City-size or rank-size distribution? An empirical analysis on Greek urban populations

Abstract

This paper examines the utility of size distribution analysis in the study of urban systems, comparing two of the most popular versions, the rank-size (RSD) and the city-size distribution (CSD). These versions are compared in accordance to their capability to illustrate patterns of hierarchy in urban systems and to include coherent socioeconomic information when decomposed into multivariate regression variables. The research questions are examined empirically on data of the 2011 Greek national census. Overall, this study concludes that size-distribution analysis is useful in the study of urban systems, is capable in illustrating patterns of hierarchy, and it contains socioeconomic information, whereas the RSD and CSD share complementary roles and should be used jointly in relevant approaches. © 2016, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services,cademy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. All rights reserved.