{"product_id":"introduction-to-urban-science-isbn-9780262046008","title":"Introduction to Urban Science","description":"\u003cb\u003eA novel, integrative approach to cities as complex adaptive systems, applicable to issues ranging from innovation to economic prosperity to settlement patterns.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHuman beings around the world increasingly live in urban environments. In Introduction to Urban Science, Luis Bettencourt takes a novel, integrative approach to understanding cities as complex adaptive systems, claiming that they require us to frame the field of urban science in a way that goes beyond existing theory in such traditional disciplines as sociology, geography, and economics. He explores the processes facilitated by and, in many cases, unleashed for the first time by urban life through the lenses of social heterogeneity, complex networks, scaling, circular causality, and information.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough the idea that cities are complex adaptive systems has become mainstream, until now those who study cities have lacked a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding cities and urbanization, for generating useful and falsifiable predictions, and for constructing a solid body of empirical evidence so that the discipline of urban science can continue to develop. Bettencourt applies his framework to such issues as innovation and development across scales, human reasoning and strategic decision-making, patterns of settlement and mobility and their influence on socioeconomic life and resource use, inequality and inequity, biodiversity, and the challenges of sustainable development in both high- and low-income nations. It is crucial, says Bettencourt, to realize that cities are not \"zero-sum games\" and that knowledge, human cooperation, and collective action can build a better future.List of Figures\u003cbr\u003eList of Tables\u003cbr\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e1 Why Cities? What Is Urban Science?\u003cbr\u003e2 Classical Models of Cities and Urban Functional Definitions\u003cbr\u003e3 Complex Networks and Urban Scaling\u003cbr\u003e4 The Statistics of Urban Quantities. Predictability, Identity and Universality\u003cbr\u003e5 Diversity and the Productivity of Cities\u003cbr\u003e6 Neighborhoods and Human Development\u003cbr\u003e7 Cities the Origins of Settlements in History\u003cbr\u003e8 Urban Systems, Demography and the Laws of Geography\u003cbr\u003e9 Growth, Information and the Emergence of Institutions\u003cbr\u003e10 What Are Cities for? The Challenges Ahead\u003cbr\u003eAppendix A: Background Derivations for the Core-Periphery Model\u003cbr\u003eAppendix B: Urban Economics Models\u003cbr\u003eAppendix C: Overview of the Ergodic Theorems of Demography\u003cbr\u003eAppendix D: General Probability Solution for Geometric Random Growth\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eReferences\u003cbr\u003eIndex“This commanding work offers a provocative, encyclopedic and exciting new approach to understanding cities, synthesizing the time-worn theories from economics, sociology, geography, and others to propose a layered path to meaningful coherence for furthering the understanding of the complexities of urban development.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEugenie L. Birch, Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of UrbanResearch and Education, University of Pennsylvania\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“As cities, particularly in the Global South, face the challenges posed by the transformation of informality, Bettencourt illuminates the science behind the process. This book’s special resonance lies in bringing together the different stakeholders in the urban space to appreciate each other’s contributions rather than battling for ownership.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSheela Patel, Founding Director, Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres; Cofounder, Shack Dwellers International\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Bettencourt brilliantly interweaves his deep knowledge from a range of fields—history, geography, archeology, biology, complex systems, economics—to develop the building blocks of urban science. This tour de force will enter the canon for twenty-first century urban scientists.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Karen C. Seto, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography \u0026amp; Urbanization Science, Yale University\u003c\/b\u003eLuís M. A. Bettencourt is Professor of Ecology and Evolution, and Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, at the University of Chicago. He is also an external Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300213608677,"sku":"NP9780262046008","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262046008.jpg?v=1767730147","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/introduction-to-urban-science-isbn-9780262046008","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}