Luis Bettencourt

Luís Bettencourt is a Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute.

His work compares data and information about thousands of cities and millions of neighborhoods around the world, at different times and distinct levels of development, to create new interdisciplinary theory that describes cities holistically, as social networks of individuals and organizations supported by urban infrastructure and services. The insights from this work have helped shape an emerging interdisciplinary science of cities and new approaches to urban planning and policy.

His research has been featured worldwide including in such venues as The New York Times, Science, Nature, National Public Radio, the Atlantic, the Economist, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, Wired and the New Scientist.