Overview

This ground-breaking Handbook presents a state-of-the-art exploration of entropy, complexity, and spatial dynamics from fundamental theoretical, empirical and methodological perspectives. It considers how foundational theories can contribute to new advances, including novel modeling and empirical insights at different sectoral, spatial, and temporal scales. With the help of leading experts worldwide, the Handbook examines how and to what extent entropic and non-entropic forces and processes in complex spatial socio-economic systems shape and are shaped by their structure and dynamics. Moreover, considering current concerns that big data and related data-driven methods may signal an end to theory, this Handbook is intended to investigate the potential and possibilities for complexity science to engage, revitalize, and advance theory in spatial economics. Overall, this Handbook reaches beyond qualitative generalizations, contributing to the identification of fundamental structural and dynamic properties of the complex space-economy. Drawing upon diverse foundations and perspectives, the Handbook on Entropy, Complexity and Spatial Dynamics: A Rebirth of Theory? will be an essential resource for researchers and students of many fields and disciplines, including economics, urban planning and geography, regional science, information science, physics, and biology.

Full Product Details

9781839100581

Table of Contents

Reviews

'This book poses a critical question: Is entropy the universal principle to understand and model spatial economic systems, to get grip on the complexity of our modern, highly connected economy? We need proper theory to claim so. Building on seminal work from the past the authors take the audacious and rewarding effort to develop the theory and show its value in practice. If closed systems exhibit increasing order over time, an essential theoretical question is whether dynamic, networked, open systems have more order, lower entropy and higher resilience. As the book discusses, despite big data and advanced computational tooling, this is not necessarily the case. The authors help us to see why.' - Peter H. M. Vervest, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Author Information

Edited by Aura Reggiani, Professor of Economic Policy, University of Bologna, Italy, Laurie A. Schintler, Center for Regional Analysis, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, US, Daniel Czamanski, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel and Roberto Patuelli, Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy

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