scholarly journals Can Urban Street Network Characteristics Indicate Economic Development Level? Evidence from Chinese Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tashi LOBsang ◽  
Feng Zhen ◽  
Shanqi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
Development Level ◽  
Development Levels ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

The street network is considered the skeleton of the city structure; it determines the efficiency and productivity of the city in that it acts like blood vessels transporting people, goods, and information. The relationship between street networks and economic development is an important research topic in urban geography. In recent years, complex network theory has been successfully used for understanding the characteristics of street network structure. However, researchers lack an analytical framework and methods for studying the relationship between the morphological structure of urban streets and the economic development level of cities. Accordingly, this paper proposes a methodological framework for first, quantitatively characterizing the urban morphological structure based on open street network data, and second, exploring the relationship between the morphological structure of the urban street and the urban economic development level. The proposed methodology was applied to 31 provincial capital cities in China. The results indicate that urban morphological structure can be quantitatively described by betweenness and closeness centrality extracted from street networks. Cities with similar structures have similar levels of economic development. Moreover, the results suggest a significant positive correlation between street network betweenness centrality Gini coefficients and cities’ economic development levels, indicating that the street network may affect city productivity. This study makes two major contributions to the scholarly literature. Methodologically, the proposed framework provides technical and methodological support for a better understanding of the relationship between cities’ economic development and urban street structure. Empirically, the demonstrated case study may guide decision-making involving regional development and the optimization of urban space.

The Development of Pompeii’s Urban Street Network

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric E. Poehler
Keyword(s):  
Urban Form ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
The City ◽  
Present Understanding

Chapter 2 explores the present understanding of Pompeii’s evolution by disassembling the apparent patchwork of grids across the city and reconsiders the presumed awkwardness in their adhesion. To do this, the traditional tools of formal analysis—street alignments and block shapes—are employed with and critiqued by the stratigraphic evidence recovered in the last three decades of excavation below the 79 CE levels. The result is an outline of the development of Pompeii’s urban form as a series of street networks: from the archaic age, through the period of the “hiatus” of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, to a reorganization of the city’s space so profound that it can genuinely be considered a refoundation, and finally to the adjustments of a refounded city in the Colonial, Augustan, and post-earthquake(s) periods.

scholarly journals The Relative Circuity of Walkable and Drivable Urban Street Networks

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Boeing
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Relative Structure ◽  
Us Cities

Circuity, the ratio of network distances to straight-line distances, is an important measure of urban street network structure and transportation efficiency. Circuity results from a circulation network’s configuration, planning, and underlying terrain. In turn, it impacts how humans use urban space for settlement and travel. Although past research has examined overall street network circuity, researchers have not studied the relative circuity of walkable versus drivable circulation networks. To address this gap, this study uses OpenStreetMap data to explore relative network circuity. We download walkable and drivable networks for 40 US cities using the OSMnx software, which we then use to simulate two million routes and analyze circuity to characterize network structure. We find that walking networks tend to allow for more direct trips than driving networks do in most cities: average driving circuity exceeds average walking circuity in all but four of the cities that exhibit statistically significant differences between network types. We discuss various reasons for this phenomenon, illustrated with case studies. Network circuity also varies substantially between different types of places. These findings underscore the value of using network-based distances rather than straight-line distances when studying urban travel and access. They also suggest the importance of differentiating between walkable and drivable circulation networks when modeling and characterizing urban street networks: although different modes’ networks overlap in any given city, their relative structure and performance vary in most cities.

The relationship between urban street networks and the number of transport fatalities at the city level

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 114-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Moeinaddini ◽  
Zohreh Asadi-Shekari ◽  
Muhammad Zaly Shah
Keyword(s):  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

scholarly journals The Morphology and Circuity of Walkable and Drivable Street Networks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Boeing
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Relative Structure ◽  
Us Cities

Circuity, the ratio of network distances to straight-line distances, is an important measure of urban street network structure and transportation efficiency. Circuity results from a circulation network's configuration, planning, and underlying terrain. In turn, it impacts how humans use urban space for settlement and travel. Although past research has examined overall street network circuity, researchers have not studied the relative circuity of walkable versus drivable circulation networks. This study uses OpenStreetMap data to explore relative network circuity. We download walkable and drivable networks for 40 US cities using the OSMnx software, which we then use to simulate four million routes and analyze circuity to characterize network structure. We find that walking networks tend to allow for more direct routes than driving networks do in most cities: average driving circuity exceeds average walking circuity in all but four of the cities that exhibit statistically significant differences between network types. We discuss various reasons for this phenomenon, illustrated with case studies. Network circuity also varies substantially between different types of places. These findings underscore the value of using network-based distances and times rather than straight-line when studying urban travel and access. They also suggest the importance of differentiating between walkable and drivable circulation networks when modeling and characterizing urban street networks: although different modes' networks overlap in any given city, their relative structure and performance vary in most cities.

The relationship between urban street networks and private motorized trips at the city level

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 612-623
Author(s):  
Mehdi Moeinaddini ◽  
Zohreh Asadi-Shekari ◽  
Zahid Sultan ◽  
Muhammad Zaly Shah ◽  
Amran Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Urban Street ◽  
Street Networks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

scholarly journals Building a timeline, developing a narrative: visualising fringe belt formation alongside street network development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Geddes ◽  
Nadia Charalambous
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Composite Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cyclical Process ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
Generative Mechanisms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Related Paper

This project was developed as an attempt to assess the relationship between different morphogenetic processes, in particular, those of fringe belt formation as described by M.R.G. Conzen (1960) and Whitehand (2001), and of centrality and compactness as described by Hillier (1999; 2002). Different approaches’ focus on different elements of the city has made it difficult to establish exactly how these processes interact or whether they are simply different facets of development reflecting wider socio-economic factors. To address this issue, a visual, chronological timeline of Limassol’s development was constructed along with a narrative of the socio-economic context of its development.  The complexity of cities, however, makes static visualisations across time difficult to read and assess alongside textual narratives. We therefore took the step of developing an animation of land use and configurational analyses of Limassol, in order bring to life the diachronic analysis of the city and shed light on its generative mechanisms. The video presented here shows that the relationship between the processes mentioned above is much stronger and more complex than previously thought. The related paper explores in more detail the links between fringe belt formation as a cyclical process of peripheral development and centrality as a recurring process of minimisation of gains in distance. The project’s outcomes clearly show that composite methods of visualisations are an analytical opportunity still little exploited within urban morphology. References Conzen, M.R.G., 1960. Alnwick, Northumberland: A Study in Town-Plan Analysis, London: Institute of British Geographers. Hillier, B., 2002. A Theory of the City as Object: or how spatial laws mediate the social construction of urban space. Urban Des Int, 7(3–4), pp.153–179. Hillier, B., 1999. Centrality as a process: accounting for attraction inequalities in deformed grids. Urban Des Int, 4(3–4), pp.107–127. Whitehand, J.W.R., 2001. British urban morphology: the Conzenian tradition. Urban Morphology, 5(2), pp.103–109.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Environmental Regulation and Green Total Factor Productivity in China: An Empirical Study Based on the Panel Data of 177 Cities

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingliang Zhao ◽  
Fangyi Liu ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Xin Tao
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Total Factor Productivity ◽  
Inflection Point ◽  
Factor Productivity ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Development Level ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship

Promoting the coordinated development of industrialization and the environment is a goal pursued by all of the countries of the world. Strengthening environmental regulation (ER) and improving green total factor productivity (GTFP) are important means to achieving this goal. However, the relationship between ER and GTFP has been debated in the academic circles, which reflects the complexity of this issue. This paper empirically tested the relationship between ER and GTFP in China by using panel data and a systematic Gaussian Mixed Model (GMM) of 177 cities at the prefecture level. The research shows that the relationship between ER and GTFP is complex, which is reflected in the differences and nonlinearity between cities with different monitoring levels and different economic development levels. (1) The relationship between ER and GTFP is linear and non-linear in different urban groups. A positive linear relationship was found in the urban group with high economic development level, while a U-shaped nonlinear relationship was found in other urban groups. (2) There are differences in the inflection point value and the variable mean of ER in different urban groups, which have different promoting effects on GTFP. In key monitoring cities and low economic development level cities, the mean value of ER had not passed the inflection point, and ER was negatively correlated with GTFP. The mean values of ER variables in the whole sample, the non-key monitoring and the middle economic development level cities had all passed the inflection point, which gradually promoted the improvement of GTFP. (3) Among the control variables of the different city groups, science and technology input and the financial development level mainly had positive effects on GTFP, while foreign direct investment (FDI) and fixed asset investment variables mainly had negative effects.

scholarly journals Contestations for urban space: informality and institutions of disenfranchisement in Zimbabwe—the case of Masvingo City

GeoJournal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 1277-1289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chigwenya Average
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Global South ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
The City

Abstract Informality has been viewed as the seedbed for economic development especially in the cities of the global South and many cities have been trying to integrate this sector for economic development. The sector has been seen as the option for economic development in cities of the global South in the face of dwindling resources for economic development. However, the development and growth of informal activities in some of these cities have been stunted by institutional reforms that have taken so long to accommodate such activities. Most of the cities have acknowledged the need to integrate informality in their economies but they have remained illusioned by the neo-liberal urbanisation policies that have kept the informal activities on the periphery of the development agenda. As a result the role of informal sector in economic development in cities of the global South has not been fully realised. The study was taken to examine the institutional impediments in the growth of informal activities in the city of Masvingo, to see how the laws and policies of the city have been applied for the integration of informal sector in the main stream economy. The research found out that there are institutionalised systems that disenfranchise the informal sector in the city of Masvingo. These institutions include the planning approach and the way the city has been practicing their planning. These two institutions have been the chief disenfranchising instruments that have denied the people in the informal sector their right to the city. The research utilised a mixed methods approach to the inquiry, where both qualitative and quantitative data were used. The research found that there is space for informal integration in the city of Masvingo, but the existing regulatory framework is stifling the growth and development of the informal sector in the city of Masvingo. There is therefore need for the city to be flexible enough to embrace the realities of the city, because informality is really the new form of urbanisation in cities of the global South.

scholarly journals Emerging Biophilic Urbanism: The Value of the Human–Nature Relationship in the Urban Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Totaforti
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Sociology ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

The research presented in this article adopts an urban sociology perspective to explore the relationship between spaces designed with biophilic principles and people’s pro-environmental values and behaviors. The research hypothesized that biophilic design and planning promote connectedness with nature and are positively related to pro-environmental and more sustainable values and behaviors. The contemporary city asserts the need for new paradigms and conceptual frameworks for reconfiguring the relationship between the urban environment and the natural environment. In order to understand whether biophilic design, planning, and policies can meet the global challenges regarding the future existence on earth of humans, focus groups were conducted to investigate how people’s relationship with the built-up space and the natural landscape is perceived, and to what extent the inclusion of nature and its patterns at various levels of urban planning meets people’s expectations. The results suggest that biophilic design and planning can be considered a useful paradigm to deal with the challenges that are posed by the city of the future, also in terms of sustainability, by reinterpreting and enhancing the human–nature relation in the urban context.

scholarly journals An Empirical Study of the Measurement of Spatial-Temporal Patterns and Obstacles in the Green Development of Northeast China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10190
Author(s):  
Yongsheng Sun ◽  
Lianjun Tong ◽  
Daqian Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Development Level ◽  
Green Development ◽  
Resource Endowment ◽  
Development Levels

Green development is not only important for realizing a sustainable development strategy, but also a key approach for constructing an ecological civilization and transforming economic development. On the basis the development concept of a coordinated human–earth relationship and the paradigm of the process–pattern mechanism, this research adopted the drivers, pressures, state, impact, and response (DPSIR) model to build a green development level indicator system. The established indicator system is then applied to explore the spatial-temporal patterns and obstacles in the green development of 34 prefectural cities in Northeast China from 2008 to 2017 by the use of the entropy weight TOPSIS model, the obstacle model and the GIS spatial visualization method. There are three main findings. First, during the research period, the spatial evolution of the green development level of cities in Northeast China has gradually shifted from a small gap at an overall low level to a large gap at an overall high level; the spatial pattern of the green development level in these cities is characterized by a decrease from north to south and obvious spatial agglomeration effects. Second, specific findings in this research fail to indicate that the correlation between the economic development level and green development level of cities in Northeast China is entirely positive. That is, cities with higher economic development levels do not necessarily have higher green development levels, while some cities with lower economic development levels did present higher green development levels, which may be related to each region’s resources and environmental carrying capacity. Third, the mechanisms influencing spatial-temporal variation in the green development level of cities in Northeast China are not identical. Among them, resource endowment conditions, economic development status and government investment scale are playing a vital role in changes in the regional green development level, and they are also behind the diverse evolutionary characteristics presented in the different stages of regional green development. For the cities in Northeast China, in the process of promoting green development and to consolidate their existing green development level, efforts should be made to overcome inefficiencies in socioeconomic growth and to continuously enhance ecological protection and environmental governance. Moreover, it is essential to promote incremental increases in the green development level on the basis of the local conditions through the ingestion, absorption and combination of each city’s own characteristics with lessons from the successful experience of different types of cities. In the future, our research should fully consider the role of urbanization, industrial structure, population density, institutional mechanisms, environmental protection supervision, scientific and technological progress and other factors on the green development level in Northeast China and seek an important entry point to achieve regional human–earth coordination.

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