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The temporal evolution of the city size distribution

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  • Benguigui, Lucien
  • Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, Efrat

Abstract

We present an application of a growth model for a system of cities. This computer model simulates the evolution of systems with measurable entities (e.g. city size), and takes into account the growth of the entities in terms of size and number. It includes a random multiplicative process for the growth of individual entities and for the creation of new ones. We use a new mathematical expression with a positive exponent α (which we call the ‘shape exponent’) and additional three parameters, to describe the dynamics of the systems’ size distributions through time. We compare the changes of a real system of cities and the model’s results quantitatively and qualitatively. Our findings suggest that there is a good agreement at the macro level between the model and the real data.

Suggested Citation

  • Benguigui, Lucien & Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, Efrat, 2009. "The temporal evolution of the city size distribution," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(7), pages 1187-1195.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:7:p:1187-1195
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.12.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Kwong, Hok Shing & Nadarajah, Saralees, 2019. "A note on “Pareto tails and lognormal body of US cities size distribution”," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 55-62.
    2. Kii, Masanobu & Akimoto, Keigo & Doi, Kenji, 2012. "Random-growth urban model with geographical fitness," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(23), pages 5960-5970.
    3. Sarabia, José María & Prieto, Faustino, 2009. "The Pareto-positive stable distribution: A new descriptive model for city size data," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(19), pages 4179-4191.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    City size distribution; Zipf’s law;

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