The Story about One Island and Four Cities. The Socio-Economic Soft Matter Model - Based Report

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Socio-Economic Soft Matter model, applying physics-inspired tools to analyze demographic changes and socio-economic patterns in cities and islands, revealing universal scaling laws and historical influences.

Contribution

It develops a novel Socio-Economic Soft Matter framework combining physics and economics to analyze demographic dynamics and scaling patterns in urban and island populations.

Findings

Demographic growth follows Weibull-type exponential increase with a slowdown since 1970.

Scaling patterns in population changes are influenced by historical socio-economic factors.

Universal features of demographic changes are identified within the Socio-Economic Soft Matter framework.

Abstract

The report discusses the emergence of the Socio-Economic Soft Matter (SE-SM) as the result of interactions between physics and economy. First, demographic changes since the Industrial Revolution onset are tested using Soft Matter science tools. Notable in the support of innovative derivative-based and distortions-sensitive analytic tools. It revealed the Weibull type powered exponential increase, with a notably lesser rising rate since the crossover detected near the year 1970. Subsequently, demographic (SE-SM) patterns are tested for Rapa Nui (Easter) Island model case and for four large 'hallmark cities' where the rise and decay phases have occurred. They are Detroit and Cleveland in the USA and Lodz (former textile industry center) and Bytom (former coal mining center) in Poland. The analysis explicitly revealed scaling patterns for demographic changes, influenced by the historical and socio-economic backgrounds and the long-lasting determinism in population changes. Universalistic features of demographic changes are discussed within the Socio-Economic Soft Matter concept.