ABSTRACT
In the course of scientific evolution, paradigms have appeared from time to time which have proven to be the means towards a more consistent understanding of the various natural or social phenomena then currently under investigation. Among these paradigms some have proven to be generic, transcending the confines of their own disciplines and spilling over to neighboring fields or study or even to seemingly unrelated areas of scientific inquiry.
It is the purpose of this paper to show that such an event is underway now. One of these generic paradigms, Darwin's theory of the evolution of the species through the process of natural selection, is currently influencing developments in the field of urban and regional science.
Such an extension is a rather complex one, involving a line of research extending from dynamic mathematical analysis to the theory of mathematical ecology and population dynamics through bifurcation and catastrophe theory. The key notions in this development are those of ecological competition, morphogenesis, structural stability, and bifurcations as they are reflected in the transition phases among dynamic metropolitan equilibria. This paper summarizes work recently completed on these subjects and further provides some speculations as to the possible links between Darwinian evolutionary theory and metropolitan dynamics.
