Scaling Laws and Integration Dynamics in Cities of the European Union

This chapter reviews the principles of evolutionary urban theory, which explains the coevolution of cities through the cumulative effects of asymmetries in their interaction networks over the long-term. The evolutionary theory of urban systems states that systems of cities are built on the basis of the highly diverse interactions that occur continuously and on multiple spatial scales between actors, businesses and institutions located in cities. The chapter provides an example based on an original source of information listing foreign investment projects, which were finely localized at the city level in Europe between 2003 and 2016. It uses the interpretation of scaling laws by evolutionary theory of cities to measure the results of the integration processes of European cities into a variety of global networks. Deviations from general relationships linking the attributes of cities and their size also make it possible to analyze advances and delays of certain cities in the process of disseminating innovations.