Non-trivial relationship between scaling behavior and the spatial organization of GDP in Indonesian cities

Abstract

Urban scaling analysis has shown that various aggregated urban quantities obey power-law relationships with the population size. Despite the rapid progress, direct empirical evidence that shows how the power-law exponents β depend on the spatial organization of the GDP has been lacking. Moreover, urban scaling studies are hardly reproduced in developing countries due to inadequate official statistics. We tackle these issues by performing urban scaling analysis on Indonesian cities using globally harmonized functional cities delineations and global-scale gridded Gross Domestic Product (GDP) datasets. First, we observe that the GDP and area of Indonesian cities scale linearly with the population size. For GDP in particular, the deviations from the scaling law follow a geographical pattern. Second, we determine the economic hotspots in each city and observe that the area of the hotspots scales mildly sublinear with the population size. Surprisingly, the GDP of hotspots also scales sublinearly with the population size, indicating a lack of increasing returns due to scaling. Third, by classifying the cities based on the spatial organization of the GDP in two dimensions (heterogeneity and spatial dispersion) and examining the scaling exponents of each class, we discover a non-trivial relation between scaling behavior and the spatial organization of the GDP. Spatial dispersion strongly affects the scaling behavior in heterogeneous cities, while such effect is weakened for homogeneous cities. Finally, we find that the scaling effect in terms of economies of scale (sublinearity of area) and increasing returns (superlinearity of GDP) is stronger for Indonesian cities with spatially compact GDP distribution.

The Inter-Relationships of Territorial Quality of Life with Residential Expansion and Densification: A Case Study of Regions in EU Member Countries

“…Economic output is found to be higher in high-density built areas as shown by Li [135] who indicated that the urban structures that have evolved from low polycentricity and low dispersion to high polycentricity and low dispersion have undergone the highest per capita GDP growth. A further implication is that of the scaling effect represented by economies of scale and increasing returns, which was found to be stronger for regions with spatially compact GDP distribution, which has been confirmed by Meijers and Burger [136] and Kuno Pradipto [137]. In terms of infrastructure development, it can be asserted that high-density urban development is more effective and economical than lower density development when it comes to the provision of underground utilities (i.e., energy and transport networks, sanitation, etc.…”

Assessment of the environmental kuznets curve within EU-27: Steps toward environmental sustainability (1990–2019)

“…Population growth also contributes to increased energy consumption, which means greater demand for energy services [ 74 ]. The population and GDP relationship is typically positive [ 75 ] where a larger population generally means a more significant labor force, which can produce more goods and services, leading to increased economic output. However, the relationship between these variables and CO 2 emissions is complex and interdependent.…”