Aesthetics of Decision Unfolding the design process within a framework of complexity and self- organization Alessio Erioli 1 1 University of Bologna 1 alessio.erioli@unibo.it Complexity-grounded paradigms and self-organization based strategies promise enormous potential when channeled in a design process, but their current stage of development (while delivering groundbreaking results in recent years) hasn't significantly impacted yet the widespread architectural practice. Still, the tendency (in the development of technology and society) is clearly towards an increase in complexity and distributed intelligence, henceforth it is of primary importance to adopt a design approach that allows the harnessing of such potential and convey it in the creation of outcomes that favor a richer and heterogeneous ecological entanglement. To tap this kind of potential in an open-ended process requires a design approach that re-defines the distribution of control, choices and information throughout the whole process (including materials and fabrication processes).The paper explores the possibility of such design approach in the territory that links education and research through a series of Master Thesis developed at the University of Bologna and comparing them to other case studies developed worldwide. Keywords: continuity, tectonics, architecture, mereology, multi-agent systems, theory, robotic fabrication, computation, simulation INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Complexity is undoubtedly one of the most powerful paradigms of contemporary age; the idea of emer- gence and self-organization in particular, that com- plexity can stem from the interaction and feedback over time governed by simple rules capable to pro- duce stable, coherent organizations is of particular interest for its potential implications in architecture. Prior to the discoveries that led to the formula- tion of this paradigm, it was taken for granted that the role of the designer was that of a mastermind able to conceive a complete model of the entire project; an immediate consequence of such condition is that the highest complexity achievable coincides with the one conceivable by the mind of the designer. Au- tomation of simple tasks (the hallmark of the indus- trial revolution) was only implemented in a linear fashion without the possibility of feedback, there- fore precluding any form of endogenous adaptabil- ity or self-adjustment in the system, strengthening CAAD EDUCATION | Design Concepts & Strategies - Volume 1 - eCAADe 34 | 219