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Scaling laws in urban supply networks

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  • Kühnert, Christian
  • Helbing, Dirk
  • West, Geoffrey B.

Abstract

In previous work, it has been proposed that urban structures may be understood as a result of self-organization principles. In particular, researchers have identified fractal structures of public transportation networks and land use patterns. Here, we will study spatial distribution systems for energy, fuel, medical, and food supply. It is found that these systems show power-law scaling as well, when the number of “supply stations” is plotted over the population size. Surprisingly, only some supply systems display a linear scaling with population size. Others show sublinear or superlinear scaling. We suggest an interpretation regarding the kind of scaling law that is expected in dependence of the function and constraints of the respective supply system.

Suggested Citation

  • Kühnert, Christian & Helbing, Dirk & West, Geoffrey B., 2006. "Scaling laws in urban supply networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 363(1), pages 96-103.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:363:y:2006:i:1:p:96-103
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2006.01.058
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    1. Fabiano L Ribeiro & Joao Meirelles & Vinicius M Netto & Camilo Rodrigues Neto & Andrea Baronchelli, 2020. "On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Sun, Puyang & Xu, Qiqin, 2015. "Energy distribution and economic growth: An empirical test for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 24-31.
    3. Cura, Robin & Cottineau, Clémentine & Swerts, Elfie & Ignazzi, Cosmo Antonio & Bretagnolle, Anne & Vacchiani-Marcuzzo, Celine & Pumain, Denise, 2017. "The Old and the New: Qualifying City Systems in the World with Classical Models and New Data," SocArXiv pbzn6, Center for Open Science.
    4. Chen, Yanguang, 2014. "An allometric scaling relation based on logistic growth of cities," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 65-77.
    5. Jung-Hun Yang & Kwang-Woo Nam, 2022. "Modelling the Relationship of Infrastructure and Externalities Using Urban Scaling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2011. "Energy distribution and economic growth," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 782-797.
    7. Xianyuan Chang & Zhaoping Wu & Yi Chen & Yuanyuan Du & Longfei Shang & Ying Ge & Jie Chang & Guofu Yang, 2021. "The Booming Number of Museums and Their Inequality Changes in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Joao Meirelles & Fabiano L. Ribeiro & Gabriel Cury & Claudia R. Binder & Vinicius M. Netto, 2021. "More from Less? Environmental Rebound Effects of City Size," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, April.
    9. Jacques Gautrais & Jérôme Buhl & Sergi Valverde & Pascale Kuntz & Guy Theraulaz, 2014. "The Role of Colony Size on Tunnel Branching Morphogenesis in Ant Nests," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-11, October.
    10. Denise PUMAIN, 2012. "Une Théorie Géographique Pour La Loi De Zipf," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 36, pages 31-54.
    11. David Levinson, 2012. "Network Structure and City Size," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, January.
    12. Hongguang Dong & Menghui Li & Ru Liu & Chensheng Wu & Jinshan Wu, 2017. "Allometric scaling in scientific fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(1), pages 583-594, July.
    13. Joao Meirelles & Camilo Rodrigues Neto & Fernando Fagundes Ferreira & Fabiano Lemes Ribeiro & Claudia Rebeca Binder, 2018. "Evolution of urban scaling: Evidence from Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Fábio Duarte & Ricardo Álvarez, 2019. "The data politics of the urban age," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Chen, Yanguang, 2017. "Multi-scaling allometric analysis for urban and regional development," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 465(C), pages 673-689.
    16. Michele Morganti & Anna Pages-Ramon & Helena Coch & Antonio Isalgue, 2019. "Buildingmass and Energy Demand in Conventional Housing Typologies of the Mediterranean City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-18, June.
    17. Wang, Ping & Gu, Changgui & Yang, Huijie & Wang, Haiying, 2022. "The multi-scale structural complexity of urban morphology in China," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    18. Cheng, Lu & Mi, Zhifu & Sudmant, Andrew & Coffman, D'Maris, 2022. "Bigger cities better climate? Results from an analysis of urban areas in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    19. Chen, Yanguang & Wang, Yihan & Li, Xijing, 2019. "Fractal dimensions derived from spatial allometric scaling of urban form," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 122-134.
    20. Zhang, Jiang & Yu, Tongkui, 2010. "Allometric scaling of countries," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(21), pages 4887-4896.
    21. Suo, Qi & Guo, Jin-Li & Sun, Shiwei & Liu, Han, 2018. "Exploring the evolutionary mechanism of complex supply chain systems using evolving hypergraphs," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 489(C), pages 141-148.
    22. Xu, Gang & Xu, Zhibang & Gu, Yanyan & Lei, Weiqian & Pan, Yupiao & Liu, Jie & Jiao, Limin, 2020. "Scaling laws in intra-urban systems and over time at the district level in Shanghai, China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 560(C).
    23. Samaniego, Horacio & Moses, Melanie E., 2008. "Cities as Organisms: Allometric Scaling of Urban Road Networks," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 1(1), pages 21-39.
    24. Haiyang Fang & Dali Jiang & Tinghong Yang & Ling Fang & Jian Yang & Wu Li & Jing Zhao, 2018. "Network evolution model for supply chain with manufactures as the core," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, January.
    25. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2008. "Energy Distribution, Power Laws, and Economic Growth," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-385, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.

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