Social systems are becoming more complex from technological advancements and increased connectivity. Individuals are further empowered with the capability to augment their memory and communication through computers, the internet, and cell phones. Every society has structures which influence collective behavior, and with all of the possible configurations of people in a population, the question emerges for designers of how to implement a method to use the collective information and create a successful design solution [1].

Cities have been shown to have fractal geometry. In this paper we show how the fractal shape can emerge from a generative process that takes information on the scale of individuals or groups, and uses it to design a permanent infrastructure on the scale of a city. In this sense, we grow cities consisting of individuals and roads, starting from just individuals. [from introduction of paper, see PDF for rest]

A Generative Method for Infrastructure Emergence from Kawandeep Virdee on Vimeo.