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Cross-scale dynamics of a regional urban system through time
Citation:
Eason, T. AND A. Garmestani. Cross-scale dynamics of a regional urban system through time. Region et Developpement 36:55-77, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this work is to study the dynamic behavior of complex urban systems to study their resilience (with links to sustainability) and identify drivers of stability and population growth.
Description:
In this work, we conducted an analysis of a regional urban system (southeastern United States) that has been the subject of research in the series of papers reviewed in the preceding sections. We used a U.S. census dataset incorporating the urbanized area (UA) definition. A UA comprises a central place and the urban fringe, which includes other ?places? (Bessey, 2000). The Bureau of the Census officially defines a ?place? as a concentration of population, which must have a name and be locally recognized, although it may or may not be legally incorporated under the laws of its state (Bessey, 2002). We analyzed a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) dataset of cities in the southeastern region (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) of the U.S. for this research. The analysis of variables in this study that potentially influence dynamics in urban systems is based upon Information theory, in particular, a variation of Fisher information.
