Big Data or No Data: Supporting Urban Decision-Making with a Nested System Model

Abstract

There are always new developments in urban systems. Some may be desired; others may be undesired. This article briefly discusses how Big Data methods could detect such new developments. It then turns to discussing how such new developments could be detected, even where no Big Data is available—which may be the case in most cities—and/or where Big Data methods might fail to detect new developments. An answer is provided by a model of nested systems, where slower-changing systems, such as cultural and economic systems, enclose faster-changing systems, such as political and technical systems. The article further presents a suggested approach for influencing such desired and undesired developments, based on knowledge gained from studying relatively faster and relatively slower systems in a given complex urban system. Thus, the article suggests a way to observe, evaluate, understand, and influence complex urban systems without the need for Big Data.