Challenges of Engineering Economic Behavior in Large-Scale, Self-Organizing Infrastructures

One approach to engineering large-scale infrastructures (LSI) as self-organizing systems is to inform their design by concepts from economic theory. The paper presents an overview of the visions and intentions connected to, as well as critical aspects and limitations of this approach. As a discussion paper it reviews a selection of relevant literature. It is argued that for implementing economic behavior in self-organizing systems giving attention to the findings from the domain of complex adaptive systems is a prerequisite, and that the transfer of concepts between economic and social theories to the engineering of technical systems creates significant challenges. Some critical barriers are formulated. As to its practical implication, the paper intends to prepare and give tangible advice for further research on the topic. It gives a synopsis of the different research streams involved and helps to derive limitations of emulating or simulating economic behavior in self-organizing systems.