1993 volume 25(8) pages 1175 – 1199
doi:10.1068/a251175

Cite as:
White R, Engelen G, 1993, "Cellular automata and fractal urban form: a cellular modelling approach to the evolution of urban land-use patterns" Environment and Planning A 25(8) 1175 – 1199
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Cellular automata and fractal urban form: a cellular modelling approach to the evolution of urban land-use patterns

R White, G Engelen

Received 29 July 1992; in revised form 11 February 1993

Abstract. Cellular automata belong to a family of discrete, connectionist techniques being used to investigate fundamental principles of dynamics, evolution, and self-organization. In this paper, a cellular automaton is developed to model the spatial structure of urban land use over time. For realistic parameter values, the model produces fractal or bifractal land-use structures for the urbanized area and for each individual land-use type. Data for a set of US cities show that they have very similar fractal dimensions. The cellular approach makes it possible to achieve a high level of spatial detail and realism and to link the results directly to general theories of structural evolution.

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