Spatial structure of city population growth

We show here that population growth, resolved at the county level, is spatially heterogeneous both among and within the U.S. metropolitan statistical areas. Our analysis of data for over 3,100 U.S. counties reveals that annual population flows, resulting from domestic migration during the 2015–2019...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 5931 - 10
Main Authors: Reia, Sandro M., Rao, P. Suresh C., Barthelemy, Marc, Ukkusuri, Satish V.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.10.2022
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
631/158/1745
631/158/858
639/766/530/2801
639/766/530/2804
706/2808
Cities
Concentration gradient
Demography
Emigration and Immigration
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Knowledge representation
Local population
Migration
multidisciplinary
Physics
Population density
Population Dynamics
Population Growth
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Urban planning
Urban policy
Urban Population
Urban sprawl
Urbanization
Cities
United States > US
City Growth
Urbanization
Internal Migration
Relocation Flows
Metropolitan Statistical Areas
ISSN:2041-1723, 2041-1723
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We show here that population growth, resolved at the county level, is spatially heterogeneous both among and within the U.S. metropolitan statistical areas. Our analysis of data for over 3,100 U.S. counties reveals that annual population flows, resulting from domestic migration during the 2015–2019 period, are much larger than natural demographic growth, and are primarily responsible for this heterogeneous growth. More precisely, we show that intra-city flows are generally along a negative population density gradient, while inter-city flows are concentrated in high-density core areas. Intra-city flows are anisotropic and generally directed towards external counties of cities, driving asymmetrical urban sprawl. Such domestic migration dynamics are also responsible for tempering local population shocks by redistributing inflows within a given city. This spill-over effect leads to a smoother population dynamics at the county level, in contrast to that observed at the city level. Understanding the spatial structure of domestic migration flows is a key ingredient for analyzing their drivers and consequences, thus representing a crucial knowledge for urban policy makers and planners. A new study finds that city growth in the U.S. is spatially heterogeneous. Inter-city flows concentrate in core areas. Intra-city flows are generally directed towards external and low density counties of cities, and is the main contributor to urban sprawl.
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ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-33527-y