Economic complexity highlights the relationship between interdependence (a positional characteristic of elements belonging to a given network or structure) and connectivity (a functional characteristic of elements belonging to a given field of interaction). Positional interdependence (as the one between pieces in a jigsaw puzzle) is central to studies investigating the architecture of a complex system (Simon) while connectivity is central to the analysis of responsiveness patterns in social networks and strategic action fields. This paper discusses the fundamentals of a structural approach to economic and spatial complexity by highlighting the hierarchical arrangement of network elements as a distinctive feature of system identity. The positional distribution of network elements is a fundamental characteristic of complex networks and a central condition constraining the dynamics of those networks through the principle of relative structural invariance. The paper investigates the role of this principle by connecting it with the aggregation criterion followed in assigning network elements to specific subsystems. The type of aggregation is essential in determining the resilience properties of the network with respect to specific dynamic impulses. The paper concludes highlighting the need to combine the investigation of positional interdependence with the analysis of connectivity since positional interdependence is fundamental in determining which patterns of connection are more likely to arise (and which ones are excluded), due to the role of alternative properties of relative invariance constraining the feasible transformations in the positions of network elements.

经济复杂性突出了相互依赖（属于给定网络或结构的元素的位置特征）和连通性（属于给定交互领域的元素的功能特征）之间的关系。位置的相互依赖（就像拼图游戏中各部分之间的相互依赖）是研究复杂系统（西蒙）架构的研究的核心，而连通性是分析社交网络和战略行动领域的响应模式的核心。本文通过强调网络元素的分层排列作为系统身份的一个显着特征来讨论经济和空间复杂性的结构方法的基础。相对结构不变性。本文通过将其与将网络元素分配给特定子系统时遵循的聚合标准联系起来，研究了该原则的作用。聚合类型对于确定网络相对于特定动态脉冲的弹性属性至关重要。该论文的结论强调需要将位置相互依存的调查与连通性分析结合起来，因为位置相互依存是确定哪些连接模式更有可能出现（以及哪些被排除在外）的基础，这是由于替代属性的作用。相对不变性约束网络元素位置的可行变换。