Simple Mathematical Law Predicts Movement in Cities around the World scientificamerican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scientificamerican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Attractive locations work like large planets
Using large-scale mobility data from diverse cities around the globe, researchers from ETH Zurich, MIT and the Santa Fe Institute discover a powerful yet surprisingly simple travel law that governs the number of visitors to any location in a city.
This image visualizes the flows of individuals across the Greater Boston area. (Image: Guangyu Du / MIT Senseable City Lab)
Human mobility impacts many aspects of a city, from its spatial structure to its response to an epidemic. It is not only key to social interactions, innovation, and productivity, but also gives rise to traffic congestion, and fuels the spread of contagious diseases. Despite its importance, however, our understanding of what determines the flow of individuals to a location has remained incomplete.