In the past decade, complexity science has increasingly been used to study real policy cases. A number of analyses and proofs of concept are available, dispersedly throughout distant disciplines, ranging from social sciences (economics and sociology); natural sciences (ecology, epidemiology and physics); to practice-oriented research (engineering, policy analysis and urbanism). The accomplishments of this approach are not fully sensed because their reach is contained within the limits of their fields’ experts and focus.

Public policy modelling is a multidisciplinary research field, focused on the application of both well-known and cutting-edge methodologies and theoretical frameworks on the interface between experts of various academic disciplines and policymakers. Its goal is to facilitate decision making in a constantly changing environment.

This Special Issue aims at collecting both, novel research and reviews on public policy modeling and applications, showing not only the cross-disciplinary nature of the field, but also how rigorous scientific studies have already accomplished towards understanding the complexity of social systems and to policy making.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Complex social systems and applications in public policy
• Complexity methods and analysis for policymakers
• The effects of governance in complex social systems
• Innovations and Public Policy, evolution and universal features
• Management of financial networks, real estate and financing spillovers
• Smart cities, mobility, and flows in complex urban environments
• Dynamic risk management in complex scenarios
• Analyses that explicitly include political-spatial governance boundaries
• Design and analysis of complex socio-technical systems for public services
• Public Policies interventions in Epidemics (or pandemics)
• Economic modeling and the climate emergency
• Economic modeling that focuses on environmental, infrastructure, technological development and policy