Dimitrios Dendrinos, an expert in the application of non-linear dynamics and chaos theory to the subject of urban and regional dynamics, focuses here on fundamental issues in population growth and decline. He approaches the topic of urban growth and decline within a global system perspective, viewing the rise and fall of cities, industries and nations as the result of global interdependencies which lead to unstable dynamics and widespread dualisms. Professor Dendrinos provides valuable insights into the evolution of human settlements and considers the possible futures open to the giant cities of the world.

The economy and geography of human population concentrations have been characterized throughout history by numerous dualisms and spatial disparities. Extreme poverty and equally extreme wealth coexist side by side. Are they connected or are they purely random? "The Dynamics of Cities" addresses these questions, arguing that both the interaction of space and time and the comparative advantage of location are interlocked into a simple but rich code of evolution. Drawing on recorded evidence, available on a global scale and spanning the past quarter century, Dimitrios Dendrinos argues that the dynamics of the world's largest cities exhibit patterns of chaos. He suggests that simple, general and powerful macrodynamic processes guide the growth and decline of present day urban agglomerations, as well as cities of the past. Large in scale, broad in scope and long in term, deterministic forces govern these human habitats; Governments stand to have little impact upon such macroecological determinism.