Spatial Interaction in Dynamic Urban Systems

Sheppard, E. (1980). Spatial Interaction in Dynamic Urban Systems. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-80-103

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Abstract

It seems contradictory to model urban system change without considering changes in inter-urban interaction patterns, but this has frequently been the case in the urban literature. Consideration and explanation of changing interaction patterns is an area to which the "geographer's perspective" has much to contribute. Most explanations of city size distributions have ignored interactions and thus seem to be fundamentally in error. Short-term responses of cities to economic cycles may be identified and understood better by considering the inter-urban spacetime diffusion pattern of economic impulses. Long-term changes such as urban concentration and deconcentration can also be modeled with dynamic interactions. Among other conclusions it can be shown that unequal urban, and regional, growth rates are probable if interaction patterns are dynamic, even in the absence of economies of scale.

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