An analytical process of the spatio-temporal evolution of urban systems based on allometric and fractal ideas

This paper presents a computer-based analytical framework for the spatio-temporal evolution of urban systems using the ideas from the allometric growth associated with fractals. Both cities as systems and systems of cities follow the law of allometric growth, and the scaling factors of the allometric relations can compose the matrix equations as eigenfunctions. The fractal dimension arrays are just the eigenvectors of the scaling factor matrices while the numbers of variables are the greatest eigenvalues. The solutions of matrix equations can be employed to analyse city systems and evaluate relative levels of urban development. The method is applied to Hangzhou urban system of China. The results reveal clearly an urbanization process characterized as population concentration and an industrialization process characterized as industrial diffusion. The computation results are consistent with the reality, which indicate that the method is available for analyzing the spatio-temporal evolution of complex systems such as cities. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.