Life in the City Is Essentially One Giant Math Problem (Smithsonian)

Experts in the emerging field of quantitative urbanism believe that many aspects of modern cities can be reduced to mathematical formulas

I’m wary of reduction to formulas and predictive models, but the act of putting these things together does at the very least expand our understanding of the relative impact and importance of the inputs used by the formulas and models. In that sense, I believe these things are a worthy exercise, but to the extent that they are still reductionist I hope they do not become regarded as the end all be all.