Following are the most recent versions of the articles in this review.
- Scale and Existential Risk. Whether scale creates a risk of a catastrophe that would theaten civilization. Updated February 21, 2025.
- Scale and Ecological Collapse. Ways in which growing social scale might post a risk of harmful ecological collapse. Updated February 15, 2025.
- Resource Shortages. Understanding how mineral resources are characterized and why the world is unlikely to run out of a major commodity in the foreseeable future. Updated February 7, 2025.
- IPAT and its Variants. A simple model of how an environmental impact varies with changes in population, affluence, and technology. Updated January 31, 2025.
- Limits to Growth. Resource and sustainability challenges that might curtail growth and scaling. Updated January 17, 2025.
- Urban Scaling. How a city’s wealth increases as the city grows. Updated December 20, 2024.
- Sources of Agglomeration. The mechanisms by which larger cities drive increased prosperity. Updated December 7, 2024.
- The Rebound Effect. The tendency for total driving to increase after transportation efficiency improvements, such as new road lanes, remote work, public transportation, and compact neighborhoods. Updated November 20, 2024.
- Standard Urban Model. The basic Alonso-Muth-Mills model, or the standard urban model, works well in predicting how cities grow despite its limitations. Updated November 2, 2024.
- Marchetti’s Constant. The observation that a city is typically defined by a 30 minute commute radius around a central business district. Updated October 26, 2024.