About this Research Topic
The cities always were the subject study almost exclusively of geographers and urbanists. However, in the last few years, another scientific community has made a breakthrough in understanding urban phenomena: physicists. In part, this ongoing progress reflects a progressive and expressive increase in the amount of data available (Big Data) regarding the dynamics of urban life. This massive volume of data combined with an unprecedented level of empirical detail about the pace of life in cities allowed researchers to probe for systematic theories capable of identifying, describing, and explaining commonalities, regularities, and universal patterns in cities. Many believe these studies mark the birth of a new discipline - a “new science of cities” - that aims to understand cities from the complexity science perspective.
Among many new results and new approaches introduced by physics communities to the study of cities, some deserve highlight:
- understanding and theorization of urban scaling, that is, the non-linear scaling of many urban indicators with city size;
- city fractal properties and hierarchical structures;
- the role of geometry and spatial distribution, and how these properties affect connectivity, mobility, and socio-economic aspects of cities;
- percolation ideas and the understanding of cities boundaries;
- growth of cities and their shapes;
- models and description of spatial segregation urban areas;
- self-organized criticality in the context of cities;
- understanding city universalities, that is, the many commonalities observed in cities from vastly different urban systems.
In particular, the quest for universality has always been part of physicists’ agenda when trying to understand the different aspects of nature. Some universalities already have been identified in urban systems, with Zipf’s law and urban scaling representing perhaps the most known of emerging properties of cities. However, there is too much to know about cities, especially whether it is possible to formulate a general and unified theory of cities capable of describing urban patterns already observed - more ambitiously - capable of predicting and guide novel discoveries. The development of this theory will bring a systematic understanding of urban phenomena, which in turn is likely to positively impact the decision-making process of governments, promote better management of cities and more efficient use of environmental resources, and ultimately significantly improve life quality in cities.
This Research Topic aims to bring together researchers from different intercorrelated fields focused on understanding cities as a complex system. We are particularly interested in physics-inspired approaches seeking to understand urban phenomena via quantitative and systematic analyses with the potential for contributing to a unified urban theory. These works can also propose new ideas for establishing connections between the current knowledge about urban processes and direct applications related to cities' management, helping with urban planning and public policies. We hope this collection contributes to identifying new regularities and novel connections between city properties capable of positively impacting decision-making by public planners to optimize infrastructure utilization and systematically foster economic development.
We welcome original research and short reviews that touch upon any of the subjects previously listed - in particular research dedicated to urban scaling and mobility, spatial networks and the role of geometry, percolation, growth, self-organization, and universality in general. We note that these are just examples of subjects that have previously contributed to the emerging science of cities. It may very well be that the connections between different fields and physics will give rise to entirely new perspectives that can hardly be envisaged in this call. We, therefore, encourage potential authors to submit their research even if it goes beyond the topics mentioned here.
Among many new results and new approaches introduced by physics communities to the study of cities, some deserve highlight:
- understanding and theorization of urban scaling, that is, the non-linear scaling of many urban indicators with city size;
- city fractal properties and hierarchical structures;
- the role of geometry and spatial distribution, and how these properties affect connectivity, mobility, and socio-economic aspects of cities;
- percolation ideas and the understanding of cities boundaries;
- growth of cities and their shapes;
- models and description of spatial segregation urban areas;
- self-organized criticality in the context of cities;
- understanding city universalities, that is, the many commonalities observed in cities from vastly different urban systems.
In particular, the quest for universality has always been part of physicists’ agenda when trying to understand the different aspects of nature. Some universalities already have been identified in urban systems, with Zipf’s law and urban scaling representing perhaps the most known of emerging properties of cities. However, there is too much to know about cities, especially whether it is possible to formulate a general and unified theory of cities capable of describing urban patterns already observed - more ambitiously - capable of predicting and guide novel discoveries. The development of this theory will bring a systematic understanding of urban phenomena, which in turn is likely to positively impact the decision-making process of governments, promote better management of cities and more efficient use of environmental resources, and ultimately significantly improve life quality in cities.
This Research Topic aims to bring together researchers from different intercorrelated fields focused on understanding cities as a complex system. We are particularly interested in physics-inspired approaches seeking to understand urban phenomena via quantitative and systematic analyses with the potential for contributing to a unified urban theory. These works can also propose new ideas for establishing connections between the current knowledge about urban processes and direct applications related to cities' management, helping with urban planning and public policies. We hope this collection contributes to identifying new regularities and novel connections between city properties capable of positively impacting decision-making by public planners to optimize infrastructure utilization and systematically foster economic development.
We welcome original research and short reviews that touch upon any of the subjects previously listed - in particular research dedicated to urban scaling and mobility, spatial networks and the role of geometry, percolation, growth, self-organization, and universality in general. We note that these are just examples of subjects that have previously contributed to the emerging science of cities. It may very well be that the connections between different fields and physics will give rise to entirely new perspectives that can hardly be envisaged in this call. We, therefore, encourage potential authors to submit their research even if it goes beyond the topics mentioned here.
Keywords: Cities, Urban Systems, Percolation, Complex Systems, Fractals, Urban mobility, Urban Scaling
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
