CITY SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS AND URBAN DENSITY FUNCTIONS: SOME INTERRELATIONSHIPS*

1 August 1983

journal article
Published by Wiley in Journal of Regional Science

Vol. 23 (3) , 283-307
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.1983.tb00991.x

Abstract

This paper is concerned with "relating the apparent regularities of the population distribution within individual cities to the regularities with which the urban population of a nation is distributed among cities....An attempt is first made to draw the two distributions together in mathematical terms. The discussion then turns to a theoretical consideration of possible interrelations between the two distributions, after which the temporal variation of the parameters of each distribution is examined. This leads to the outlining of an evolutionary model of urban-system development, based on the passage through a number of stages." The analysis focuses on urban systems in Europe and North America.

Keywords

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