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Modeling the Polycentric Transition of Cities

Rémi Louf and Marc Barthelemy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 198702 – Published 6 November 2013
Physics logo See Synopsis: Cities Fragment Under Traffic Burden
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Abstract

Empirical evidence suggests that most urban systems experience a transition from a monocentric to a polycentric organization as they grow and expand. We propose here a stochastic, out-of-equilibrium model of the city, which explains the appearance of subcenters as an effect of traffic congestion. We show that congestion triggers the instability of the monocentric regime and that the number of subcenters and the total commuting distance within a city scale sublinearly with its population, predictions that are in agreement with data gathered for around 9000 U.S. cities between 1994 and 2010.

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  • Received 24 May 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.198702

© 2013 American Physical Society

Synopsis

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Cities Fragment Under Traffic Burden

Published 6 November 2013

Traffic congestion may be the root cause for why cities become more decentralized as they grow.

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Authors & Affiliations

Rémi Louf* and Marc Barthelemy

  • Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA, CNRS-URA 2306, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

  • *remi.louf@cea.fr
  • marc.barthelemy@cea.fr

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Issue

Vol. 111, Iss. 19 — 8 November 2013

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