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2009
450

La loi de Zipf dans la science régionale : entre anciennes controverses et nouvelles perspectives

Zipf’s law in regional science: old controversies and new developments
Alexandra Schaffar

Abstracts

Zipf’s law is one of the main features in regional sciences, when it comes in studying urban systems’ organization. By recalling the most representative studies on this issue, over the last thirty years, this paper aims to focus on the main controversies that characterize the rank-size models, that is, the use of a truncated city-size distribution and the method of estimating the Pareto exponent. The recent introduction of the rank-size models in a more dynamic approach opens up new perspectives in understanding the Zipf law, as the latter becomes the outcome of an urban growth process.

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References

Electronic reference

Alexandra Schaffar, « La loi de Zipf dans la science régionale : entre anciennes controverses et nouvelles perspectives  », Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography [Online], Systems, Modelling, Geostatistics, document 450, Online since 27 April 2009, connection on 28 March 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/22200 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.22200

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About the author

Alexandra Schaffar

LIM / Université de La Réunion : UFR Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement, Université de La Réunion, 117, Avenue Général Ailleret, 97430 Tampon, La Réunion ; LEAD / Université de Toulon, Franceschaffar@univ-reunion.fr

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Copyright

CC-BY-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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