Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal
phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their …

A novel, integrative approach to cities as complex adaptive systems, applicable to issues
ranging from innovation to economic prosperity to settlement patterns. Human beings …

Introduced in its contemporary form in 1946 (ref.), but with roots that go back to the
eighteenth century, the gravity law,, is the prevailing framework with which to predict …

Percolation is the simplest fundamental model in statistical mechanics that exhibits phase
transitions signaled by the emergence of a giant connected component. Despite its very …

The canopy layer urban heat island (UHI) effect, as manifested by elevated near-surface air
temperatures in urban areas, exposes urban dwellers to additional heat stress in many …

Individual human trajectories are characterized by fat-tailed distributions of jump sizes and
waiting times, suggesting the relevance of continuous-time random-walk (CTRW) models for …

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep
roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use …

Urban environments, characterized by their complex, multi-layered networks encompassing
physical, social, economic, and environmental dimensions, face significant challenges in the …

Humanity has just crossed a major landmark in its history with the majority of people now
living in cities. Cities have long been known to be society's predominant engine of …

Fish travel in schools, birds migrate in flocks, honeybees swarm, and ants build trails. How
and why do these collective behaviors occur? Exploring how coordinated group patterns …