Alternative explanations of hierarchical differentiation in urban systems

Denise Pumain (1)

1 GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités

The hierarchical differentiation of urban systems has been noticed for a long time and various explanations have been suggested. Among them: an intentional functional organisation for controlling a territory; the application of a spatial economic equilibrium principle; a “purely” random growth process; the statistical addition of Pareto-like elementary phenomena; self-organisation or co-evolution of competing subsystems, without constraint or under space-time optimisation principle. We review these explanations and related methods of analysis, trying to assess their relevance and exploring the possible similarities between urban dynamics and other types of hierarchical complex systems.

Mots clés: urban systems; hierarchy; complex systems; Gibrat; Zipf

Domaines: Géographie

Denise Pumain. Alternative explanations of hierarchical differentiation in urban systems. Pumain D. Hierarchy in natural and social sciences, 3, Springer, pp.169-222, 2006, Methodos series. ⟨halshs-00145933⟩