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This paper aims to analyze the trends in income inequality in large cities within a selected sample of OECD countries. Specifically, we consider a set of individual characteristics that account for changes in the income distribution and estimate their contribution to differences in inequality in large cities over the last two decades. We use a combination of reweighting techniques and recentered influence functions (RIF) to detect an upward trend in inequality within large cities. This result is mainly driven by changes in the returns to endowments rather than by changes in its distribution. Our findings suggest that these results are not of the same magnitude across the countries analyzed. A key finding is that the contribution to inequality of the skill premium is considerably higher in North American countries than in European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the characteristics of cold events affecting eastern China during November–March of 1979–2018 using station observations and the ERA5 reanalysis, focusing five major cities (Beijing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai and Guangzhou) for their high vulnerability and distinct local thermal conditions than the broader climate regimes. For each city, cold day (CD) (one or more continuous days where the temperature falls below the local 5th percentiles) and cold surge (CS) (a period of 1–3 days with a total temperature decrease exceeding 8°C) were both examined in aspects of occurrence frequency, circulation characteristics and health impacts. Results show that the northern cities are relatively more/less exposed to CD/CS than the southern cities. At all five cities, the two types of events rarely coincide and exhibit distinct multiple‐year variations, as CD and CS are, respectively, dominated by continental‐ and regional‐scale circulations. However, both types of events are associated with the interplay of the East Asia trough at 300 hPa and the Siberian high, Aleutian low and subtropical high at 850 hPa. Results also show that during CDs in these cities, the effective temperatures (ET), which take into account of the near‐surface wind speed and humidity, are often about 5°C lower than the actual temperatures. The ET decreases are larger than the actual temperature drops in most CSs, yet in specific scenarios (primarily in Beijing and Zhengzhou when the temperature drop is relatively small), the ET drop can be less pronounced, as the possible decrease of wind speed and/or humidity can partially mitigate the ET decrease caused by dropping temperatures. These underline the complexity of health impacts of cold events, which vary regionally due to differences in covariations of temperature, wind speed and relative humidity. There aspects are worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geography of urban innovation in the United States has often been portrayed as dominated by a few large cities. However, emerging perspectives challenge this notion by highlighting the significance of secondary cities for innovation processes. Unfortunately, prevailing narratives and empirical evidence focus on technological invention only, measured by patents. This study aims to reevaluate the geography of urban innovation by considering various phases of the innovation process and incorporating a broader range of innovation types. In addition to conventional patent metrics, this research suggests incorporating trademarks and design rights as complementary data. The findings reveal that large cities still exhibit prominence when examining absolute counts of innovation. Instead, analysing intensities allows the identification of secondary cities that specialise in various innovation activities beyond technological invention only. Overall, the findings provide compelling evidence that urban innovation in the United States is not limited to a few large cities nor is it solely driven by technological invention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the dynamics of the population of the regions of the Far North and equivalent localities (North), including the Arctic zone, for the period between censuses (2010–2021). Calculations were carried out both for the entire territory of the specified macroregions, and for groups of settlements of different sizes and according to their position in the central-peripheral system, highlighting large cities and their suburbs. The large cities of the North and the Arctic did not have such steady population growth as in other parts of the country, but on the whole they "held" it. The population decline in the peripheral territories of the microregion occurred at a faster pace compared to the peripheral territories of other parts of the country. The most rapid population decline, as in the country as a whole, took place in small rural settlements. This ensured further concentration of the population in large cities and compression of the developed, inhabited space of the North and the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Short-term rental is one of the forms of rental that has become extremely popular in recent decades. Perceiving residential real estate also through the prism of possible benefits from renting has enabled real estate owners to compete with organized services provided by hotel facilities. The article aims to analyze the supply of the short-term rental market in selected large Polish cities about the offer of hotel services. Design/methodology/approach: The offer of short-term rental apartments was analyzed based on the data of active real estate properties published on the Airbnb portal over 12 months, i.e., from October 2021 to September 2022. Data from the Statistics Office and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports were used. Findings: The analysis showed that large Polish cities are similar in terms of the structure and quality of short-term rental supply and do not differ from the trends typical of large cities around the world. Large cities in Poland usually offered small, autonomous, and well-equipped facilities where you could stay for any number of days, and which were available at attractive prices - often lower than the prices of rooms in even the highest standard hotels. Research limitations/implications: Short-term rental offers should be monitored not only because of their competitiveness in the hotel industry but also because of the possibility of changes in the functional structure of large cities. Originality/value: In the face of changes in the world, alternative services that were not so popular until recently may become increasingly important for the global economy. The article may be of interest to entrepreneurs from the hotel industry, users, and providers of booking platforms, as well as researchers of the sharing economy phenomena. The originality of the publication lies in its approach to booking platforms as an alternative to classic hotel services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the forecasting skills of the meso-scale convective system (MCS) is one of the key scientific problems in the field of numerical weather prediction. The occurrence and development of severe convective weather are affected by multiple factors such as atmospheric thermodynamic and kinetic conditions, topography, and air pollution conditions. Due largely to the uncertainty in models and the inevitable errors of initial values, large uncertainties still exist for the accurate prediction of severe weather produced by the MCS. Therefore, to effectively improve the accuracy of severe convective weather forecasts in China, conducting targeted observation experiments in key areas of interest, which typically helps to reduce the uncertainty level of the model's initial meteorological field, may be one of the effective ways forward. It follows that the initiation and formation mechanisms of MCS can be revealed, and the forecast skills of severe convection will be improved. In this paper, we first propose the technology roadmap of targeted observation as follows. Based on the modern meteorological observational network over the Jing-Jin-Ji area, the typical MCS forecast sensitive regions are identified by using the Ensemble Transform Kalman filter, combined with the atmospheric sounding systems mounted on the mobile vehicle, where targeted observation experiments will be conducted. As such, convective initiation mechanisms are elucidated, and the novel methods expected to improve the forecast skill for MCS are explored. Secondly, in response to the challenge of "finding needles in a haystack" in the vertical observation of the lower atmosphere for short-term forecasting and warning of severe convective weather in large cities, the potential application value of a dynamic triangular observation mesonet in the study of triggering and development mechanisms of severe convective weather was explored through the construction of a Pyramid-shaped LOwer Tropospheric Observational System (PLOTOS) that consists of five stations with simultaneous vertical observation capabilities. Finally, it is suggested that the initiation and formation mechanisms of severe convective weather be unraveled using PLOTOS, and the mesoscale targeted observation technology be developed, which is crucial to the improvement of weather observational networks in large cities and provide new ideas and methods for improving the forecast of severe convective weather processes.

Purpose – Large cities are and will continue to become important tourism destinations in foreseeable future. Tourists' motives of the present is the prognosis for their future tourists' behavior. In respond to the longstanding critics in city tourism study, the present research aims to examine the underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities and offer insights into fashioning tourism future for visiting large cities. The identified motives inform three distinct implications fashioning tourism future of large cities. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative investigation was performed by surveying city tourists. Measurements on the survey form were derived from both scholarly and grey literature in relation to tourists' motivations. 326 valid questionnaires were netted to attain the study aim. Three-quarters of respondents were from Europe, Australia and Pacific. Descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted to achieve the research aims. Findings – Five underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities were revealed: shopping indulgence, urban commons, city icons, cultural and lifestyle and personal advancement. Mapping the findings with a conceptual scheme depicting tourism product in destination, the author revealed a new dimension, urbanity and offered critical reflection on three implications for the tourism future of large cities. Originality/value – Literature examining city tourists' motives neglect the context-specific measurements while administering the investigation. The research design embraces the urban-specific measurements in the data collection tool, contributing to deeper understanding on how tourism functions in cities. A new dimension, urbanity, which illustrates tourists' motives exclusive in large cities, was identified. Furthermore, three implications fashioning tourism future of large cities are revealed with the support of empirical evidence.

The paper analyzes the trends in the average monthly concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in the period from 2005 to 2021 in 18 large cities in different geographical areas: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Donetsk, Helsinki, Warsaw, Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, London, and Amsterdam. It was found that, in all cities, the concentration of this gas decreases, but at different rates. The highest rate of change was recorded in cities with the highest gas content at the time of the initial stage—2005. A linear dependence of the average nitrogen dioxide concentration on the population and anthropogenic emissions was revealed according to HTAPv3 data. Approximately every 1 million people of the population of large cities is responsible for the formation of a gas concentration of ∼200 × 1015 molecules/cm2, regardless of the geographical location of the city. Every ∼10 000 t/month of nitrogen dioxide emissions based on HTAPv3 generate gas concentrations of ∼500 × 1015 molecules/cm2. Using these dependences, it is possible to estimate anthropogenic emissions of NO2 sources throughout the country, based on remote sensing data. The results of the study also indicate the possibility of verifying and correcting inventory databases of gas emissions based on satellite observations of the nitrogen dioxide content in the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify which resilience-oriented policies are being enacted and factors that influence policy adoption. We develop clusters of policies related to three types of resilience: ecological, engineering, and community. Among large U.S. cities, we find wide variation in the number and type of policies enacted. Through multivariate analysis, we identify factors that are associated with the adoption of these policies. Similar to earlier work on sustainability and climate change policy, our results show that larger cities are more likely to adopt all three types of resilience policies. Wealthier and liberal cities adopt more ecological resilience policies. Cities that are members of city networks also adopt more policies, but not all networks significantly influence policy adoption suggesting that network goals and connections are important. We also find that among these large cities, it is the smaller of them that appear to benefit most from membership in networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the results of measuring the oxygen content in Moscow in 2017–2021 at three Budgetary Environmental Protection Institution Mosecomonitoring automatic stations for monitoring atmospheric pollution. Seasonal variations in oxygen content in the city are considered, the issues of compliance of the values with the scale of comfort level for human breathing developed by medical specialists are discussed, and measurement data are compared with the results of calculating the oxygen concentration in the air by the magnitude of meteorological parameters. According to the measurements, diurnal variations of the O2 content in the surface urban air, more pronounced in the warm season, are revealed for the first time. The minimum O2 content is observed in summer in the early morning hours. The main natural and anthropogenic processes that determine the variability of oxygen content in the surface air of a megalopolis at different time scales are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial unit of urban agglomerations is extremely important for reducing negative externalities in large cities. Although there is a large body of literature on reducing negative externalities within a single city, few studies have focused on the important role of urban agglomerations. To offer a new method for reducing negative externalities in large cities and fill in this gap in the literature, our paper examines the effect of spatial functional division in urban agglomerations on negative externalities in large cities by applying the concept of spatial functional division to data on 19 urban agglomerations and data on negative externalities from 35 large cities in China. We first show that spatial functional division in urban agglomerations can significantly reduce negative externalities. The robustness of the results was confirmed using the instrumental variable approach, alternative indicators, and other robustness checks. Furthermore, we identified the productivity improvement mechanisms in large cities that generate the observed mitigatory effects of spatial functional division in urban agglomerations on negative externalities in large cities. The heterogeneous analyzes indicate that spatial functional division in urban agglomerations has a stronger mitigatory effect on negative externalities in large cities in the context of higher inter-city connectivity, greater polycentricity, and official approval regarding urban agglomerations’ regional planning. Our findings emphasize the importance of urban agglomerations for reducing negative externalities in large cities, particularly in China, where urban agglomerations have been rapidly developing and spatial functional division in urban agglomerations has been continuously improving.

• Effects of urbanization expansion and maturity on vegetation growth are investigated. • Looser urban expansion patterns help offset direct vegetation loss. • Laggard cities effectively offset direct vegetation loss. • Urban maturity level has a higher driving effect on urban ecological offset effect. • Indirect impact of urbanization can offset direct negative on vegetation. Rapid urbanization replaces vegetation with build-up land, which threatens green spaces and the well-being of residents. In this study, the urban expansion patterns (UEPs) of build-up land from 2000 to 2020 were identified for 40 typical large cities in China, and their urban maturity (UM) was quantified. The different UEPs and UM types were used to analyze the comprehensive impacts of different types of cities on vegetation growth at different urbanization expansion intensity gradients. Finally, the relationship between different driving forces and the urban ecological effects was explored. The results showed that mature cities and the infilling cities experienced vegetation loss while other UEPs and UM levels resulted in increased vegetation growth. In particular, laggard cities and looser UEPs were able to effectively offset the direct vegetation loss caused by urbanization. The UM level had a high driving effect on the urban ecological offset. In the future, the scale and speed of urbanization can be optimized to reasonable levels and the urban ecological restoration should be strengthened to meet the needs of ecological security. This study contributes to explore the effectiveness of the urbanization process and land management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract—This article analyzes the positions of largest (with a population from 250 000 to 1 000 000 people) and large (with a population from 100 000 to 250 000 people) cities in the economic space of the regions of Russia based on the case of the Urals. The spatial significance of these cities is evaluated by the specific shares in the population, fixed capital expenditures, manufacturing output, retail turnover, and housing delivery. Imbalances are detected over all of the parameters, which is indicative of violations in the normal spatial pattern and deformations in the economic environment. The specific share of the largest and large cities of the Urals in retail turnover and housing delivery is lower than their share in the demographic figures. Traditional industries are the sole anchor to support the established settlement pattern structure. By 2017 the spatial significance of the largest and large cities of the Urals was generally lower than in 2007. Largest and large cities cease to function as trade and service centers for dwellers of nearby territories. The preservation of the situation that is now in evidence is fraught with the risks of growing imbalances in the national economic space and requires the encouragement of advanced development of the largest and large cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiscal policy is one of the main tools for managing territorial development. An efficient fiscal policy encourages increased budget filling. As a result, a country's regions can increase their expenditures to boost their socioeconomic development. The goal of this study was to analyze the key areas of state policy in the domain of financial support to local government bodies of large cities and to studying the influence of fiscal policy on the development of million-plus cities. The article considers the main indices of the budgets of the largest Russian cities and assesses the structure of their fiscal revenues for determining the sufficiency degree of tax and nontax revenues accumulated in these cities and transferred to their budgets, the extent to which the budgets depend on the funds allocated to them on a nonreimbursable basis from the budgets of the respective regions, and makes a detailed analysis of the fiscal expenditures of the considered cities. Special attention is devoted to analyzing the budget of Novosibirsk as the largest municipal entity in Russia. The calculation of fiscal coefficients helps one study the stability of the city budget, identify the positions of Novosibirsk among both the largest cities of Russia and urban districts and municipal districts of Novosibirsk oblast. Particular emphasis is also made on analyzing the principal fiscal revenue items of the Russian million-plus cities from the standpoint of affluence with tax and nontax revenues and considering the nonreimbursable transfers to their budgets from the budgets of the respective regions. It is concluded that stable tax sources of revenue should be attached to the local budgets on the whole and the cities in particular to improve the tax potential of the local budgets. It is established that in 2011–2018 the Russian million-plus cities experienced a significant reduction in their fiscal capacity and autonomy. The principal expenditure items of the budgets of the largest Russian cities are studied to determine their focus on the socioeconomic development of the Russian million-plus cities. The Russian million-plus cities should be considered separately from the general totality of municipalities because these cities are drivers of the national economic development and have a decisive influence on the economy. The tax revenue sources sufficient for the stable functioning and formation of the development budgets of large Russian cities should be legally attached to them on a nationwide scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the work detailed here was to identify directions of population change characterising Poland's largest cities in the years 1980-2020. The temporal scope of the analysis involves the last decade of the country's communist era (1980-1989) and the subsequent period of transition. The cities involved were Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań and Gdańsk. This paper is analytical and descriptive, with the index method and Webb's typology deployed. Population change was described in terms of the relative population index and growth rate, while reference was also made to rate of natural increase and migration balance. Webb's dynamic diagram was used to depict directions of population change, in a modification permitting that change over time to be indicated. Population structure was analysed by identifying "surpluses" in the shares of overall population accounted for by people in particular age groups. This method, approached separately for males and females, makes comparisons - and seeks divergences - with the average shares for population in different age groups noted for Poland as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the factors and conditions determining the population concentration and economic activity of the largest cities and agglomerations in the Russian Federation. It is shown that in addition to market volumes, labor quality, scaling effects, and higher innovative activity resulting from competition, budgetary structure and budgetary policy play an important role in the advanced development of large Russian cities. Using Novosibirsk as an example, the article analyzes the expenditures of the Russian budgetary system in a Russian city and shows that the expenditures of the city budget are less than one-third of the total expenditures of the budgetary system inside the city's territory. The Novosibirsk budget reveals the main trends in the dynamics of its budget indicators. The structure of the city's budget is evaluated in terms of both the revenue gathered directly on its territory and its dependence on funds transferred from the regional budget. By analyzing budgetary resources, the article identifies the main areas of spending inside the territory of Novosibirsk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proliferation of digital technology, online shopping is burgeoning and reshaping shopping behaviors. Extant research on online shopping behaviors mainly focuses on developed countries and megacities in developing countries. However, large cities experiencing fast-evolving digital technology have rarely been examined. Using questionnaire data collected from online shoppers in Weifang, a large city in China, this study investigated the characteristics and further identified influencing factors of residents' online shopping behaviors. Generally, residents' online shopping behaviors were spatially and socially heterogeneous. Individuals residing in closer proximity to the urban center and those with higher socioeconomic status were more active in online shopping. This result supported the diffusion of innovation hypothesis, underscoring that the digital divide within large Chinese cities manifested as multiple confluences of spatial and social divides. Furthermore, residents' online shopping behaviors were substantially influenced by their socioeconomic attributes, living conditions, access to in-store shopping, and online shopping experience. A noteworthy bidirectional promotion of online and in-store shopping behaviors was observed among residents, indicating a tendency toward integrating online and offline shopping. This study enriches scholarly discussions on residents' shopping behaviors and provides references for improving the distribution of commercial resources in large cities during the digital economy era. • Residents' online shopping behaviors witnessed a decreasing trend from the center to suburban and further rural areas under the continuous impact of digital technology. • Digital divide manifested as the multiple confluence of spatial and social divides in Chinese large cities. • The development and application of digital technology promoted the integration of online and in-store shopping. • A bi-directional promotion of residents' online and in-store shopping behaviors was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equalization of urban public service facilities is important to the daily lives of urban residents. Spatial quantification of the supply and demand of public service facilities can reveal relationships between supply and demand agents and provide a foundation for the planning of urban public service facilities. This study proposed a comprehensive framework to assess the current state of supply (accessibility of facilities) and demand (population carrying pressure) of various public services in cities and determine patterns between different public service facilities. This framework contains three elements: (a) multi-scale spatial quantification of the matching of supply and demand, (b) spatial matching of supply and demand, and (c) spatial clustering analysis of the supply and demand balance. This study analyzed 19 major cities in China from a supply and demand perspective and examined implications for matching the supply and demand of public service facilities. The results indicated that education service facilities had the most appropriate supply and demand relationship. Areas where public service facilities had a good matching of supply and demand demonstrated a strong pattern of clustering. There were significant differences in the level of matching of the supply and demand of public service facilities among various regions in China. The limitations of the framework and future directions are discussed.

The spatial unit of urban agglomerations is extremely important for reducing negative externalities in large cities. Although there is a large body of literature on reducing negative externalities within a single city, few studies have focused on the important role of urban agglomerations. To offer a new method for reducing negative externalities in large cities and fill in this gap in the literature, our paper examines the effect of spatial functional division in urban agglomerations on negative externalities in large cities by applying the concept of spatial functional division to data on 19 urban agglomerations and data on negative externalities from 35 large cities in China. We first show that spatial functional division in urban agglomerations can significantly reduce negative externalities. The robustness of the results was confirmed using the instrumental variable approach, alternative indicators, and other robustness checks. Furthermore, we identified the productivity improvement mechanisms in large cities that generate the observed mitigatory effects of spatial functional division in urban agglomerations on negative externalities in large cities. The heterogeneous analyzes indicate that spatial functional division in urban agglomerations has a stronger mitigatory effect on negative externalities in large cities in the context of higher inter-city connectivity, greater polycentricity, and official approval regarding urban agglomerations' regional planning. Our findings emphasize the importance of urban agglomerations for reducing negative externalities in large cities, particularly in China, where urban agglomerations have been rapidly developing and spatial functional division in urban agglomerations has been continuously improving., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant mobility restrictions and generated profound impacts on global socio-economic development. Mobility restrictions can generate significant impacts on the demand and supply sides of the rental housing market. By taking 77 large Chinese cities as cases, this research establishes a stepwise mediation effect test to evaluate the impacts of the pandemic on the rental housing market during Q1 2020. The results show that the confirmed cases were negatively associated with rental unit transactions, and the inter-city and intra-city movement played a significant role of mediating effects. Meanwhile, the impact of pandemic on rents lagged behind rental transaction in China's large cities, and the strict mobility controls caused the high vacancy rate of rental housing, leading to the bankruptcy of many housing rental agencies. Our research add to the burgeoning literature examining the mediating effect of mobility control between confirmed case and housing rental market. It demonstrates that the change of housing rental market induced by pandemic in China is the short-term influence on rental unit transaction, which is different from western countries. In China, a country with the most strict mobility control, the challenges come from the impact of pandemic on housing rental agencies. • Mobility restriction has generated negative impacts on the rental housing market during the pandemic. • Confirmed cases are negatively associated with rental unit transactions through the mediating effects of mobility in China. • The Pandemic has caused hardship on both the tenants and housing rental agencies in China. • Supportive financial policies and the protection of tenants' rights are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptation to climate change and related coastal risks are key issues for communities living close to the Mediterranean Sea. The study explores how inhabitants of Marseilles and Nice, two major cities on the French Mediterranean coast, perceive recent climate change and how competent they find themselves in coping with changing climate and coastal risks. It also analyses the influence of socio-demographic and psycho-social variables on their perceived level of coping. The tool used is the French translated and adapted version of the Climate Change Perception Inventory (CCPI) by Rishi and Mudaliar (2014), filled in by a total of 475 participants in the study. Results show that in both cities, respondents are aware of climate change, but are not really worried about it. Marseilles and Nice differ in the role played by Coastal Subjective Well-Being. In both samples, the most important predictor of Coping and Adaptation is Climate related Stress and Emotional Concern. Finally, the study highlights the importance of considering psycho-social variables in the management of Climate Change Adaptation. • Understanding risk perception important to adapt coastal cities to climate change. • Climate Change Perception Inventory Tool used in Marseilles and Nice (475 participants). • Respondents aware of climate change, but not worried about it. • Marseilles and Nice differ greatly on Coastal Subjective Well-Being. • Coping with climate change best predicted by Climate Stress and Emotional Concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]