SFI Distinguished Professor Geoffrey West discusses SFI's work to develop a unified theory of cities on the talk radio blog Conversation Crossroad.
West explained how a simple mathematical model may define the underlying structure and dynamics of urban areas of any size, and in turn predict fundamental aspects of city life such as crime rate, the number of patents its residents produce, and rates of disease. As urban areas have grown exponentially worldwide, such a theory could help city planners meet the challenges of sustainability.
“Cities have been the crucible of civilization, where most of the great ideas are developed and wealth is created,” West said. “But it’s also where bad things happen, such as crime, pollution, disease, and so on. However, cities are also the locus for solutions to these problems because they attract the smart, creative people.”
Watch the Conversation Crossroad program (38 minutes, October 20, 2011)
Watch the SFI video about the cities and scaling research (7 minutes)