Scaling Laws in City Growth: Setting Limitations with Self-Organizing Maps

Krzysztof Cebrat and Maciej Sobczyński

PLOS ONE, 2016, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: Do scaling relations always provide the means to anticipate the relationships between the size of cities, costs of maintenance, and the socio-economic benefits resulting from their growth? Scaling laws are considered a universal principle that describes the development of complex systems such as cities. It seems that regardless of their location or history, the growth of cities is associated with the super-linear or sublinear scaling of features such as the amount of space required, infrastructure, or human activities. However, the results of our research, based on grouping by Self-Organizing Maps, reveal some limitations in the application of scaling laws: the trends of urban growth behave in a different manner when we consider both a large and diverse collection of cities and a subset of cities alike. This finding complements the existing body of knowledge on the growth of cities and allows for a more accurate prediction of their future.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0168753

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168753

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