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 comprise 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.
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