Abstract
The city can be defined in various ways, depending upon the characteristics we wish to emphasise. We can carry out anthropological, sociological, economic, geographical analyses, and many others, which each highlight one or more specific aspects of this complex entity. The concept of complexity can be referred therefore to the ways in which the city is seen when observed from different points of view. Over the last ten years, many new analytical tools and models have been developed. These have formalised particular complex aspects of the urban system which cannot be expressed through systems of normal equations or dimensions of Euclidean space. We refer to catastrophe theory, principles of self- organisation - the city as a ‘dissipative structure’, as a ‘synergetic’ or an ‘autopoietic structure’ - also to neural simulations, multi-agent systems, fractals morphology and chaotic dynamics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Batty M., Longley P. (1994) Fractal Cities: A Geometry of Form and Function, Harcourt Brace & Company Academic Press, London.
Berry B.J.L., Goheen P.G., Goldstein M. (1968) Metropolitan Area Definition: A Re- evalutation of Concepts and Statistical Practice, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Working Paper, Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Cafiero S., Busca A. (1970) Lo sviluppo metropolitano in Italia, SVIMEZ, Rome.
Cafiero S., Cecchini D. (1990) Un’analisi economico-funzionale del fenomeno urbano in Italia, in Martellato D., Sforzi F. (eds.) Studi sui sistemi urbani, Angeli, Milan, 69–105.
Camagni R. (1989) Cambiamento tecnologico, milieu locale e reti di imprese: verso una teoria dinamica dello spazio economico, Economia e politica industriale, 64, 209–236.
Camagni R., Pio S. (1988) Funzioni urbane e gerarchia metropolitana europea: la posizione di Milano nel sistema dell’Europa meridionale, in IRER, La trasformazione economica della città, Angeli, Milan, 59–84.
Conti S., Spriano G. (1990) Effetto città. Sistemi urbani e innovazione: prospettive per l’Europa negli anni’90, Fondazione Agnelli, Turin.
Coombes M.G., Dixon J.S., Goddard J.B., Openshaw S., Taylor P.J. (1978a) Towards a More Rational Consideration of Census Areal Units: Daily Urban Systems in Britain, Environment and Planning A, 10, 1179–1185.
Coombes M.G., Dixon J.S., Goddard J.B., Openshaw S., Taylor P.J. (1978b) Functional Regions for the Population Census of Great Britain, in Herbert O.T., Johnston R.J. (eds.) Geography and the Urban Environment: Progress in Research and Applications, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
Coombes M.G., Green A.G., Openshaw S. (1985) New Areas for Old: A Comparison of the 1978 and 1984 Travel-To-Work Areas, Area, 3, 213–219.
Crevoisier O., Maillat D. (1991) Milieu, Industrial Organisation and Territorial Production Systems: toward a New Theory of Spatial Development, in Camagni R. (ed.) Innovation Networks: Spatial Perspectives, Belhaven Press, London.
DATAR and GIP-Reclus (1989) Les villes europeénnes: rapport pour la DATAR, GIP- Reclus, Brunet R. (ed.) La Documentation Française, Paris.
Dendrinos S.D., Mullally H. (1985) Urban Evolution. Studies in the Mathematical Ecology of Cities, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Forrester J.W. (1969) Urban Dynamics, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hall P., Hay D. (1980) Growth Centres in the European Urban System, Heinemann Educational Books, London.
Hall P., Rey T., Gracey H., Drewett R. (1973) The Containment of Urban England, Allen and Unwin, London.
IRES (1986) Rassegna critica dei metodi per l’individuazione dei mercati locali del lavoro, La Bella A. (ed.) Quaderni, Turin.
IRES (1991) Le aree metropolitane tra specificità e complementarietà, Dematteis G., Ferlaino F. (eds.) Dibattiti 2, Turin.
ISTAT (1986) Classificazione dei comuni secondo le caratteristiche urbane e rurali, Note e relazioni no. 2, Rome.
ISTAT-IRPET (1989)I mercati locali del lavoro in Italia, Angeli, Milan.
ISTAT-IRPET (1994) I sistemi locali del lavoro in Italia, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Leeds, working paper, Rome.
Lowry I.S. (1964) A Model of a Metropolis, The Rand Corporation no. R.M. 4125 R.C.
Mees A.I. (1975) The Revival of Cities in Medieval Europe. An Application of Catastrophe Theory, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 5, 403–425.
May R.M. (1976) Simple Mathematical Models with Very Complicated Dynamics, Nature, 261, 459–467.
Pumain D., Saint-Julien T., Cattan N., Rozenblat C. (1992) Le concept statistique de la ville en Europe, Eurostat, Bruxelles, Luxembourg.
Smart M.W. (1974) Labour Market Areas: Uses and Definition, Progress in Planning, 2, Part 4, Pergamon, Oxford.
Tagliacarne G. (1913) Atlante delle aree commerciali d’Italia, Mondadori, Milan.
Thom R. (1980) Modèles mathématiques de la morphogénèse?, Bourgois, Paris.
Thom R. (1988) Rivoluzioni: catastrofi sociali? in Barbieri G., Vidali P. (eds.) La ragione possibile. Per una geografìa della cultura, Feltrinelli, Milan.
Von Thünen J.H. (1826) Der isolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und Nationalökonomie, Pythes, Hamburg, Leopold, Rostok.
Wilson A.G. (1970) Entropy in Urban and Regional Modelling, Pion, London.
Wilson A.G. (1981) Catastrophe Theory and Bifurcation: Application to Urban and Regional Systems, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ferlaino, F. (1998). The Sciences of the City: Analytical Tools and Complexity. In: Bertuglia, C.S., Bianchi, G., Mela, A. (eds) The City and Its Sciences. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95929-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95929-5_15
Publisher Name: Physica-Verlag HD
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-95931-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-95929-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive