[Xavier Gabaix][1] has several papers (e.g. [here][2] and [here][3]) that look at the emergence of Zipf's law in city sizes as a natural phenomenon.


  [1]: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~xgabaix/
  [2]: https://doi.org/10.1162/003355399556133 "Gabaix, Xavier. Zipf's law for cities: An explanation. Q. J. Econ. 114, No. 3, 739-767 (1999). zbMATH review at https://zbmath.org/0952.91059"
  [3]: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0080(04)80010-5 "Gabaix, Xavier; Ioannides, Yannis M. The Evolution of City Size Distributions. Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, volume 4, Chapter 53, V. Henderson and J-F. Thisse eds, 2004, North-Holland, p.2341-2378."