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Scaling and universality in the micro-structure of urban space

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  • Carvalho, Rui
  • Penn, Alan

Abstract

We present a broad, phenomenological picture of the distribution of the length of open space linear segments, l, derived from maps of 36 cities in 14 different countries. By scaling the Zipf plot of l, we obtain two master curves for a sample of cities, which are not a function of city size. We show that a third class of cities is not easily classifiable into these two universality classes. The cumulative distribution of l displays power-law tails with two distinct exponents, αB=2 and αR=3. We suggest a link between our data and the possibility of observing and modelling urban geometric structures using Lévy processes.

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  • Carvalho, Rui & Penn, Alan, 2004. "Scaling and universality in the micro-structure of urban space," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 332(C), pages 539-547.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:332:y:2004:i:c:p:539-547
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2003.10.024
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    3. Asya Natapov & Daniel Czamanski & Dafna Fisher-Gewirtzman, 2018. "A Network Approach to Link Visibility and Urban Activity Location," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 555-575, September.
    4. Isabelle Thomas & Pierre Frankhauser & Dominique Badariotti, 2012. "Comparing the fractality of European urban neighbourhoods: do national contexts matter?," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 189-208, April.
    5. Liang Huang & Xinyan Zhu & Xinyue Ye & Wei Guo & Jiye Wang, 2016. "Characterizing street hierarchies through network analysis and large-scale taxi traffic flow: a case study of Wuhan, China," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(2), pages 276-296, March.
    6. Wagner, Roy, 2008. "On the metric, topological and functional structures of urban networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(8), pages 2120-2132.
    7. Ermal Shpuza, 2017. "Relative size measures of urban form based on allometric subtraction," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 44(1), pages 141-159, January.
    8. Sergio Porta & Vito Latora & Fahui Wang & Salvador Rueda & Emanuele Strano & Salvatore Scellato & Alessio Cardillo & Eugenio Belli & Francisco CÃ rdenas & Berta Cormenzana & Laura Latora, 2012. "Street Centrality and the Location of Economic Activities in Barcelona," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(7), pages 1471-1488, May.

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