Abstract: This article compares the sub-systems of the city in light of complexity theory and argues that traditional precincts are organised as complex adaptive systems, while the shopping centre and the arterial strip are not. Complexity theory supposes that that systems that have evolved, continue to evolve and are organised and managed by the dynamics inherit in complex adaptive systems will have greater mass, diversity and complexity than systems characterised by either order or chaos. This analysis tests this hypothesis in the urban environment by comparing suburban regions and districts in metropolitan Adelaide and country South Australia using secondary statistical data