Beyond the power law - a new approach to analyze city size distributions

被引:36
作者
Benguigui, Lucien [2 ]
Blumenfeld-Lieberthal, Efrat [1 ]
机构
[1] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Fac Architecture & Town Planning, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel
[2] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Dept Phys & Solid Inst, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel
关键词
city size distribution; power laws;
D O I
10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2006.11.002
中图分类号
TP39 [计算机的应用];
学科分类号
081203 ; 0835 ;
摘要
This work proposes a new approach to analyze the city size distribution (CSD). We present a general equation for the rank size logarithmic plot, with a new positive exponent alpha. When alpha = 1, the Pareto distribution is yielded; when alpha not equal 1, the log of the curves exhibits a concave distribution. We studied the CSDs of 41 cases in 35 countries (in several countries we examined cities and metropolitan areas or agglomerations) in order to apply our new equation. We determined accurately the exponent alpha for 31 cases. In 18 cases we received alpha = 1, in one case alpha < 1, and in 12 cases alpha > 1. However, for the other cases, either the distributions were not homogeneous, or the data exhibited significant fluctuations which precluded a good determination of the exponent a. Based on this analysis, we developed a series of models (based on the models of town growth of Gabaix and of Blank and Solomon) in order to describe the different CSDs. The results of these models include power laws as well as cases that are represented by concave distributions on a logarithmic plot of the rank size. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:648 / 666
页数:19
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