Which choice most logically completes the text?

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Rudolf Cesaretti et al. conducted an analysis of historical urban scaling trends circa 1300 CE in Western Europe, focusing on agglomeration patterns within medieval settlements. They examined settlements in urban systems across Western Europe, with groupings based on regionally distinct political structures, economic focuses, and spatial constraints—including the aristocratically controlled city-state of Parma in northern Italy, merchant controlled city-states like Goerlitz in Germany, the wool-trading centers of Lincoln and Canterbury in England, and prime trade-fair towns like Troyes in France. A prevalent trend emerged: as a city's total settled area increased, so did population density in its core urban areas. This finding implies that ______

even when they were substantial, known inter-regional differences in characteristics of urban systems had a limited effect on agglomeration patterns in medieval Western European settlements.

the observed relationship is heavily influenced by urban characteristics that were particular to medieval Western Europe, making it unlikely that a similarly strong relationship between area and population density would be found for medieval settlements in other regions.

the effects of variations in political and economic interests on agglomeration patterns were less evident in comparisons between medieval settlements within a region than in comparisons between groups of settlements across regions of Western Europe.

despite regional differences in their political and economic systems, medieval Western European settlements shared common spatial constraints that encouraged high population density in core urban areas.