Patch Works

PlaNetWork:Patch Works - based partly on the work of Stuart Kauffman as described in his 1995 book At Home In The Universe. ISBN:0195095995 The basic idea of the patch procedure is simple: take a hard, conflict-laden task in which many parts interact, and divide it into a quilt of nonoverlapping patches. Try to optimize within each patch. As this occurs, the couplings between parts in two patches across patch boundaries will mean that finding a "good" solution in one patch will change the problem to be solved by the parts in the adjacent patches. Since changes in each patch will alter the problems confronted by the neighboring patches, and the adaptive moves by those patches in turn will alter the problem faced by yet other patches, the system is just like our model Co-Evolve-ing EcoSystem-s.

article - "Patch Works Designs: Finding Solutions to ComplexProblems by Creating and Engaging ComplexSystems" (Wicked, Complex Adaptive Systems)

• The philosophy and procedures of Patch Works Designs were developed by Matt Taylor