Ages of Cities : Temporal Aspects of the Growth of Large Urban Areas in the U.S

Fifty-nine of the largest urban areas in the United States were classified into age groups based on the temporal patterns of their development. Areas in the older age groups had higher mean densities in 1950 than the newer areas, but these differences had disappeared by 2010. The older areas conformed more closely to the predictions of the negative exponential decline of density with distance from the center, especially in 2010. The suburban portions of those older areas in 2010 had lower densities and more sprawl than the newer areas. The differences contributed to greater average variation in densities within the older urban areas as compared with those areas that experienced more recent development