Modeling urban street patterns

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple local optimization model inspired by leaf pattern formation to explain the universal statistical properties observed in urban street networks across different cities.

Contribution

It proposes a novel model combining local optimization with biological pattern ideas, explaining urban street patterns without global design.

Findings

Model aligns well with empirical street network data

Universal mechanism suggested for street network evolution

Supports local optimization as key process in urban pattern formation

Abstract

Urban streets patterns form planar networks whose empirical properties cannot be accounted for by simple models such as regular grids or Voronoi tesselations. Striking statistical regularities across different cities have been recently empirically found, suggesting that a general and details-independent mechanism may be in action. We propose a simple model based on a local optimization process combined with ideas previously proposed in studies of leaf pattern formation. The statistical properties of this model are in good agreement with the observed empirical patterns. Our results thus suggests that in the absence of a global design strategy, the evolution of many different transportation networks indeed follow a simple universal mechanism.