IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v57y2020i4p731-747.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Settlement scaling theory: Bridging the study of ancient and contemporary urban systems

Author

Listed:
  • Jose Lobo

    (Arizona State University, USA)

  • Luis MA Bettencourt

    (The University of Chicago, USA)

  • Michael E Smith

    (Arizona State University, USA)

  • Scott Ortman

    (University of Colorado-Boulder, USA)

Abstract

A general explanatory framework for the social processes underpinning urbanisation should account for empirical regularities that are shared among contemporary urban systems and ancient settlement systems known throughout archaeology and history. The identification of such shared properties has been facilitated by research traditions in each field that define cities and settlements as areas that capture networks of social interaction embedded in space. Using Settlement Scaling Theory (SST) – a set of hypotheses and mathematical relationships that together generate predictions for how measurable quantitative attributes of settlements are related to their population size – we show that aggregate properties of ancient settlement systems and contemporary metropolitan systems scale up in similar ways across time, geography and culture. Settlement scaling theory thus provides a unified framework for understanding and predicting these regularities across time and space, and for identifying putative processes common to all human settlements.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose Lobo & Luis MA Bettencourt & Michael E Smith & Scott Ortman, 2020. "Settlement scaling theory: Bridging the study of ancient and contemporary urban systems," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 731-747, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:4:p:731-747
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019873796
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098019873796
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098019873796?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    2. Bettencourt, Luis M.A. & Lobo, Jose & Strumsky, Deborah, 2007. "Invention in the city: Increasing returns to patenting as a scaling function of metropolitan size," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 107-120, February.
    3. Glaeser, Edward L. & Scheinkman, JoseA. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1995. "Economic growth in a cross-section of cities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-143, August.
    4. Rudolf Cesaretti & José Lobo & Luís M A Bettencourt & Scott G Ortman & Michael E Smith, 2016. "Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, October.
    5. repec:cup:cbooks:9780511771576 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Edward L. Glaeser & Bruce I. Sacerdote & Jose A. Scheinkman, 2003. "The Social Multiplier," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(2-3), pages 345-353, 04/05.
    7. Daron Acemoglu & Asuman Ozdaglar & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2015. "Systemic Risk and Stability in Financial Networks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(2), pages 564-608, February.
    8. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    9. J. Lobo & D. Strumsky & J. Rothwell, 2013. "Scaling of patenting with urban population size: evidence from global metropolitan areas," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 819-828, September.
    10. Matthew O. Jackson, 2014. "Networks in the Understanding of Economic Behaviors," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 3-22, Fall.
    11. Luís M A Bettencourt & José Lobo & Deborah Strumsky & Geoffrey B West, 2010. "Urban Scaling and Its Deviations: Revealing the Structure of Wealth, Innovation and Crime across Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(11), pages 1-9, November.
    12. David E. Bloom & David Canning & Günther Fink, 2008. "Urbanization and the Wealth of Nations," PGDA Working Papers 3008, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    13. Ricardo Hausmann & César Hidalgo, 2011. "The network structure of economic output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 309-342, December.
    14. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-95-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. José Lobo & Luís M A Bettencourt & Deborah Strumsky & Geoffrey B West, 2013. "Urban Scaling and the Production Function for Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
    16. Paulsen, Kurt, 2012. "Yet even more evidence on the spatial size of cities: Urban spatial expansion in the US, 1980–2000," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 561-568.
    17. Charles I. Jones & Paul M. Romer, 2010. "The New Kaldor Facts: Ideas, Institutions, Population, and Human Capital," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 224-245, January.
    18. Ian Morris, 2013. "The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9830.
    19. J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), 2004. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    20. Easley,David & Kleinberg,Jon, 2010. "Networks, Crowds, and Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521195331.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qingsong He & Lingping Huang & Jing Li, 2022. "Rediscovering the Scaling Law of Urban Land from a Multi-Scale Perspective—A Case Study of Wuhan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Mingyue Yang & Ningyin Liu & Xinjing Wang & Yan Zhang, 2023. "Chinese cities exhibit diverse allometric growth patterns in material metabolism," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1626-1638, December.
    3. Scott G Ortman & José Lobo & Michael E Smith, 2020. "Cities: Complexity, theory and history," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Daan Francois Toerien, 2022. "Linking Entrepreneurial Activities and Community Prosperity/Poverty in United States Counties: Use of the Enterprise Dependency Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Danie Francois Toerien, 2022. "Temporal and Geographic Stress Testing of Entrepreneurial Proportionalities in United States Counties," World, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-31, July.
    6. Danie F. Toerien, 2021. "A Small-Town Economic Revitalisation Conundrum: Focus on Tourism, Manufacturing, or Both?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Marcus J Hamilton & Robert S Walker & Briggs Buchanan & David S Sandeford, 2020. "Scaling human sociopolitical complexity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Daan Toerien, 2021. "Orderliness in Tourism Enterprise Dynamics in United States Micropolitan Statistical Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-13, May.
    9. Andrew J. Stier & Sina Sajjadi & Fariba Karimi & Luís M. A. Bettencourt & Marc G. Berman, 2024. "Implicit racial biases are lower in more populous more diverse and less segregated US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Li, Zekun & Chen, Zhenhua, 2023. "Predicting the future development scale of high-speed rail through the urban scaling law," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Liu, Ningyin & Zhang, Yan & Fath, Brian D., 2021. "The material metabolism characteristics and growth patterns of the central cities of China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deborah Strumsky & Jose Lobo & Charlotta Mellander, 2021. "As different as night and day: Scaling analysis of Swedish urban areas and regional labor markets," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(2), pages 231-247, February.
    2. Shade T Shutters & José Lobo & Rachata Muneepeerakul & Deborah Strumsky & Charlotta Mellander & Matthias Brachert & Teresa Farinha & Luis M A Bettencourt, 2018. "Urban occupational structures as information networks: The effect on network density of increasing number of occupations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Tappeiner, Gottfried & Hauser, Christoph & Walde, Janette, 2008. "Regional knowledge spillovers: Fact or artifact?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 861-874, June.
    4. Qingsong He & Lingping Huang & Jing Li, 2022. "Rediscovering the Scaling Law of Urban Land from a Multi-Scale Perspective—A Case Study of Wuhan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Christian Düben & Melanie Krause, 2021. "Population, light, and the size distribution of cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 189-211, January.
    6. Guilherme Resende & Alexandre Carvalho & Patrícia Sakowski & Túlio Cravo, 2016. "Evaluating multiple spatial dimensions of economic growth in Brazil using spatial panel data models," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 1-31, January.
    7. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Do Large Agglomerations Lead To Economic Growth? Evidence From Urban India," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 176-200, November.
    8. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2021. "Do macroeconomic factors promote urbanization? Evidence from BRICS countries," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 397-426, June.
    9. Belitski Maksim, 2011. "Driving Urban Economic Growth – Evidence from Transition Economies," EERC Working Paper Series 11/10e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    10. Shade T Shutters & Rachata Muneepeerakul & José Lobo, 2016. "Constrained pathways to a creative urban economy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(16), pages 3439-3454, December.
    11. Rudolf Cesaretti & José Lobo & Luís M A Bettencourt & Scott G Ortman & Michael E Smith, 2016. "Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, October.
    12. Anand Sahasranaman & Luís MA Bettencourt, 2021. "Economic geography and the scaling of urban and regional income in India," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(3), pages 540-554, March.
    13. Kwok Tong Soo, 2018. "Innovation across cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 295-314, March.
    14. J. Lobo & D. Strumsky & J. Rothwell, 2013. "Scaling of patenting with urban population size: evidence from global metropolitan areas," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 819-828, September.
    15. 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.
    16. Henderson, J. Vernon, 2005. "Urbanization and Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 24, pages 1543-1591, Elsevier.
    17. Önder Nomaler & Koen Frenken & Gaston Heimeriks, 2014. "On Scaling of Scientific Knowledge Production in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-6, October.
    18. Peter Mayerhofer & Matthias Firgo & Stefan Schönfelder, 2015. "Vierter Bericht zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Wiens," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60625, April.
    19. Qin, Xionghe & Wang, Xueli & Kwan, Mei-Po, 2023. "The contrasting effects of interregional networks and local agglomeration on R&D productivity in Chinese provinces: Insights from an empirical spatial Durbin model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    20. Deeken, Tim & Ott, Ingrid, 2014. "Integration as a spatial institution: Implications for agglomeration and growth," Working Paper Series in Economics 59, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:4:p:731-747. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.