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An Allometric Analysis of the US Urban System: 1960 – 80

Author

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  • Y Lee

    (Urban and Regional Planning Program, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80204-5300, USA)

Abstract

In this paper the relationship between urban population size and land area of urbanized areas of the USA in 1960, 1970, and 1980 is analyzed by means of the allometric growth law. The US urban system of each of the above time periods is disaggregated into seven population-size classes and nine geographic regions. A total of fifty-one equations are estimated. Although the statistical results of the allometric equations classified according to population are not satisfactory, the equations classified according to region are superior. Among the major findings for the US urban system are: the existence of the dynamic similarity model, the existence of negative allometry, the lack of support for the hypothesized relationship between the allometric coefficients and the changes in the population density profiles, and that continental USA is divided into regions of ‘negative allometric’ or ‘toward isometric’ and ‘stable’ or ‘unstable’ growth patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Y Lee, 1989. "An Allometric Analysis of the US Urban System: 1960 – 80," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 21(4), pages 463-476, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:21:y:1989:i:4:p:463-476
    DOI: 10.1068/a210463
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alperovich, Gershon, 1984. "The size distribution of cities: On the empirical validity of the rank-size rule," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 232-239, September.
    2. Brian J. L. Berry, 1964. "Cities As Systems Within Systems Of Cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 147-163, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Yanguang, 2017. "Multi-scaling allometric analysis for urban and regional development," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 465(C), pages 673-689.
    2. Lang, Wei & Long, Ying & Chen, Tingting & Li, Xun, 2019. "Reinvestigating China’s urbanization through the lens of allometric scaling," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 1429-1439.
    3. Chen, Yanguang & Huang, Linshan, 2019. "Modeling growth curve of fractal dimension of urban form of Beijing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 523(C), pages 1038-1056.

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