Theories and Models of Urbanization

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction

   • Denise Pumain

   Pages 1-9

3. Theories of Complexity and Urban Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Defining Complexity in Cities

      • Michael Batty

      Pages 13-26

   3. Relating Complexities for the Reflexive Study of Complex Systems

      • Juste Raimbault

      Pages 27-41

4. Scaling Laws: Universal Solutions for Urban Planning or Contingent Products of Circumstances?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43

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   2. Scaling Laws: Insights and Limitations

      • Elsa Arcaute, Erez Hatna

      Pages 45-66

   3. Scaling Laws in Urban Geography. Linkages with Urban Theories, Challenges and Limitations

      • Olivier Finance, Elfie Swerts

      Pages 67-96

   4. The Topology of Communicating Across Cities of Increasing Sizes, or the Complex Task of “Reaching Out” in Larger Cities

      • Horacio Samaniego, Mauricio Franco-Cisterna, Boris Sotomayor-Gómez

      Pages 97-118

5. Economy Versus Geography: Theories of Urbanization and Cities Development

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119

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   2. Revisiting Urban Economics for Understanding Urban Data

      • Marc Barthelemy

      Pages 121-131

   3. The French Version of the CAGE Mythology (Competitiveness—Attractiveness—Globalization—Excellence) and Some Ideas on How to Escape from It

      • Olivier Bouba-Olga, Michel Grossetti

      Pages 133-150

   4. On the Survival of Butterflies in the Jungle of Urban Systems

      • Lena Sanders, Isabelle Thomas, Céline Vacchiani-Marcuzzo

      Pages 151-167

6. Urban Theories and International Comparisons

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

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   2. Emerging Cities and Urban Theories: A Chinese Perspective

      • Fulong Wu

      Pages 171-182

   3. China’s Housing Booms: A Challenge to Bubble Theory

      • Natacha Aveline-Dubach

      Pages 183-208

   4. What Is Emerging? Understanding Urbanisation Dynamics in BRICS Countries Through a Geographical Approach, the Case of Russia and South Africa

      • Solène Baffi, Clémentine Cottineau

      Pages 209-234

   5. More Urban Constructions for Whom? Drivers of Urban Built-Up Expansion Across the World from 1990 to 2015

      • Eric Denis

      Pages 235-258

7. Complex Systems Modeling for Better Understanding Urbanization Theories

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 259-259

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   2. Unveiling Co-evolutionary Patterns in Systems of Cities: A Systematic Exploration of the SimpopNet Model

      • Juste Raimbault

      Pages 261-278

This book provides a thorough discussion about fundamental questions regarding urban theories and modeling. It is a curated collection of contributions to a workshop held in Paris on October 12th and 13th 2017 at the Institute of Complex Systems by the team of ERC GeoDiverCity. There are several chapters conveying the answers given by single authors to problems of conceptualization and modeling and others in which scholars reply to their conception and question them. Even, the chapters transcribing keynote presentations were rewritten according to contributions from the respective discussions. The result is a complete “state of the art” of what is our knowledge about urban processes and their possible formalization.

• world urbanization
• evolutionary economic geography
• historical complex systems
• spatial simulation models
• urban diversity
• cities and systems of cities
• urban processes
• urban systems
• urban planning
• urban economics
• mega cities
• emerging countries
• urbanization theory
• urban geography and urbanism
• complexity

• Department of Geography, University Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne, Paris, France

  Denise Pumain

Denise Pumain trained in geography at Ecole Normale Supérieure; she was lecturer at University Paris I from 1970, researcher at the National Institute of Demography (1981–1986), Professor at University Paris 13 (1986–1989) then at University Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne, member of the Institut Universitaire de France, Former Chair of the Commission on Urban Development and Urban Life of the IGU (1992–2000), founder of the research laboratory P.A.R.I.S. (1984), Director of the UMR Géographie-cités (CNRS 1992–2000), the European Research Group S4 (Spatial Simulation for Social Sciences, 2006–2013), Cybergeo, European Journal of Geography (founded 1996), Principal Investigator of the ERC advanced grant GeoDiverCity, http://geodivercity.parisgeo.cnrs.fr/blog/ (2011–2016). Her main scientific contribution is about building an evolutionary theory of urban systems and transferring concepts and models from self-organizing complex systems toward social sciences. She was chief executive of education and research for the Académie de Grenoble (2000–2001) and first scientific coordinator for social sciences at the French Agency for research assessment (2007–2008). She was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa at University of Lausanne and Liege and silver medal of the CNRS and Vautrin Lud International Prize in Geography in 2010. She is corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2009 and corresponding fellow of the British Academy since 2012. She is officer in French Order “Legion d’honneur” and “Ordre du merite.”

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