Urban Built Form Grows Critical

Our paper suggests that changes of the inner urban built form could be explained as a result of a process of self-organized criticality. Similar to the general behaviour of such kind of a system, urban built form grows discretely up to a point in which new additions could occur both in the boundaries and in inner areas. Once reached this critical point, the urban system stays around it, combining outer and inner growth. While outer growth is quantitative and does not modify the system’s structure, inner growth is qualitative as well as quantitative and can transform urban centrality. Replacement of old structures by new ones always occurs with extraordinary capital concentration, developing new polarization inside the urban fabric. The hypothesis is tested through the comparative evolution of different land, built form and location values within a period of continuous urban growth. Comparative indicator values are obtained by simplified simulation