Urban characteristics attributable to density-driven tie formation

Wei Pan, Gourab Ghoshal, Coco Krumme, Manuel Cebrian and Alex Pentland ()
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Wei Pan: Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gourab Ghoshal: Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Coco Krumme: Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Manuel Cebrian: Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alex Pentland: Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Motivated by empirical evidence on the interplay between geography, population density and societal interaction, we propose a generative process for the evolution of social structure in cities. Our analytical and simulation results predict both super-linear scaling of social-tie density and information contagion as a function of the population. Here we demonstrate that our model provides a robust and accurate fit for the dependency of city characteristics with city-size, ranging from individual-level dyadic interactions (number of acquaintances, volume of communication) to population level variables (contagious disease rates, patenting activity, economic productivity and crime) without the need to appeal to heterogeneity, modularity, specialization or hierarchy.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2961

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