Structural Changes in Residential Areas

In this paper we use the theory of graphs to study the long-term (structural) changes in residential areas. It is assumed that a region corresponds to a graph, the nodes of which are identified with communities and the set of arcs with flows of composite goods. These communities are classified into sources (communities characterized by excess supply of goods), sinks (communities characterized by excess demand of goods), and centers of exchange. It is shown that every graph corresponding to an economic region possesses a core which describes the residential pattern of the region. Long-term changes in the region which lead to the appearance or disappearance of a supply center or a center of exchange lying outside the core and which affect the core are termed structural.