The Science of Cities Applies to Ancient Mexico, Too

The more scientists study urban development, the more they realize that cities are like nothing else in nature. The social interactions that occur in a dense setting have a multiplier effect: they create more wealth, greater ideas, and larger buildings, though they can also spread more disease. At a certain point, in ways good and bad, city life adds up to far more than the sum of individual city lives.

The Santa Fe Institute, and its roster of scientists including Geoffrey West and Luis Bettencourt, has been home to many of these insights. These researchers are now able to predict various socioeconomic benefits, such as GDP or road infrastructure, with startling accuracy based on just a city's population. Urban life, it turns out, conforms surprisingly well to mathematical equations.