Double a city’s population and its economic productivity goes up 130 percent.
MIT researchers think they know why.
In 2010, in the journal Nature, a pair of physicists at the Santa Fe Institute showed that when the population of a city doubles, economic productivity goes up by an average of 130 percent. Not only does total productivity increase with increased population, but so does per-capita productivity.
In the latest issue of Nature Communications, researchers from the MIT Media Laboratory’s Human Dynamics Lab propose a new explanation for that “superlinear scaling”: Increases in urban population density give residents greater opportunity for face-to-face interaction.
The new paper builds on previous work by the same group, which showed that increasing employees’ opportunities for face-to-face interaction could boost corporations’ productivity.
In those studies, the researchers outfitted employees of a bank, of an IT consulting firm, and of several other organizations with tiny transmitters, developed by the Human Dynamics Lab, that actively measured the time the wearers spent in each other’s presence. Obviously, that approach wouldn’t work in a study of the entire populations of hundreds of cities.
So Wei Pan, a PhD student and first author on the new paper, looked at a host of factors that could be used to predict what the researchers are calling social-tie density, or the average number of people that each resident of a city will interact with in person. Those factors include things like the number of call partners with whom a cellphone user will end up sharing a cell tower, instances of colocation with other users of location-tracking social-networking services like Foursquare, and the contagion rates of diseases passed only by intimate physical contact.
The availability of different types of data varied across the hundreds of cities in the United States and Europe that the researchers considered. But Pan and his colleagues concocted a single formula that assigned each city a social-tie-density score on the basis of whatever data was available. That score turned out to be a very good predictor of each city’s productivity, as measured by both gross domestic product and patenting rates.
Planning for productivity
“When you pack people together, something special happens,” says Alex “Sandy” Pentland, the Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Science and director of the Human Dynamics Laboratory. “This is the sort of thing that Adam Smith wanted to explain. He explained it through specialization: People were able to narrow what they did to get better at it, and because they were nearby, they could trade with each other. And Karl Marx described a different kind of specialization, which is classes — management class, owner class and proletariat. And other people have come up with other explanations for this basic phenomenon.”
What the new work shows, Pentland says, is that “a lot of the things that people have been arguing about for centuries are not actually things that need explaining. They just come from the basic pattern of social networks.”
The work could, however, have very real consequences for urban planning. For instance, Pentland says, there’s evidence that the principle of superlinear scaling does not hold in poor countries, even in cities with the same population densities as major European and American cities. “The reason is that the transportation is so bad,” Pentland says. “People might as well be in the village, because they only interact with their little local group.”
Similarly, Pan says, “People know that when a city’s population grows, there’s scaling, and the productivity increases. But in these megacities, especially in China, no one knows whether that scaling will continue, because no other city is that big.”
In Beijing today, Pan says, “it’s really hard to move from one side to the other. I believe, personally, that social-tie density will drop because you can’t really move freely anymore with the population increases. Unless Beijing solves these transportation problems, pumping in more people won’t continue to drive the density.”
The Latest Bing News on:
Innovation
- Morris Brown College unveils innovation lounge honoring Dr. Nasrolah Farokhion April 27, 2024 at 4:39 am
Morris Brown College held a ribbon cutting for the unveiling of an innovation lounge on April 26 honoring fellow Morris Brown Professor, Dr. Nasrolah Farokhi. Officially titled “Dr. Nasrolah R.
- ShrutiSalunkhe Leads the Way in User-Centric VR and AR Design Innovationon April 26, 2024 at 8:20 pm
ShrutiSalunkhe Leads the Way in User-Centric VR and AR Design Innovation.Illinois, USA - April 27, 2024 — Amidst the current state of ...
- Lauderdale County breaks ground on new Innovation Centeron April 26, 2024 at 3:40 pm
The district broke ground on the Innovation Center on Friday. The Lauderdale County Innovation Center will sit next to a Workforce Development Center and Agricultural Center. The project has been ...
- Major Technology and Innovation Exhibitions in Germany in 2024 and 2025on April 26, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Technology and innovation exhibitions play an important role in today’s world. At no time in human history has technology changed at such an unrealistic rate. Trade shows continue to be platforms for ...
- Microsoft Q3 Shines Light On 'AI Innovation Cycle': Analysts See 'Plenty Of Runway For Growth'on April 26, 2024 at 11:29 am
Analysts highlight the growth of artificial intelligence segments from Microsoft's Q3 report and the opportunity ahead.
- Pennsylvania’s innovation economy remains challengedon April 26, 2024 at 11:18 am
Pennsylvania’s innovation economy is highly concentrated in three hubs, and expanding growth statewide remains a challenge. Though the commonwealth has some strengths in research, it’s not translating ...
- 14 Experts Explain How to Take a More Intentional Approach to Innovationon April 26, 2024 at 10:00 am
With the right strategies in place, you can foster a culture of innovation that sets your business up for lasting success.
- Formula E: The world's fastest electric vehicles could spark widespread innovationon April 26, 2024 at 5:00 am
The common electric vehicle doesn't need to hit lightning speed – but Formula E race cars could usher in a new era for all.
- Trust in Technology: Navigating the Innovation Paradoxon April 26, 2024 at 1:01 am
The technology sector has long been considered a beacon for innovation, driving significant advancements that have reshaped our world. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen broadband internet turn ...
- The Future Of Innovation In America Depends On Two Types Of (Polar Opposite) Peopleon April 25, 2024 at 4:00 am
Our future is not dependent upon one or the other type of person, but rather learning how to combine both approaches.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Innovation
[google_news title=”” keyword=”innovation” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Economic productivity
- Why Thailand needs economic reform, not stimuluson April 27, 2024 at 4:00 am
The government is seeking to inject short-term stimulus, but what Thailand really needs are measures that can enhance long-term productivity growth.
- Other options for the economy?on April 27, 2024 at 3:49 am
In the UK, inflation figures were stated to have been disappointing, with CPI falling down from 3.4 per cent to 3.2 instead of the anticipated 3.1 per cent. Unfortunately, interest rates sitting at 5.
- How a Chicken Sandwich Shows a Hidden Power in the U.S. Economyon April 26, 2024 at 6:43 pm
A surprising surge in productivity at restaurants and other businesses has helped the U.S. economy defy widespread predictions of a recession.
- Maine made progress in wages and productivity, but still faces shrinking labor forceon April 26, 2024 at 5:44 pm
A report released Friday by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development says the state has hit some of its 2030 targets but has fallen short of 'where we need to be.' ...
- Report: Mainers made progress in wages and productivity, but state still faces shrinking labor forceon April 26, 2024 at 8:00 am
A declining labor force in Maine was highlighted by state officials who say progress has been made but the state has fallen short of "where we need to be." ...
- AI To The Rescue: Could Save The U.S. Economy From Plunging Birthson April 26, 2024 at 7:42 am
Advertising copy writing is now being embraced by some companies as it allows employees to produce far more output than an un-AI aided individual. In short, AI helps produce more output for a given ...
- Biden's capital gains tax proposal could crush the economy, experts sayon April 26, 2024 at 1:01 am
President Biden is under fire in response to his effort to hike the top capital gains tax rate to its highest-ever level, a move experts say would crush the economy.
- Confounding U.S. Economic, Inflation Data Muddy Fed's Rate Pathon April 25, 2024 at 12:08 pm
Inflation isn't dropping, productivity is high and unemployment is low, making a rate cut less likely in the near term.
- A Tight Economy Increased Costs and Hindered Productivity for Pennsylvania's Am Law 100on April 25, 2024 at 10:23 am
An analysis by The Legal looked at Am Law 100 revenue and net income figures and determined that eight of Pennsylvania's firms saw their total costs outpace revenue growth by anywhere between 0.5% and ...
- How tight labor markets fuel a productivity surgeon April 24, 2024 at 9:07 am
One of the most important questions for the economy in 2024 is whether the surge in worker productivity that occurred in 2023 will prove to be both real and durable.Why it matters: The answer will ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Economic productivity
[google_news title=”” keyword=”economic productivity” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]