Multiple agents and self-organisation in complex cities: The crucial role of several property

The spatial dimension of property is underexamined in the planning literature. Above all, and surprisingly, this dimension is underestimated in the debate on complex self-organising cities. However, if we consider the importance of action in and for urban self-organisation, property cannot but be an aspect indispensable for understanding the propensity of cities to grow (more or less) spontaneously over time. This article first explores property patterns and their importance for selforganising cities. It then develops some ideas on how to increase the capacity of cities to rely on self-organisation. It shows that there is an urgent need to include the importance of property in the discourse, both from a descriptive/exploratory perspective and from a strategic/normative one.