This paper proposes a formal framework to model the propagation of software antipatterns across architectural layers, quantifying their impact using principles from complex systems theory, technical debt economics, and cognitive load theory. By extending the 4+1 architectural view model with a propagation graph and economic simulation, the proposed framework enables software teams to predict, visualize, and mitigate the systemic effects of structural faults. We support our proposal with a mathematical model, a conceptual propagation engine, and simulation results
Andrade et al. (Fri,) studied this question.