The new science of cities / Michael Batty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Batty, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

City planning.

Cities and towns--Growth.

Cities and towns.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 496 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, [2013]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

A proposal for a new way to understand cities and their design not as artifacts but as systems composed of flows and networks.In The New Science of Cities, Michael Batty suggests that to understand cities we must view them not simply as places in space but as systems of networks and flows. To understand space, he argues, we must understand flows, and to understand flows, we must understand networks--the relations between objects that compose the system of the city. Drawing on the complexity sciences, social physics, urban economics, transportation theory, regional science, and urban geography, and building on his own previous work, Batty introduces theories and methods that reveal the deep structure of how cities function.Batty presents the foundations of a new science of cities, defining flows and their networks and introducing tools that can be applied to understanding different aspects of city structure. He examines the size of cities, their internal order, the transport routes that define them, and the locations that fix these networks. He introduces methods of simulation that range from simple stochastic models to bottom-up evolutionary models to aggregate land-use transportation models. Then, using largely the same tools, he presents design and decision-making models that predict interactions and flows in future cities. These networks emphasize a notion with relevance for future research and planning: that design of cities is collective action.

Contents:

I Foundations and Prerequisites 7

1 Building a Science of Cities 13

2 Ebb and Flow: Interaction, Gravity, and Potential 47

3 Connections and Correlations: The Science of Networks 79

II The Science of Cities 115

4 The Growth of Cities: Rank, Size, and Clocks 119

5 Hierarchies and Networks 151

6 Urban Structure as Space Syntax 179

7 Distance in Complex Networks 211

8 Fractal Growth and Form 245

9 Urban Simulation 271

III The Science of Design 301

10 Hierarchical Design 305

11 Markovian Design Machines 339

12 A Theory for Collective Action 365

13 Urban Development as Exchange 411

14 Plan Design as Committee Decision Making 433.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9781461950332

1461950333

9780262318235

0262318237

1306091071

9781306091077

OCLC:

863047511

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.