Production, growth, and consumption are supported by the use and
dispersal of energy and materials through work. Different types
of growth are supported by varying energy inputs. Energy
hierarchies and spatial organization and development of systems
are linked by energy transformations. Principles of spatial
organization through transformations and energy hierarchy are
important to understand the changes to urban civilization that
will be required in descent. The self-organization of energy
into hierarchies explains how and why phenomena over the surface
of the landscape form spatial centers of energy transformation
on all scales. Small centers converge their outputs to larger
centers that represent the larger scale [and so on]. . . So by
what mechanisms are energy hierarchies and spatial organization
of centers linked? Because energy decreases with each
transformation, the downstream products have less energy to feed
back and amplify. However, if systems converge the
transformation products to centers spatia