Scaling Laws in Complex Systems Dynamics

Scaling laws introduced in the 2000s, transpose models that were first tested in biology to the science of cities. This chapter outlines the principles derived from complex systems dynamics that justify this model transfer. It specifies the methods used to empirically test such laws. The chapter compares interpretations of the results proposed by two scientific communities operating at different levels of abstraction. It analyzes the results of numerous applications of scaling laws to cities across a variety of fields and discusses the implications of these issues for urban policy. Scaling laws provide an easily transposable tool for measuring the effects of city size on a wide variety of urban indicators. The great advantage of research on urban scaling laws is that they provide measurement tools that are better suited than traditional per capita indicators for evaluating and comparing the performance of cities or the quality of life of their inhabitants.