surprise?

It is not necessary to have permanent possibilities of surprise in order to have complexity in a place. Nor would constant surprise be useful, since places are lived most of the time without direct concentration on their structure or rules.

In a re-read detective novel you know the ending already, but the structures of the novel still perform their indirection and build-up. A well known building or place may have trajectories of movement or action that build in structural surprise even though you already know what is coming.


Index
Complexity outline

(c) David Kolb, 1 August 2001