Scaling and universality in urban economic diversification

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Hyejin YounGeoffrey B West

Abstract

Understanding cities is central to addressing major global challenges from climate change to economic resilience. Although increasingly perceived as fundamental socio-economic units, the detailed fabric of urban economic activities is only recently accessible to comprehensive analyses with the availability of large datasets. Here, we study abundances of business categories across US metropolitan statistical areas, and provide a framework for measuring the intrinsic diversity of economic activities that transcends scales of the classification scheme. A universal structure common to all cities is revealed, manifesting self-similarity in internal economic structure as well as aggregated metrics (GDP, patents, crime). We present a simple mathematical derivation of the universality, and provide a model, together with its economic implications of open-ended diversity created by urbanization, for understanding the observed empirical distribution. Given the universal distribution, scaling analyses for individual business categories enable us to determine their relative abundances as a function of city size. These results shed light on the processes of economic differentiation with scale, suggesting a general structure for the growth of...Continue Reading

References

Oct 16, 1999·Science·A L Barabasi, R Albert
Sep 8, 2001·Science·R L Axtell
Dec 21, 2005·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Dongfeng FuH Eugene Stanley
Apr 18, 2007·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Luís M A BettencourtGeoffrey B West
Jul 28, 2007·Science·C A HidalgoR Hausmann
Feb 9, 2008·Science·Michael Batty
Jun 25, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·César A Hidalgo, Ricardo Hausmann
Oct 22, 2010·Nature·Luis Bettencourt, Geoffrey West
Jul 21, 2012·PloS One·Andres Gomez-LievanoLuís M A Bettencourt
Jun 6, 2013·Nature Communications·Wei PanAlex Pentland
Jun 22, 2013·Science·Luís M A Bettencourt
Jun 24, 2014·Scientific Reports·Luís M A BettencourtHyejin Youn
Nov 21, 2014·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Elsa ArcauteMichael Batty
Apr 24, 2015·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Hyejin YounJosé Lobo

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Feb 22, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jules Depersin, Marc Barthelemy
Dec 22, 2017·Nature Communications·Minjin LeeGourab Ghoshal
Aug 21, 2018·PloS One·Tasnuva MahjabinAlfonso Mejia
Aug 12, 2017·PloS One·Marcos OliveiraRonaldo Menezes
Feb 14, 2018·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Morgan R FrankIyad Rahwan
Jan 15, 2020·Nature Human Behaviour·Pierre-Alexandre BallandCésar A Hidalgo
Dec 12, 2019·Royal Society Open Science·Eszter BokányiGábor Vattay
May 20, 2020·PloS One·Fabiano L RibeiroAndrea Baronchelli
Sep 24, 2020·PloS One·Haroldo V RibeiroQuentin S Hanley
Feb 8, 2019·Science Advances·Marc KeuschniggPeter Hedström
Sep 3, 2020·Science Advances·Luis M A Bettencourt
May 21, 2020·Royal Society Open Science·C Cabrera-ArnauS R Bishop
Sep 17, 2020·Science Advances·Inho HongHyejin Youn
Oct 14, 2020·Royal Society Open Science·Bernardo MonechiVittorio Loreto
Dec 5, 2020·Scientific Reports·Lei DongYu Liu
Feb 19, 2021·Scientific Reports·Riccardo Di ClementeMichael Batty
Sep 17, 2020·Science Advances·Luis M A Bettencourt
Apr 23, 2021·Scientific Reports·Hugo BarbosaGourab Ghoshal
Sep 30, 2021·PloS One·Airton Deppman, Evandro Oliveira Andrade-Ii

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Trending Feeds

COVID-19

Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more serious diseases, such as the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; formally known as 2019-nCoV). Coronaviruses can spread from animals to humans; symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties; in more severe cases, infection can lead to death. This feed covers recent research on COVID-19.

Blastomycosis

Blastomycosis fungal infections spread through inhaling Blastomyces dermatitidis spores. Discover the latest research on blastomycosis fungal infections here.

Nuclear Pore Complex in ALS/FTD

Alterations in nucleocytoplasmic transport, controlled by the nuclear pore complex, may be involved in the pathomechanism underlying multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. Here is the latest research on the nuclear pore complex in ALS and FTD.

Applications of Molecular Barcoding

The concept of molecular barcoding is that each original DNA or RNA molecule is attached to a unique sequence barcode. Sequence reads having different barcodes represent different original molecules, while sequence reads having the same barcode are results of PCR duplication from one original molecule. Discover the latest research on molecular barcoding here.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease characterized by unexplained disabling fatigue; the pathology of which is incompletely understood. Discover the latest research on chronic fatigue syndrome here.

Evolution of Pluripotency

Pluripotency refers to the ability of a cell to develop into three primary germ cell layers of the embryo. This feed focuses on the mechanisms that underlie the evolution of pluripotency. Here is the latest research.

Position Effect Variegation

Position Effect Variagation occurs when a gene is inactivated due to its positioning near heterochromatic regions within a chromosome. Discover the latest research on Position Effect Variagation here.

STING Receptor Agonists

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) are a group of transmembrane proteins that are involved in the induction of type I interferon that is important in the innate immune response. The stimulation of STING has been an active area of research in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Here is the latest research on STING receptor agonists.

Microbicide

Microbicides are products that can be applied to vaginal or rectal mucosal surfaces with the goal of preventing, or at least significantly reducing, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Here is the latest research on microbicides.