Urban Scaling: Bigger Is More Efficient For Cities, Just Like In Ancient Times

Cities may not look like they once looked, but those of ancient times and today had a lot in common when it came to intangibles.Despite notable differences in appearance and governance, ancient human settlements function in much the same way as modern cities, according to new findings by researchers at the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Colorado Boulder.City planning says that as modern cities grow in population, so do their efficiencies and productivity. A city's population outpaces its development of urban infrastructure, for example, and its production of goods and services outpaces its population. What's more, these patterns exhibit mathematical regularity and predictability, a phenomenon called "urban scaling." read more

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