Intelligent complexity in networked infrastructures

Our present-day infrastructures are complex systems that are getting more and more interconnected. Society heavily depends on their functioning, which is threatened by everyday overload, accidental failures and intended attacks. Therefore, a thorough understanding of how infrastructures should be designed and managed is crucial. Two sub-programmes of the next generation infrastructures research programme look into the ways in which the systems' complexity can intelligently be mastered, using models and methods from complex adaptive systems theory. Four types of complexity are distinguished in infrastructures, according to the level of interaction between the subsystems. In addition, four basic types of control can be identified, depending on the way the agents in the system cooperate.