Modeling cities

Publication date: Available online 3 June 2019Source: Comptes Rendus PhysiqueAuthor(s): Marc BarthelemyAbstractCities are systems with a large number of constituents and agents interacting with each other and can be considered as emblematic of complex systems. Modeling these systems is a real challenge and triggered the interest of many disciplines such as quantitative geography, spatial economics, geomatics and urbanism, and more recently physics. (Statistical) Physics plays a major role by bringing tools and concepts able to bridge theory and empirical results, and we will illustrate this on some fundamental aspects of cities: the growth of their surface area and their population, their spatial organization, and the spatial distribution of activities. We will present state-of-the-art results and models but also open problems for which we still have a partial understanding and where physics approaches could be particularly helpful. We will end this short review with a discussion about the possibility of constructing a science of cities.RésuméLes villes sont des systèmes avec un grand nombre de constituants et d'agents interagissant les uns avec les autres ; elles peuvent être considérées comme emblématiques des systèmes complexes. La modélisation de ces systèmes est un véritable défi et a suscité l'intérêt de nombreuses disciplines telles que la géographie quantitative, l'économie spatiale, la géomatique et l'urbanisme, et plus récemment la physique. La ph...

Source: Comptes Rendus Physique - June 5, 2019 Category: Physics Source Type: research