Satellite City Formation for a Spatial Economic Model: Bifurcation Mechanism in a Hexagonal Domain.

The economic agglomeration of one large city surrounded by satellite cities is observed worldwide and is a topic of keen economic interest. We theoretically investigate where such satellite cities emerge in a two-dimensional economic space in which discrete locations are evenly distributed in a regular-hexagonal domain. To elucidate this emergence, we introduce two viewpoints: (1) the bifurcation mechanism of the full agglomeration at the geographical center in this domain (mono-center), which produces satellite cities around this center, and (2) the existence of invariant patterns, which are equilibria for any value of the transport cost parameter. Theoretically-predicted agglomeration patterns are ensured to exist as stable equilibria for a spatial economic model proposed by Forslid and Ottaviano (2003). We theoretically find one large central city surrounded by hexagonal satellite cities that is a two-dimensional counterpart of the core-periphery pattern (Krugman 1991). Moreover, we demonstrate that spatial patterns of twin cities, three cities, and racetrack cities are absorbed into the mono-center as the transport cost decreases. These transitions are ubiquitously observed in the two-dimensional spatial platform with the geographical center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]