Scaling in Human Societies


How and Why Size Matters
  • Cities and Wellbeing

    By Michael Goff
    In what kind of cities are people the healthiest and happiest? The research on this question is murky, and a big part of the challenge is identifying a consistent notion of wellbeing. [Read More]
  • Cities and Lifestyle

    By Michael Goff
    Characteristics of a city, including its size, have a qualitative effect on how people live. [Read More]
  • How Cities Grow: The Standard Urban Model

    By Michael Goff
    There are thousands of cities in the world, each with its unique history. There are, nevertheless, regularities in how cities grow, which can be captured in the monocentric standard urban model (SUM). The SUM is also known as the Alonso-Muth-Mills model, named after a trio of works from the 1960s:... [Read More]
  • Transportation Technology

    By Michael Goff
    As has been the case historically, we should expect that emerging transportation technology will transform cities. [Read More]
  • Car Free Cities

    By Michael Goff
    Several urban design methodologies are suggested to reduce the amount of automobile traffic in cities. These proposals have significant environmental, health, and eonomic implications, with the latter not generally well understood. [Read More]