ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one particular model from the set that is available and show how it can be transported from contemporary analysis into, first, archaeology and, then, history. It shows case studies, how ideas developed in geographical modelling can be generalised for the potential benefit of both archaeology and history. It also focuses on the first of these objectives, and takes as our system of interest the evolution of the regional system around Chicago from 1790 through the nineteenth century. The classical models that geographers have typically brought to bear and that are still much cited, and then to outline a newer generation of mathematical models. The retail model is outlined again for convenience, and its 'system' interpretation. The chapter descries the idea of urban 'DNA' and its evolution. The spider network was constructed by calculating a Delaunay triangulation of a set of points comprising the settlement positions and some additional feature markers.
