Defining and addressing the risk of undesirable emergent properties

Emergent properties are an important consideration in the engineering of complex systems. Unfortunately, the possibility of undesirable emergent properties is not always assessed during systems engineering. However, the potential for adverse consequences related to undesirable emergent properties requires that undesirable emergent properties be evaluated and managed as risks. This paper discusses a taxonomy for characterizing emergent properties and how an organization may consider addressing undesirable emergent properties as risks throughout the systems engineering lifecycle.