Superlinear and sublinear urban scaling in geographical networks modeling cities.

Abstract

Using a geographical scale-free network to describe relations between people in a city, we explain both superlinear and sublinear allometric scaling of urban indicators that quantify activities or performances of the city. The urban indicator Y(N) of a city with the population size N is analytically calculated by summing up all individual activities produced by person-to-person relationships. Our results show that the urban indicator scales superlinearly with the population, namely, Y(N)∝N(β) with β>1, if Y(N) represents a creative productivity and the indicator scales sublinearly (β<1) if Y(N) is related to the degree of infrastructure development. These results coincide with allometric scaling observed in real-world urban indicators. We also show how the scaling exponent β depends on the strength of the geographical constraint in the network formation.