On Modelling Complexity and Urban Form

As generators of new cities or extensions of existing ones, algorithmic urban models provide a means of designing urban forms of a new complexity. They have the capacity to produce extremely intricate architectural forms, but also to be responsive to scenarios and constraints. M Christine Boyer, the William R Kenan Jr Professor of Architecture at Princeton University, reflects on how 'architects acting as an interface between data sets and computer algorithms' might shape distinctive urban environments that lead to the mass customisation of cities.