they have interacted with the city in some form or another… taking the example of [foreigners who move into another city for work on a daily basis, they could even be considered citizens of two cities].” – Professor Geoffrey West, Distinguished Professor and Past President, Santa Fe Institute and CLC’s Visiting Fellow.

In this interview with Aaron Maniam, Director, Industry Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Professor West discusses how complexity thinking can provide insights to the economic fabric of a city, and the vitality and dynamism of a city’s urban life depends the value created from social interactions.

About the Speakers

interview-2016-04-DeconstructingComplexity-GeoffreyWest

INTERVIEWEE
Dr Geoffrey West
Distinguished Professor and Past President
Santa Fe Institute

interview-2016-04-DeconstructingComplexity-AaronManiam

INTERVIEWER
Mr Aaron Maniam
Director,
Industry Division
Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)