Connecting the Fractal City

http://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/connecting.html

This essay describes distinct types of cities as characterized by their connective geometry. The pressure to accommodate both the automobile and increased population growth led twentieth-century urbanists to impose anti-fractal geometrical typologies.  The distribution of the sizes of urban components and connections can define fundamentally different types of cities.  In his essay, Nikos A. Salingaros discusses the hierarchy of connections necessary to sustain urban life. Competing networks of connections exist on several scales, each scale being necessary for separate functions. Understanding these interconnections is essential if we wish to incorporate the electronic city into the physical city.  He criticizes the policy of eliminating small-scale connections in favor of large-scale connections -- the city needs both, and in the proper balance.