On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities.
Does the scaling relationship between population sizes of cities with urban metrics like economic output and infrastructure (transversal scaling) mirror the evolution of individual cities in time (longitudinal scaling)? The answer to this question has important policy implications, but the lack of s...
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2020-01-01
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233003 |
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doaj-fae4df342bf34d92a21ca123a32715a82021-03-03T22:01:59ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01155e023300310.1371/journal.pone.0233003On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities.Fabiano L RibeiroJoao MeirellesVinicius M NettoCamilo Rodrigues NetoAndrea BaronchelliDoes the scaling relationship between population sizes of cities with urban metrics like economic output and infrastructure (transversal scaling) mirror the evolution of individual cities in time (longitudinal scaling)? The answer to this question has important policy implications, but the lack of suitable data has so far hindered rigorous empirical tests. In this paper, we advance the debate by looking at the evolution of two urban variables, GDP and water network length, for over 5500 cities in Brazil. We find that longitudinal scaling exponents are city-specific. However, they are distributed around an average value that approaches the transversal scaling exponent provided that the data is decomposed to eliminate external factors, and only for cities with a sufficiently high growth rate. We also introduce a mathematical framework that connects the microscopic level to global behaviour, finding good agreement between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence in all analyzed cases. Our results add complexity to the idea that the longitudinal dynamics is a micro-scaling version of the transversal dynamics of the entire urban system. The longitudinal analysis can reveal differences in scaling behavior related to population size and nature of urban variables. Our approach also makes room for the role of external factors such as public policies and development, and opens up new possibilities in the research of the effects of scaling and contextual factors.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233003 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Fabiano L Ribeiro Joao Meirelles Vinicius M Netto Camilo Rodrigues Neto Andrea Baronchelli |
spellingShingle |
Fabiano L Ribeiro Joao Meirelles Vinicius M Netto Camilo Rodrigues Neto Andrea Baronchelli On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Fabiano L Ribeiro Joao Meirelles Vinicius M Netto Camilo Rodrigues Neto Andrea Baronchelli |
author_sort |
Fabiano L Ribeiro |
title |
On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
title_short |
On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
title_full |
On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
title_fullStr |
On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
title_sort |
on the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2020-01-01 |
description |
Does the scaling relationship between population sizes of cities with urban metrics like economic output and infrastructure (transversal scaling) mirror the evolution of individual cities in time (longitudinal scaling)? The answer to this question has important policy implications, but the lack of suitable data has so far hindered rigorous empirical tests. In this paper, we advance the debate by looking at the evolution of two urban variables, GDP and water network length, for over 5500 cities in Brazil. We find that longitudinal scaling exponents are city-specific. However, they are distributed around an average value that approaches the transversal scaling exponent provided that the data is decomposed to eliminate external factors, and only for cities with a sufficiently high growth rate. We also introduce a mathematical framework that connects the microscopic level to global behaviour, finding good agreement between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence in all analyzed cases. Our results add complexity to the idea that the longitudinal dynamics is a micro-scaling version of the transversal dynamics of the entire urban system. The longitudinal analysis can reveal differences in scaling behavior related to population size and nature of urban variables. Our approach also makes room for the role of external factors such as public policies and development, and opens up new possibilities in the research of the effects of scaling and contextual factors. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233003 |
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