The Size, Scale, and Shape of Cities

by: Michael Batty

Science, Vol. 319, No. 5864. (8 February 2008), pp. 769-771.

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Abstract

Despite a century of effort, our understanding of how cities evolve is still woefully inadequate. Recent research, however, suggests that cities are complex systems that mainly grow from the bottom up, their size and shape following well-defined scaling laws that result from intense competition for space. An integrated theory of how cities evolve, linking urban economics and transportation behavior to developments in network science, allometric growth, and fractal geometry, is being slowly developed. This science provides new insights into the resource limits facing cities in terms of the meaning of density, compactness, and sprawl, and related questions of sustainability. It has the potential to enrich current approaches to city planning and replace traditional top-down strategies with realistic city plans that benefit all city dwellers. 10.1126/science.1151419

@article{citeulike:2353331, abstract = {Despite a century of effort, our understanding of how cities evolve is still woefully inadequate. Recent research, however, suggests that cities are complex systems that mainly grow from the bottom up, their size and shape following well-defined scaling laws that result from intense competition for space. An integrated theory of how cities evolve, linking urban economics and transportation behavior to developments in network science, allometric growth, and fractal geometry, is being slowly developed. This science provides new insights into the resource limits facing cities in terms of the meaning of density, compactness, and sprawl, and related questions of sustainability. It has the potential to enrich current approaches to city planning and replace traditional top-down strategies with realistic city plans that benefit all city dwellers. 10.1126/science.1151419}, author = {Batty, Michael }, citeulike-article-id = {2353331}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151419}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {complexity, peri-urban, urbanization}, month = {February}, number = {5864}, pages = {769--771}, posted-at = {2008-02-14 20:35:57}, priority = {0}, title = {The Size, Scale, and Shape of Cities}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151419}, volume = {319}, year = {2008} }

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TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2353331 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2353331 TI - The Size, Scale, and Shape of Cities JF - Science VL - 319 IS - 5864 SP - 769 EP - 771 N2 - Despite a century of effort, our understanding of how cities evolve is still woefully inadequate. Recent research, however, suggests that cities are complex systems that mainly grow from the bottom up, their size and shape following well-defined scaling laws that result from intense competition for space. An integrated theory of how cities evolve, linking urban economics and transportation behavior to developments in network science, allometric growth, and fractal geometry, is being slowly developed. This science provides new insights into the resource limits facing cities in terms of the meaning of density, compactness, and sprawl, and related questions of sustainability. It has the potential to enrich current approaches to city planning and replace traditional top-down strategies with realistic city plans that benefit all city dwellers. 10.1126/science.1151419 KW - complexity KW - peri-urban KW - urbanization AU - Batty, Michael PY - 2008/02/08/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151419 ER -

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