Historical evidence from Medieval European cities

In an article that just appeared in PLOS ONE, Rudy Cesaretti and other Social Reactors Project researchers analyze a new dataset that combines census records, maps, and archaeological studies of 13th century cities from across Western Europe to show that, despite substantial differences in social and economic organization, these cities densified with population at the same rate as both modern cities and pre-historic New World settlements known through archaeology. This study is the first to document such patterns using primarily historical records, and it adds support to the Social Reactors Project's contention that scaling relations are very widespread in human settlement systems. You can read the article here.