A Systematic Review of Fractal Theory and its Application in Geography and Urban Planning
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Abstract
Fractal has been considered as an optimized structure of nature and an effective tool for depicting spatial complexity. A city can be deemed as a fractal system with self-similarity, and are, therefore, ideal candidates for fractal analysis. Recent decades have witnessed great strides in research on fractal cities in various aspects of urban forms and structures as well as urban development dynamics. Considering the deep and wide-ranging applications of fractal theory in explaining local and spatial complexities, this study aimed at conducting a systematic review and content analysis of research conducted on fractal in order to pinpoint practical and theoretical frameworks they can provide to specialists in the fields of geography and urban planning. To this end, a systematic review was carried out in three general stages of study selection, evaluation, and synthesis of findings. Results showed that developing and emerging concepts in theoretical and experimental studies, which has sought to explain the roles and applications of fractal theory in research and simulations of the built environment could be classified in 10 areas of psychology, architecture, urban design, urban form and structure, urban boundary shape, land use, urban traffic, urban growth modeling, urban hierarchy, and benefits of fractals. Studies related to urban form and structure (N= 37) accounted for the largest share of studies. In addition, key methods leading to the development of fractal studies in the existing literature were use of fractal dimension and Hausdorff dimension (34%), boundary dimension (24%), and network or box-counting dimension (14%) followed by power law (PL) distributions, power laws, and power-scale law (7%).
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