Liveability of Indian Cities and Spread of Covid-19-- Case of Tier-1 Cities

Cities are widely considered to be the engines of economic growth, as they contribute for more than 70% of global economy. However, the haphazard urbanisation trends are today resulting in widespread problems of urban sprawl, pollution, housing, crime and disaster and so on. While India is one of the least urbanised large developing countries of the world, the country is witnessing rapid urbanisation (projected to add 404 million of urban population by 2050). However, the associated problems are impacting the liveability of the cities in India. In light of that, this study aims to evaluate the liveability of Tier-1 cities of India. In reference to the existing literature, eleven key indicators have been identified for the evaluation of liveability. For the ease of analysis, these indicators are broadly clustered under five categories, that is, health, environment, transport, geography and socio-economy. The correlation analysis between the indicators and the number of Covid-19 cases in selected cities of India reveal a significant relationship between the individual categories such as ‘quality of life’ and ‘health index’.

Análisis bibliométrico del Journal of Transport Geography (1993–2020)

Fundada en 1993 por Richard Knowles, Journal of Transport Geography (JTRG) se ha convertido en una de las revistas científicas de mayor prestigio en geografía de los transportes a escala internacional. En este artículo, se realiza un análisis bibliométrico integral de los 27 años de existencia de la revista. Para ello, se recurre en primer lugar a la base de datos de Scopus para la obtención de datos bibliométricos. Seguidamente, se realiza un análisis estadístico con apoyo del software VOSviewer. Los resultados permiten evaluar el alcance global de la revista, los artículos más relevantes, así como los autores, países e instituciones más productivos. Las líneas de investigación más desarrolladas, en base al análisis de las palabras clave, muestran que el comportamiento del viaje, el transporte urbano, la accesibilidad y la planificación del transporte son temas prioritarios. Así, se observa cómo la geografía del transporte ha atravesado, en los últimos veinte años, un periodo especialmente prolífico y cómo ha logrado estrechar vínculos con otras disciplinas.

Olena Stepaniv Contribution to the Development of Transport Geography and Geologistics in Ukraine

Peculiarities of life, military, the diplomatic activity of Doctor of Sciences in Geography, O. I. Stepaniv, as well as her scientific achievements as a Ukrainian geographer and geologist, are revealed. Olena Stepanov was the first woman in Ukraine and the world – a military officer in the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Ukrainski Sichovi Striltsi, USS) and the Ukrainian Galician Army (Ukrainska Halytska Armiia, UHA) during the First World War and the Ukrainian Liberation War of 1917–1921, a diplomatic official of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Having a doctorate in geography and history, she made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian geographical science, including economic and social geography, as well as transport geography and modern understanding of geologistics. The last two areas of geographical science are most fully disclosed in her work “Modern Lviv”, which provides a comprehensive description of the transport infrastructure of Lviv and Lviv region and its importance in the transport system of Ukraine, in particular, emphasizes the central position of Lviv as a transport and logistics hub on the trans-European way connecting the Baltic and Black Seas; identified the main transport routes of Lviv region, important on a national scale; in addition to the main roads, regional and local ones were identified and characterized. The characteristics of transport routes were combined with the indication of the most significant industrial enterprises of Lviv region; tourist and recreational areas and centres which were located on the ways of transport routes were indicated, as well as the tourist specialization of these centres (in textbooks on the geography of transport of the Soviet era, it was not mentioned at all); such transport and logistics indicators as road congestion, traffic intensity on them were used, as well as their historical names were given and their significance in the past was revealed. O. I. Stepaniv’s scientific works remain relevant today. This applies not only to the problems of the geography of transport communication in modern Lviv but also to current issues of international logistics, in particular, Ukraine’s participation in the Baltic-Black Sea transport and logistics integration system. O.I. Stepaniv’s scientific works on transport geography are of direct importance to the most modern EU project in the field of transport and logistics – the Three Seas Initiative (TSI). The recent TSI Summit in Tallinn (October 19–20, 2020) highlighted the impact of the TSI on the entire Baltic-Adriatic Black Sea region. TSI is open to countries – strategic partners of the EU, including Ukraine. Although the latter is not a member of the EU, it was invited to the first TSI summit in 2016 andis currently an active participant in many projects under this Initiative, without having formal membership in the TSI. Ukraine should continue to cooperate with TSI, especially with Poland, in such important infrastructure projects as the Gdansk-Odesa highway, the railway Viking project, the development of gas infrastructure within the North-South corridor (involving Ukrainian underground storage facilities of “blue fuel”), etc.

A füstölgő meddőhányóktól a globális közlekedésig. Beszélgetés Erdősi Ferenccel [Interjú]

Ferenc Erdősi was born on April 19, 1934 in Pécs, Hungary. He first graduated from the University of Szeged as a teacher of Geography and Geology, and then from the Faculty of Humanities at the Eötvös Loránd University as a teacher of History. He became the doctor of Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1989 and was appointed university professor in 1993. In the last two decades, he has dealt with transport geography and the study of the territorial effects of telematics. In 2004, he was awarded the Gábor Baross Prize and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. In 2010, he was awarded the Officer’s Cross. The subsequently semi-structured interview was conducted in September 2021, at his home. The purpose of this discussion was to gain a better understanding of the important moments in the professor’s life, the milieu that played a role in shaping his professional career. Our aim was also to present the virtues, challenges and tasks of Hungarian Geography through the experiences of this conversation.

Zmiany sieci pozamiejskiego publicznego transportu autobusowego w Bieszczadach i Beskidzie Niskim – ujęcie topologiczne

W artykule autor powraca do klasycznych niegdyś w geografii transportu metod grafowych. Wykorzystując podstawowe wskaźniki, takie jak liczba cyklomatyczna μ, wskaźnik α Kansky’ego, wskaźnik γ Kansky’ego i wskaźnik Gns opracowany przez A. Ciechańskiego analizuje zmiany sieci pozamiejskiego autobusowego publicznego transportu zbiorowego na obszarze Beskidu Niskiego i Bieszczad. Testuje też wskaźnik Gns dla bardziej rozbudowanych grafów o skomplikowanej strukturze, w tym również często z bardzo licznymi izolowanymi wierzchołkami. Niestety w przeciwieństwie do prostych i niespójnych sieci transportowych, dla których został on skonstruowany, w przypadku dużych sieci transportowych, zawierających liczne cykle jego czułość wykazuje znacznie gorszy poziom, a otrzymane wyniki są znacznie mniej jednoznaczne niż w przypadku gdy izolowane podgrafy są mniej liczne, za to o bardziej rozbudowanej strukturze. Słowa kluczowe: metody grafowe, wskaźnik Gns, zmiany sieci pozamiejskiego publicznego transportu zbiorowego, Beskid Niski, Bieszczady Changes in the network of the non-urban public bus transport in Bieszczady and Beskid Niski mountains – a topological approach In the article, the author returns to the graph methods which were once classic in the transport geography. Using basic indicators such as the cyclomatic number μ, the α Kansky index, the γ Kansky index and the Gns index developed by A. Ciechański, he analyzes the changes in the network of non-urban public bus transport in the area of the Beskid Niski and the Bieszczady Mountains. He also tests the Gns indicator for more complex graphs with a complicated structure, including often very numerous isolated vertices. Unfortunately, unlike the simple and inconsistent transport networks for which it was created, in the case of large transport networks containing many cycles its sensitivity shows a much worse level and the obtained results are much less unambiguous than in the case when the isolated subgraphs are less numerous, but with the more elaborate structure.