Framing settlement systems as spatial adaptive systems

Kaarel Sikk and Geoffrey Caruso

Ecological Modelling, 2024, vol. 490, issue C

Abstract: Theoretical developments are needed to interpret the increasing amount of large-scale spatial data about past settlements. So far, settlement patterns have mostly been considered as passive imprints of past human activities and most theories are limited to ecological processes. Locational and spatial interactions have scarcely been included as long-term driving forces of settlement systems but hold promise to explain large-scale patterns. This paper proposes a conceptual model for long-term spatial adaptive settlement systems based on the complex adaptive systems framework and both spatial and cross-scale interactions. The goal of the model is to find new ways of interpreting archaeological location data and understand settlement systems as emerging from micro-choices of population units interacting in space. The conceptualisation is carried out on a level that it can be used to bridge hunter-gatherer and urban theories.

Keywords: Settlement systems; Complex adaptive systems; Locational modelling; Residential location choice; Social-ecological systems; Complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:490:y:2024:i:c:s0304380024000413

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2024.110652

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