Cities as Systems Within Systems of Cities

Berry, Brian J. L.

doi:10.1111/j.1435-5597.1964.tb01283.x

Cited by 353 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Many of these ideas come from previous approaches to understanding and simulating city systems developed over the last half century or more (Berry, 1964). Social physics which was developed in analogy to gravitation, rank-size relationships, and notions about diffusion and segregation are deeply embedded in previous approaches to thinking about how cities are patterned.…”

Section: Where Do We Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Half a century or more ago, cities were first formally considered as 'systems' which were defined as distinct collections of interacting entities, usually in equilibrium, but with explicit functions that could enable their control often in analogy to processes of their planning and management (Berry, 1964). These conceptions treated cities as organised from the top down, distinct from their wider environment which was assumed largely benign, with their functioning dependent on restoring their equilibrium through various negative feedbacks of which planning was central (Chadwick, 1971).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building a science of cities

Batty

2012

Cities

228

140

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Our understanding of cities is being transformed by new approaches from the complexity sciences (Batty, 2005). Here we review progress, sketching the background beginning with the systems approach which treated systems as being organised from the top down to that which now dominates where systems are treated as evolving from the bottom up. The switch in thinking we describe is best pictured in the transition from thinking of 'cities as machines' to 'cities as organisms'. We first review developments in the dynamics of cities where the notion of equilibrium has been replaced by a veritable potpourri of different types such as chaos, catastrophes, and bifurcations. We then look at patterns and processes that give rise to morphologies that illustrate fractal patterns and self-similarity. We follow this with ideas about networks and interactions that sustain cities through their transport and then we show how such processes of movement and mobility can give rise to the diffusion and segregation of different spatial activities. In all these developments, ideas about scaling that relate size, shape and scale in space and time are evident and we thus sketch three scaling laws based on rank-size, allometry and gravitation that are central to our synthesis of how spatial processes give rise to physical morphologies. We conclude with notions about how these ideas are being embedded into models that have potential applications to inform policy.

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Section: Where Do We Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a science of cities

Batty

2012

Cities

228

140

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“…Just as there are systems of cities, the cities embedded in these systems are systems themselves [9]. An intra-urban hierarchy of centers with different tiers requires the same attention as has been paid to studies of the interurban hierarchy.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Intra-Urban Hierarchy of Activity Centers—A Minimized Household Travel Energy Consumption Approach

Zhang

Xie

2015

Sustainability

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An intra-urban hierarchy of activity centers interconnected by non-motorized and public transportation is broadly believed to be the ideal urban spatial structure for sustainable cities. However, the proper hinterland area for centers at each level lacks empirical study. Based on the concentric structure of everyday travel distances, working centers, shopping centers, and neighborhood centers are extracted from corresponding types of POIs in 286 Chinese cities at the prefectural level and above. A U-shaped curve between Household Transportation Energy Consumption (HTEC) per capita and center density at each of the three levels has been found through regression analysis. An optimal intra-urban hierarchy of activity centers is suggested to construct energy-efficient cities.

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“…This was taken one step further by Burgess' concentric zone hypothesis of the location of residential areas by type (Anderson and Egeland, 1961). The second descriptive theory is Hoyt's sectoral theory from sociological concepts of segregation (Berry, 1964). And the last theory is concerned with Harris and Ullman's (1945) notions of multiple nucleation of the city.…”

Section: Evolution Of Urban Theory Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications for socio-spatial segregation in urban theories

Caner¹,

Bölen²

2013

Planning

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Since the beginning of the twentieth century, our understanding of cities has gone through important changes due to major sociospatial processes. Specifically, over the last few decades processes like globalisation and decolonisation have produced significant consequences in cities and these have attracted the attention of prominent urban scholars. Of these consequences, segregation has become infamous in the discourse of numerous disciplines, including governmental debates and policies. However, sociospatial transformations have been a source of new challenges for urban theory makers throughout history. At a certain point, the physical focus of early urban theories was no longer sufficient to interpret the city, causing a shift towards process-oriented theory-making. The central theme of this paper is to investigate this shift by analysing the evolution of urban theories with regard to their implications for urban social geography. In this context, the analytical focuses of main urban theories are evaluated and their explanatory power for socio-spatial segregation is stressed. Such a developmental perspective enables us to observe urban theories' receptiveness to changing circumstances, as well as their power to guide urban scholars. The evaluation reveals that urban theories capture the spirit of their time (zeitgeist) through their own lenses and explain the social geography of the city either partially or fully with regard to these lenses. In conclusion, it may be said that urban theories which have implications for segregation are not generated universally, but rather in specific frameworks which might or might not be explanatory for other circumstances. All in all, it is believed that this evaluation will provide guidance for future studies that aim to understand and/ or develop the role of urban theories in explaining socio-spatial segregation in the city.Key words: Segregation; socio-spatial segregation; urban social geography; urban theories. ÖZYirminci yüzyıl başlarından beri, kentler hakkındaki anlayışımız, büyük ölçekli sosyo-mekansal süreçler nedeniyle önemli deği-şimler geçirmiştir. Özellikle 1950'lerden bu yana, küreselleşme ve sömürgecilik sonrası süreçler, kentsel araştırmacıların dikkatini çeken olumsuz kentsel sonuçlar doğurmuşlardır. Bu sonuçlar arasında, ayrışmanın kötü bir ün saldığı ve yönetim birimlerinin söylem ve politikalarında yer edindiği görülmektedir. Ancak, bu sosyo-mekansal dönüşümler, kentsel kuramcılar için uzun zamandır yeni mücadele alanları ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Belirli bir noktaya gelindiğinde, önceki kentsel kuramların fiziksel yaklaşım-ları kenti yorumlamak için yetersiz kalmış ve bu da, süreç odaklı kuram geliştirmeye doğru bir kaymanın yaşanmasına neden olmuştur. Bu makalenin ana konusu; bu yaşanan dönüşümü incelemek için, kentsel kuramların evrimini, kentsel sosyal coğrafyaya ilişkin çıkarımları bağlamında analiz etmektir. Bu çerçevede, temel kentsel kuramların analitik odak noktaları değerlendirilerek, sosyo-mekansal ayrışmayı açıklama konusundaki yeterlilikle...

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Cities as Systems Within Systems of Cities

Cited by 353 publications

References 22 publications

Building a science of cities

Building a science of cities

Optimal Intra-Urban Hierarchy of Activity Centers—A Minimized Household Travel Energy Consumption Approach

Implications for socio-spatial segregation in urban theories

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