This article analyzes the organization of a city in terms of how well it enables humans to move from any point to the whole area. In accordance with Constructal Law, the natural way to assemble and connect a road and street network is to ensure that travel time is reduced at every turn and with every change in the flow design. The article also highlights that predicting the future and constructing changes based on a proven scientific principle is much faster and more economical than trial and error. Due to the modern technology, urban design expands not only outward, into suburbs, and inward, toward dense city centers, but also vertically. Experts suggest that if we can anticipate the urban features that emerge naturally from the need for greater access, we can plan ahead and design with confidence the features that not only serve the population, but do so with staying power. A city is a live flow system with freely changing architecture, many small streets, few large streets, and beltways.
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February 2017
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Evolution and the City
A Lot of Care and Attention is Paid to Urban Planning, But the Evolution of Human Settlements Happens Naturally Because it is Governed by a Law of Physics
Adrian Bejan is the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University in Durham, N.C. This article was adapted from his recent book, The Physics of Life: The Evolution of Everything, published by St. Martin's Press.
Mechanical Engineering. Feb 2017, 139(02): 44-49 (6 pages)
Published Online: February 1, 2017
Citation
Bejan, A. (February 1, 2017). "Evolution and the City." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. February 2017; 139(02): 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2017-Feb-3
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