The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth

Abstract Human settlements on Earth are scattered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and spatial arrangements. These patterns are often not random but a result of complex geographical, cultural, economic and historical processes that have profound human and ecological impacts. However, little is known...

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Autores principales:	Emanuele Strano, Filippo Simini, Marco De Nadai, Thomas Esch, Mattia Marconcini
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0b2fb6b37efd4243822ab8243b8f9ae4
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:0b2fb6b37efd4243822ab8243b8f9ae4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0b2fb6b37efd4243822ab8243b8f9ae42021-12-05T12:15:30ZThe agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth10.1038/s41598-021-02743-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/0b2fb6b37efd4243822ab8243b8f9ae42021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02743-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Human settlements on Earth are scattered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and spatial arrangements. These patterns are often not random but a result of complex geographical, cultural, economic and historical processes that have profound human and ecological impacts. However, little is known about the global distribution of these patterns and the spatial forces that creates them. This study analyses human settlements from high-resolution satellite imagery and provides a global classification of spatial patterns. We find two emerging classes, namely agglomeration and dispersion. In the former, settlements are fewer than expected based on the predictions of scaling theory, while an unexpectedly high number of settlements characterizes the latter. To explain the observed spatial patterns, we propose a model that combines two agglomeration forces and simulates human settlements’ historical growth. Our results show that our model accurately matches the observed global classification (F1: 0.73), helps to understand and estimate the growth of human settlements and, in turn, the distribution and physical dynamics of all human settlements on Earth, from small villages to cities.Emanuele StranoFilippo SiminiMarco De NadaiThomas EschMattia MarconciniNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Emanuele Strano Filippo Simini Marco De Nadai Thomas Esch Mattia Marconcini The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
description	Abstract Human settlements on Earth are scattered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and spatial arrangements. These patterns are often not random but a result of complex geographical, cultural, economic and historical processes that have profound human and ecological impacts. However, little is known about the global distribution of these patterns and the spatial forces that creates them. This study analyses human settlements from high-resolution satellite imagery and provides a global classification of spatial patterns. We find two emerging classes, namely agglomeration and dispersion. In the former, settlements are fewer than expected based on the predictions of scaling theory, while an unexpectedly high number of settlements characterizes the latter. To explain the observed spatial patterns, we propose a model that combines two agglomeration forces and simulates human settlements’ historical growth. Our results show that our model accurately matches the observed global classification (F1: 0.73), helps to understand and estimate the growth of human settlements and, in turn, the distribution and physical dynamics of all human settlements on Earth, from small villages to cities.
format	article
author	Emanuele Strano Filippo Simini Marco De Nadai Thomas Esch Mattia Marconcini
author_facet	Emanuele Strano Filippo Simini Marco De Nadai Thomas Esch Mattia Marconcini
author_sort	Emanuele Strano
title	The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
title_short	The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
title_full	The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
title_fullStr	The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
title_full_unstemmed	The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth
title_sort	agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on earth
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/0b2fb6b37efd4243822ab8243b8f9ae4
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The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth

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