1. Introduction

Currently, software engineering of complex systems regards systems as a collection of systems, composed of technical and social (humans and/or organisations) components. Such systems are characterised by an entanglement of human, software and organisational interactions. More than an integration of technical and social components, the design and analysis of such socio-technical systems must deal with the social coordination of these components. Social coordination refers to the mechanisms and processes mediating the contingent bonds between the individual components, and which are subject to evolution. This requires the technical components of socio-technical systems, to be socio-cognitive technical systems (SCTS), which poses several design challenges. In particular, the design of SCTS must incorporate organisational, normative, cultural and other social elements into the technological design. In recent year, several frameworks have been developed to deal with the design of SCTS, from different perspectives and geared to different areas of application. This book presents a comprehensive overview of these frameworks, provides a thorough comparison of the models and tools that support them, and discusses possible areas of application and the associated challenges.