IOER Forum

Modelling the structure and evolution of cities is critical because policy makers need robust theories and new paradigms for mitigating various important problems such as air pollution, congestion, socio-spatial inequalities, etc. Fortunately and thanks to new technologies, the increased data available about urban systems opens the possibility of constructing a quantitative ‘science of cities’ with the aim of identifying and modelling essential phenomena. In this talk, after a short introduction about science and cities, I will illustrate this new scientific approach inspired by physics on various examples such as segregation in cities, the dynamics of urban populations, or mobility in cities though car traffic and the structure of subway networks.

Our Speaker:
Marc Barthelemy is a former student of the Ecole Normale Superieure of Paris (rue d'Ulm). He graduated at the University of Paris VI with a thesis in theoretical physics, and after his thesis, he focused on disordered systems and their properties. Marc Barthelemy is now Research Director at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (IPhT) in Saclay and a member of the Center of Social Analysis and Mathematics (CAMS) at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). His research interests moved towards applications of statistical physics to complex systems, complex networks, theoretical epidemiology, and more recently on spatial networks. Focusing on both data analysis and modeling with the tools of statistical physics, he is also working on various aspects of the emerging science of cities. Marc Barthelemy published about 200 papers in international top journals, and published several books on spatial networks and the science of cities.