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Ecological Energetics, Hierarchy, and Urban Form: A System Modelling Approach to the Evolution of Urban Zonation

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  • Shu-Li Huang

    (Graduate Institute of Urban Planning, National Chung-Hsing University, Taipei, Taiwan 10433, Republic of China)

Abstract

Cities are hierarchical centers of consumption and have had sharp pulses of growth and decline over history. Viewing regional development from an energy perspective is appealing in its analogy to natural systems, though the theory itself as applied to social systems remains undeveloped. The evolutionary changes of an urban system are strongly determined by exogenous energetic inputs and internally self-organized behaviors. Energy from life-support and production systems transformed and is converged spatially to urban centers. The energy-systems language method has kinetic and energetic definitions to represent open thermodynamics and the equations for simulation. This method is applied to study the evolution of urban ecosystems. Ideas of systems ecology and energetic hierarchy emerging from general system theory are adapted to formulate a macro evolutionary model of urban zonal systems. Five consecutive zones are proposed to represent Taipei metropolis: undeveloped; agricultural; residential; industrial; and urban. Each zone includes variables of area, asset, and population, and pathways interconnecting system components. Left – right positions of each zone indicate places in energy hierarchy with power circuits from left to right linking different zones, and control circuits from right to left. A model of urban zonation formulated as a set of differential equations is developed. The model is run to assess the evolution of urban zones in relation to energetic flows. Over time each zone within the urban system of Taipei metropolis evolves as a result of energy convergence and is forced to adapt its internal structure in response to external changes. Similar to care in ecosystems, it is concluded that urban systems exhibit in the long run a certain morphogenesis, a qualitative change in dynamics which moves an urban system toward different stages of spatial organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Shu-Li Huang, 1998. "Ecological Energetics, Hierarchy, and Urban Form: A System Modelling Approach to the Evolution of Urban Zonation," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 25(3), pages 391-410, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:25:y:1998:i:3:p:391-410
    DOI: 10.1068/b250391
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. R White & G Engelen, 1993. "Cellular Automata and Fractal Urban Form: A Cellular Modelling Approach to the Evolution of Urban Land-Use Patterns," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 25(8), pages 1175-1199, August.
    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. Li, Linjun & Lu, Hongfang & Campbell, Daniel E. & Ren, Hai, 2010. "Emergy algebra: Improving matrix methods for calculating transformities," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 411-422.
    2. Huang, Shu-Li & Budd, William W. & Chan, Shih-Liang & Lin, Ying-Chen, 2007. "Stream order, hierarchy, and energy convergence of land use," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 205(1), pages 255-264.
    3. Wang, Szu-Hua & Huang, Shu-Li & Budd, William W., 2012. "Integrated ecosystem model for simulating land use allocation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 46-55.
    4. Chiu, Hao-Wei & Lee, Ying-Chieh & Huang, Shu-Li & Hsieh, Ya-Cheng, 2019. "How does peri-urbanization teleconnect remote areas? An emergy approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 403(C), pages 57-69.
    5. Lee, Chun-Lin & Huang, Shu-Li & Chan, Shih-Liang, 2009. "Synthesis and spatial dynamics of socio-economic metabolism and land use change of Taipei Metropolitan Region," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(21), pages 2940-2959.
    6. Huang, Shu-Li & Kao, Wei-Chieh & Lee, Chun-Lin, 2007. "Energetic mechanisms and development of an urban landscape system," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 201(3), pages 495-506.

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