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While the link between the urban network and institutional context has been well established, there has been less work on the effect of shifting political economy on the mechanism of its intercity flows. In this paper, the investment dataset of Chinese publicly listed firms is used to construct corporate‐based urban networks with different ownership structures. Two straightforward but effective comparative analyses are conducted. The first distinguishes between networks formed by state‐controlled and nonstate‐controlled firms, and the second distinguishes between subnetworks formed by central‐ and local‐state power. By surveying the distinctions from the perspectives of state–market relations and central‐local government relations, we argue that the urban network in China is shaped by the varied forms in which the central government, local governments, and the private sector interact. To gain a more proper knowledge of the geographical patterns, this research recommends further field research into enterprise‐based linkages of multiple ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital era, data-driven production organizes digital urban networks. This study explores the critical role of government policies in shaping these networks, focusing on China's evolving policy contexts. While existing research has mainly emphasized qualitative analyses, this paper quantitatively assesses the impact of policy changes on digital urban networks, specifically through the lens of China's online gaming industry. The study aimed to elucidate the relationship between the policy environment and digital urban networks. By examining China's transition from protectionist to regulatory policies, this research employed a social network analysis and valued exponential random graph models (ERGMs) across two key phases: the competitive protection phase (2014–2017) and the systematic regulatory phase (2018–2022). The findings revealed a significant transformation in urban network structure, shifting from a centralized model dominated by a few core cities to a decentralized, multi-centered network. The key factors influencing this evolution include the institutional proximity and cross-regional collaborations. This study offers valuable insights into how policy shifts affect urban networks in the digital economy, contributing both theoretically and practically to future policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States is home to more than 100 million renters and approximately 11 million landlords, yet these two sides of the rental market are rarely studied in tandem. This study uses a multiscalar network-based approach to identify landlord market areas. Building on administrative data of the locations of rental properties and landlords, I define a landlord–property network as a spatial bipartite network, where landlords' addresses are connected to their properties' addresses, and vice versa. I first examine the location of landlords relative to their properties. I then compare the differences in socioeconomic characteristics in landlord and rental tracts. I simplify this network by extracting its backbone, defining a core component of a landlord market. I compare these networks to Metropolitan Statistical Areas and commuting networks to evaluate the performance of the backbone extraction method. I find that most landlords are local, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, that landlord neighborhoods are richer, Whiter, and more expensive than where their properties are located. Extracting the backbone of the commuting network results in a network that mirrors a regional definition, whereas the landlord market area is much more national in scope. These two networks differ geographically and also with regard to their network statistics. Whereas renters and homeowners search within a region for new housing, landlords and capital can search nationally for locations in which to invest. This article provides a new, robust foundation to understanding rental market investor dynamics and the relationship among owner, renter, and property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article examines a series of conflicts between the city of Bruges and its main outport Sluys brought before the Council of Flanders and the Great Council of Malines around the turn of the sixteenth century. Although Bruges' commercial successes declined during this period, the previously consolidated hierarchical relationships with Sluys persisted as the courts continuously judged in Bruges' favour. This contribution attempts to expose the underlying legal dynamics that determined Bruges' continued primacy over its outport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructures are at the service of human activities and play an essential role in the development of any society. In recent years, social and infrastructural systems have often malfunctioned, due to the increase in natural and man-made disasters on the one hand, and the internal and external dependencies between system components on the other. The interconnection between social-infrastructural systems means that the damage caused to a single system extends beyond its reach. This study analyses the functional interdependencies between social-infrastructural systems. To this end, it reviews current literature in these respective fields to identify the challenges posed by urban technical networks in Greater Lomé (Togo). The modelling and assessment carried out by this study also identifies gaps in knowledge and tools to support existing infrastructures and those at the planning stage. The study reveals that every major element in the information and decision chain - from the frequency and intensity of a disruptive event, to the assessment of the immediate and first-order impacts of infrastructure failure, to the estimation of the nature, extent and impact of cascading failures - multiplies uncertainties. The results provide a guideline for decision-makers to improve the functional interdependencies of urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a traditional research topic in urban studies, competitive relations among cities have rarely been quantified in empirical research. Drawing on methods of social network analysis, this study aims to extract intercity competitive relations at the global scale based on the global corporate spatial organization of manufacturing. The geographies of competitive relations manifest different patterns from those of global city networks based on cooperative relations. This study finds an inverse U‐shaped relationship between cities' connectivities and their gross intensity of competition. Although most global cities have unique positions in global manufacturing competition, intensive competition occurs among some global cities, whereas extensive competition exists between wide‐ranging cities with weak global connectivities. Furthermore, there is strong competition among cities of similar size and among those located in the same region. This research not only re‐examines global intercity relations from a competitive perspective but also informs the formulation of policy‐making on competition strategies of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the dynamics of inter-referencing between cities and develops the concept of the 'Urban Referencing Network' as a representation of the references made by cities to one another in policy documents. The study employs public art policies, specifically the Percent for Art policy, to investigate the structure of inter-referencing within the urban referencing network. Using a corpus of policy documents from 26 Anglophone cities with over one million residents, we analyse 150 documents containing 2178 inter-references. Combining network measurements and regressions, we explore the emergence of central nodes and the mechanisms influencing their formation. The broader field of arts and cultural policies, with its extensive inter-urban connections and professional networks, provides fertile ground for studying urban referencing networks. By integrating literature on policy mobility and urban networks, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the circulation of urban ideas and the interplay between cities in policy-making processes. The results demonstrate that only a few cities, including New York, Chicago, London, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Montreal, emerge as central nodes, attracting the other cities' attention. Attributes of the referenced cities, like economic importance, iconicity and early adoption, determine to a great extent who are the most central nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The network system is defined as the combination of streets and alleys. Although the potential of alleys in complementing street networks is acknowledged, the topic has not received a considerable attention in urban planning practice and scholarship. This paper evaluates alleys’ role in the combined street-alley networks by calculating Information Centrality, a metric in Multiple Centrality Assessment (MCA). The combined network of streets and alleys in thirteen neighborhoods of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been studied. Findings indicate that alleys may or may not contribute to increment of network efficiency. Generally, the contribution of alleys to efficiency is more significant if the corresponding street network has low efficiency.

Link-Travel-Time (LTT) estimation is essential for the planning and operations of a variety of transportation services. Given the random sampling of a very large number of GPS-points over a highly complex urban network, the task of organizing these individual GPS readings to estimate LTTs requires the development and implementation of a novel comprehensive data processing and path-finding methodology which is described in detail in this paper. As part of this novel methodology, an innovative data-driven matching-algorithm to estimate urban LTT from high-sampling-rate GPS data projected onto the Open-Street-Map network is developed and implemented. Then, using these LTTs, we construct Path-Travel-Time (PTT) between major origin-destination pairs. PTT of Actual-Paths (AP) followed by GPS-enabled vehicles are compared with k-Shortest-Paths (SP), allowing us to better understand route-choice behavior and overall traffic conditions. We compare PTT from observed-trips (OD-trips), map-matched AP, and SP paths with Free-Flow (FF). Results show that OD-trips, AP, and SP exceed FF by 15%, 41%, and 15%, respectively. The difference in PTT between OD-AP is ∼5%, which means the map-matching process works well and does not create bias in our analysis. People using the shortest-path varies with the distance; for ∼3-mile-paths, 50% of users do not use it. For ∼6-mile-paths, the percentage reduces to 35%, and for ∼9-mile, the percentage is 25%. A relatively high number of trips spend more time than the average and much longer than the shortest PTT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology. Social Sciences Edition / Haerbin Gongye Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexue Ban is the property of Harbin Institute of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The network structures that have arisen out of globalisation could provide an alternative means of addressing major global challenges (climate change, mitigation of its effects or the prevention of pandemics). Cities increasingly consider themselves “actors motivated by interests” and they turn to urban diplomacy and interest-based networks to change the conversation – and, ultimately, the power structure – of multinational governance. Starting with a definition of what urban power is, this paper examines the rise of urban networks and their leverage of data to claim a more active role in the face of their nation-states, and on a global scale. Drawing on two brief case studies – the C40 network and Voluntary Local Reviews – it points to possible ways forward for urban networks of influence in the short term.

The present study proposes a new methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative data for the generation of representative personas for commuters. The profiles can be used to better understand their travel behaviour and mode choices. The research is based on the example of the region of Agder in Norway and aims to overcome the persona development shortcomings identified by previous researchers. Data from a regional travel behaviour survey (N= 1 849) is analysed using latent class cluster analysis (LCCA), and enriched with qualitative input from 32 interviews, and information provided by an expert panel. This results in a set of 20 representative persona profiles for the case study region. The proposed methodology is easily replicable in other urban networks and has the potential to provide insight into the mobility behaviour and needs of specific groups of people in order to adapt the transport services and encourage climate-friendly behaviour.

This manuscript analyses the cascading effects between urban technical networks in Brazzaville, Congo. To this end, we have identified the urban networks that are essential to the functioning of the city, namely the road network, the drinking water network, the sanitation network and the electricity network. The working methodology is based on a spatial analysis of flooding and an analysis of vulnerability using indicators of exposure (direct contact with water), sensitivity (malfunctions caused when in contact with water) and adaptability (continuity of operation once in contact with water) of the urban technical networks. The analyses show that all the technical urban networks appear to be dependent or interdependent on each other. The road network is the most exposed, but causes very little disruption to the others, while the electricity network is the one that causes the most disruption once it malfunctions. The cascading effects between urban technical networks stem from functional, physical or cybernetic dependency and can cause partial or total failure of the affected network. A power failure could extend functional vulnerability to the drinking water supply network via pumps, which depend on electricity. This research is being carried out in the context of urban risk management, with the aim of ensuring urban resilience to flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholder-orientation is useful for managing conflicts between stakeholders and strategizing urban sustainability. This qualitative meta-analysis explores the characteristics and challenges of stakeholder-orientation in the governance of Israeli cities and local communities. Main findings: (1) migrants and immigrants, third sector and civil society movements, and religious groups are more protagonists in the Israeli urban governance in comparison to general urban contexts; (2) Though influenced by communicative planning, more effort should be made to strengthen stakeholder-orientation as a sustainable urban strategy; and (3) The power of networks has its attention increased in Israeli urban governance as in other contexts worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We characterise trade-offs between the end-to-end communication delay and the energy in urban vehicular communications with infrastructure assistance. Our study exploits the self-similarity of the location of communication entities in cities by modelling them with a hyperfractal model which characterises the distribution of mobile nodes and relay nodes by a fractal dimension dF and dr, both larger than the dimension of the embedded map. We compute theoretical bounds for the end-to-end communication hop count considering two different energy-minimising goals: either total accumulated energy or maximum energy per node. Let δ > 1 be the attenuation factor in the street, we prove that when we aim to a total energy cost of order n(1−δ)(1−α), the hop count for an end-to-end transmission is of order n 1 − α / (d F − 1) , with α < 1 is a tunable parameter. This proves that for both goals, the energy decreases as we allow choosing routing paths of higher length. The asymptotic limit of the energy becomes significantly small when the number of nodes becomes asymptotically large. A lower bound on the network throughput capacity with constraints on path energy is also given. We show that our model fits real deployments where open data sets are available. The results are confirmed through simulations using different fractal dimensions in a Matlab simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Urban shrinkage is a global phenomenon, and it will coexist with urban growth for many years. At the same time, the network connection between cities continuously improved due to the construction of the transportation and information networks. However, the relationship between urban network externalities and urban population growth/shrinkage remains unclear. Therefore, based on high-speed railway (HSR) flow data, a spatial econometric model is used to explore the mechanism behind urban population growth and shrinkage from the perspective of network externalities in China. The results indicate that: 1) the urban network experiences a certain clubbing effect. Growing cities that are strongly connected are concentrated along China's main railway lines and the southeastern coastal areas, while shrinking cities that are weakly connected are distributed at the periphery of the network. 2) Moreover, the network externality disregards spatial distance and together with the agglomeration externality influences the growth and shrinking of cities. 3) Urban economic development still promotes the development of Chinese cities. However, the improvement of the urban economy has a negative cross-regional spillover effect on neighboring cities due to urban competition. 4) Lastly, Local spillovers of urban network externalities are positive, while cross-regional ones are negative. Consequently, the government needs to promote the construction of multi-dimensional network connections between cities to promote cities' sustainable development. This study reveals the relationship between urban network externalities and urban development, enriches the theories of network externalities and urban growth/shrinkage, and provides a reference for regional coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of a generic eco-driving strategy for CAVs to deal with longitudinal and lateral disturbances of MVs in urban mixed traffic. • Cut in, escape, and ordinary lane changes of MVs with impacts on eco-driving CAVs. • Comprehensive evaluation of the eco-driving strategy for a multilane urban network involving all types of lane changes based on SUMO. • Exploration of interplay mechanism between lane changes of MVs and eco-driving endeavors of CAVs. Urban eco-driving of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) aims to optimize CAVs' speed trajectories to avoid sharp accelerations/decelerations and stops at signalized intersections for the minimization of energy consumption of mixed traffic of CAVs and manually-driven vehicles (MVs). Existing eco-driving studies rarely considered lane changes of MVs. Besides ordinary lane changes that usually take place in traffic flow, eco-driving CAVs tend to trigger specific types of lane changes of MVs, i.e. cut-in from adjacent lanes to the front of CAVs, or escape from behind CAVs to adjacent lanes. It is significant to investigate the interplay between such extraordinary lane changes of MVs and eco-driving endeavors. This paper has developed a generic and deployable eco-driving strategy for CAVs that can deal with both lateral disturbances (e.g. cut-in and escape lane changes of MVs) and longitudinal disturbances (e.g. MVs moving in front and vehicle queues at downstream intersections), without assuming communications between CAVs and MVs. The eco-driving task was formulated as an optimal control problem with safety constraints, and tackled under a unified rolling-horizon framework, with each cut-in lane change treated as a newly emerging longitudinal disturbance to CAVs. The eco-driving performance was thoroughly evaluated for an urban multilane road network based on SUMO. The eco-driving strategy was demonstrated capable of tackling various disturbances of MVs and effectively achieving the eco-driving purpose. For the eco-driving effects on lane changes of MVs, the numbers of cut-in and escape lane changes ascended until the market penetration rate (MPR) of CAVs reached 30% and then kept decreasing, while the number of ordinary lane changes dropped monotonically with the MPR increase. As to the impact of cut-in and escape lane changes of MVs on eco-driving, the energy saving benefits of all CAVs and MVs grew with the MPR increase, despite the disturbances of MV lane changes. Similar results were not reported before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Geographical study of China's digital game industry network. • Digitalization has complicated impacts on the digital game industry network in China. • China's digital game industry network is dominated by non-geographic factors such as virtual proximity. • Online labour and online distribution foster collaboration in the digital game industry. This paper aims to explore the impact of digital technology on the spatial organization of emerging creative industries. Using data related to China's digital game industry, it analyzes the characteristics of the network structure of the digital game industry and its formation and evolution mechanisms. The findings indicate that a few large cities dominate the network structure of China's digital game industry and that the significance of local administrative centers within the network is increasing. Even though firms can work remotely to finish a game, their production activities are still closely connected to the major game production centers through the digital platform. Moreover, it is non-geographic factors such as social relations and virtual proximity rather than geographical proximity that determine the network structure, and the role of geography is decreasing with the widespread use of digital technology. The evolving online labour and online distribution based on digital platforms have also influenced the construction of digital game industry networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the contemporary era, networks and infrastructure have become ways to generate reference and recognisability of cities and territories. Recently the global development of several projects regarding urban transformations started with the redesign of the architecture of mobility. Railway stations, spaces for arrivals and departures full of symbolic meanings, have become places of experimentation to define contemporary urban public spaces. The contribution highlights how the underground stations of Naples are capable of preserving the Mediterranean essence of the city within the architectural dimension. Architectures of mobility are interpreted as narrative devices to reveal stories arising from the city's underground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates opportunities to connect divided cities by analysing ways in which occupation practices operate alongside, subvert and potentially transform historic, and presently developing urban infrastructure divisions in Tshwane's eastern urban region. Through a critical theory lens, existing and perpetuating conditions of infrastructural segregation are examined in order to understand scenarios through which built environments, as assemblages, maintain conditions of extreme inequality and power. In this respect, urban spatial research projects, analysing formal and informal settlement patterns are presented. The projects form part of an architecture design lead research studio that focuses on discovering alternative scenarios for urban environments by examining existing infrastructure barriers, and unpacking methods for the transformation of segregative systemic forms. Extracts of the projects are presented as case studies with a focus on areas around Mamelodi east and Moreleta Park in rapidly growing parts of Tshwane. These projects demonstrate conditions through which urban divisions of scarcity are established and constructed along infrastructure development zones in the region. They also raise key spatial questions pertaining to inequality and the role of capital investment in its perpetuation. The second part of the project involves socio-spatial methods of mapping self-build situations occurring alongside hard infrastructure zones in the region. The studies focus on the composition of building fabrics that actively attempt to circumvent issues of scarcity and unequal access to material and social infrastructures. Through the establishment of physical interfaces, people form modes of operation despite extreme resource limitations. The project aims to identify alternative ways of reading territorialised urban infrastructure assemblages by examining critical zones of urban occupation. While the examples expose many of the volatile situations that the urban majority experience on a perpetual basis, the primary aim is to reveal - from the everyday - urban spatial emergence and methods of coding and mapping these emergences towards an adaptive, reparative and transformative approach to divided cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Interkulturelle Germanistik is the property of Transcript Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From a theoretical typology and empirical data derived from disaster events, this paper provides a matrix of cascading failures of interdependent infrastructures of energy, transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation, food systems and health services. High urbanisation has led to an expansion of networked infrastructure, whose failures are notably related to their numerous and complex interdependencies. A prior identification of these interdependencies is fundamental to prevent cascading failure risks. This paper identifies four types of interdependencies (functional, geo-spatial, procedural and societal) and examines their respective roles in the failures experienced during the 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, the 2001 World Trade Center attack, the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the 2011 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, the 2003 heat wave and the 2012 Indian blackout. A cross-network matrix is thus developed to address the following question: through which type(s) of interdependencies does the initial failure of a given infrastructure network trigger failures in interdependent networks? Our deductive approach reveals network-risks and identifies the types of interdependencies by which infrastructure networks represent a hazard sources and/or a vulnerable stake to one another. Unidirectional, reciprocal and mutual dependencies are then underlined. Accordingly, the continuous supply of urban services is thus explored within the perspective of increasing interdependencies.

Drawing on the 'buzz-and-pipeline' framework, this paper examines the impact of intra- and interregional collaboration linkages on the innovation capacity of cities, as evidenced by the co-publication networks existing among 217 Chinese cities located in 20 city-regions. The results show that (1) intra- and interregional linkages have an inverted 'U'-shaped and positive relationship with innovation capacity, respectively; (2) the positive effects of intra- and interregional linkages on urban innovation can be enhanced when combined with triadic closure and structural holes, respectively; and (3) there exists a complementary relation between intra- and interregional linkages in facilitating cities' innovation capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of urban network connectivity on the growth of financial centres. While existing research recognises the importance of network connectivity to firms, clusters as well as city regions, large-sample empirical evidence is currently scarce, particularly in the context of financial services. We contribute to this debate by studying underwriting of equity and debt securities, which represent some of the core activities of financial centres. We operationalise our analysis using a proprietary dataset collated from Dealogic Equity Capital Market and Debt Capital Market databases covering over 1.7 million interactions of investment banks with issuers across 540 cities globally during the 1993–2016 period. We estimate our regression equations using the system generalised method of moments estimator, which allows us to obtain consistent coefficient estimates on potentially endogenous regressors, including network connectivity variables. We identify a clear pattern of a positive association between network centrality of financial centres and their growth. We distinguish between intracity and intercity network connectivity and find that financial centres with a larger number of intercity network ties and assortative intracity networks grow faster, while intracity network density does not appear to affect financial centre growth. Our results on intercity network ties are broadly consistent with established knowledge of cluster networks. In contrast, our findings on financial centres' intracity networks contradict previous research that suggests that dense and disassortative intracluster networks aid economic performance of clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the emergency caused by the Covid‐19 pandemic, there is the need, among other measures, to modify urban mobility plans in order to reduce the use of collective public transport, reducing the crowding of people while also preventing traffic congestion through discouraging the use of private vehicles. From this perspective, retail companies operating within cities must also reorganize themselves, considering both the unpredictable requirements of environmental sustainability and the new mobility needs calling for the promotion of bicycles and electric scooters. In this context, we deal with the need to determine minimum cost routes in urban areas for delivering orders placed through e‐channels. More precisely, we face a variant of the green vehicle routing problem of heterogeneous fleets, in which the objective function includes environmental impact cost components that differ by vehicle type. Moreover, as a novel issue, attention must be paid to avoid crossing and passing close to bicycle lanes; therefore, penalties are associated with the transit of vehicles near bicycle lanes. To address this problem, we propose a mixed integer linear programming model and a matheuristic associated with it. The proposed approach is then used to analyze different scenarios derived from the transportation network of the city of Milan, Italy. Milan is one of the smartest cities in Europe from the mobility point of view but also one of the most affected by the Covid‐19 pandemic, and the municipality is making a big investment to promote the use of bicycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the two key defining features of megalopolises as incubators and hinges in a globalising knowledge economy, how intercity knowledge flows could shape the polycentric structure of the science system of a megalopolis has only gained popularity in recent years. This study focuses on measuring and explaining the evolving knowledge polycentricity of the science system of China's Greater Bay Area (GBA) megalopolis during the 1990–2016 period. Our empirical results are generally robust when we adopt different measurement approaches and draw upon different publication databases. Overall, the degrees of knowledge polycentricity at different geographical scales have been generally increasing during the study period, though with some fluctuations. In addition, the degree of knowledge polycentricity becomes smaller at higher geographical scales. The mechanisms behind the evolving knowledge polycentricity have been further investigated from the proximity perspective. The increasing geographical proximity, institutional proximity and social proximity between cities within and beyond the GBA megalopolis have contributed to the strengthening knowledge polycentricity of its science system at different geographical scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gasoline is an essential commodity, almost as important as food and clothing. Our research delves into the factors that could influence the consumer price of gasoline using social network analysis. Different factors influence gas stations' pricing strategies, including their location and proximity to competitors. We conducted an urban network analysis, examining the network position of nearly 700 gas stations across five Italian cities. Our findings indicate that different network positions are associated with varying gasoline prices. We discovered that centrality metrics, such as betweenness and distinctiveness, are the most informative. Our study has significant implications for managers seeking to improve their consumer pricing strategy. In addition, network analysis can support urban planning decisions, thereby fostering a sustainable environment that benefits both citizens and businesses alike. • Gas station location and proximity to competitors influence pricing strategies. • We study urban networks of five Italian cities and the position of gas stations. • Network centrality, particularly distinctiveness, is associated with prices. • Practitioners can use findings to improve pricing and location choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

43 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 14. 44 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 14. 45 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 21. 46 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 21. 47 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 16. 48 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 24. 49 Fjord, "Disasters, Race, and Disability", 25. 50 Albright, "Strategic Abilities." 15 Daniella Santoro, " The Dancing Ground: Embodied Knowledge, Disability, and Visibility in New Orleans Second Lines, " in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies, ed. 13 Daniella Santoro, "The Dancing Ground: Embodied Knowledge, Disability, and Visibility in New Orleans Second Lines", in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies, ed. Keywords: Blackness; disability; disease; disparities; embodiment; epidemiology; gender; Haroun Mahamat-Saleh; Hurricane Katrina; jagged dances; jazz; kinaesthetics; New Orleans; performance; race; second line parade; transgression; urban networks EN Blackness disability disease disparities embodiment epidemiology gender Haroun Mahamat-Saleh Hurricane Katrina jagged dances jazz kinaesthetics New Orleans performance race second line parade transgression urban networks 277 285 9 04/26/21 20210401 NES 210401 From antiquarian references to early modern corporealities, in her book I Choreomania: Dance and Disorder i (2018),[1] theater and performance studies scholar Kélina Gotman probes the archives to expound how colonial, medical, and ethnographic discourses cultivate the materialization and dissemination of the choreomania concept. [Extracted from the article]

Over the last two decades, the focus of studies on the spatial organization of urban systems has shifted noticeably from classical theories such as "the central place theory" to utilizing novel theories based on the network essence of intercity relations, such as "the central flow theory". This field of urban research, which has emerged under the term "external urban relations", has developed through integrating contributions from many disciplines. However, different methodological traditions and interdisciplinary contexts in which the research is conducted are leading to ambiguity in how we understand and measure intercity relations. This study systematically reviews and analyzes the body of this new literature. It does so by innovatively employing a scientometric mapping approach, which is a combination of bibliometric and citation network analysis methods. This review is based on a publication set of 145 papers published on the subject since 1995. The number of publications covered by the Web of Science (WoS) shows a significant increase in the most recent years. The current study identifies 20 papers as playing a pivotal role in the evolution of the literature on urban external relations. Furthermore, the results revealed five conceptualizations before the 1990s at the classical theories era, along with two renowned conceptualizations during the 1990s (the transition decade), which have had the most impact on changes in the metamorphosis of theoretical fundamentals. The present developments are influenced by a wide range of various concepts, methods, and empirical approaches. Two different subfields (schools) of thought known as "world/global cities", and "polycentricity" are identified by systemically integrating traditional top-down and bottom-up review methods. Their different aspects were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the determinants of the spatial and topological structure of three types of urban networks within the Yangtze River Delta. These networks consist of transport infrastructure links, business interactions in producer services firms, and leisure mobility. The influence of distance, size, administrative borders, landform contiguity, cultural affinities, economic alliances and administrative rank are examined. We position our findings as an empirical elaboration of the formation of multiplex urban networks. Our results show that in spite of significant correlations between all of these explanatory factors and the three urban networks, only some factors affect each of the three networks. More specifically, the business network has a weak dependence on distance and cultural affinities; intercity mobility is closely related to the size of cities' populations and distance; and landform patterns remain a fundamental basis for intercity transport linkages. Our results highlight China's hierarchical‐administrative specifics in the shaping of urban networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into account that accessibility is one of the most strategic and determining factors in economic models and that accessibility and tourism affect each other, we can say that the study and improvement of one of them involved the development of the other. Using network analysis, this study presents an algorithm for labeling the difficulty of the streets of a city using different accessibility parameters. We combine network structure and accessibility factors to explore the association between innovative behavior within the street network, and the relationships with the commercial activity in a city. Finally, we present a case study of the city of Avila, locating the most inaccessible areas of the city using centrality measures and analyzing the effects, in terms of accessibility, on the commerce and services of the city.

In the last decades, the urban mobility has become a critical issue with several social, economic and ecological challenges. This is a consequence of the fast and unplanned cities growth and of the high population density in urban areas. In this context, we focus on the Disruption Scheduling problem on Urban Networks (DSUN) which consists in scheduling a set of planned disruptions in an urban road network while ensuring a path between all points of this network (strong connectivity in graph theory). Disruptions can break the urban network connection, requiring then to modify the routes direction (arcs reversals). Such situations may disturb the users' habits. The goal of DSUN is (1) to minimize the number of arcs reversals and (2) the sum of the starting times to all disruptions simultaneously. DSUN is formalized in this study by means of a mathematical formulation. Moreover, since it is a bi-objective problem, we propose an exact algorithm based on the ϵ -constraint method. Computational experiments are performed on theoretical instances, as well as on realistic instances built from the road network map of Troyes city in France. The numerical results show that the exact algorithm can prove optimality for instances with up to 100 vertices and 20 disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A dynamic and aggregated non-equilibrium ride-sourcing model is developed to track the time-varying number of riders, vacant and occupied ride-sourcing vehicles. • The drivers are modeled as earning-sensitive, independent contractor, and self-scheduling and the riders are considered price- and quality of service-sensitive. • Supply and demand of the ride-sourcing market are endogenously modeled based on the fare requested from the riders and the wage paid to the drivers and the rider's waiting time and driver's cruising time. • A controller based on the MPC approach is proposed to dynamically control the fare and the wage. The MPC framework consists of two different models for plant and optimization. • The proposed model and controller enable the ride-sourcing provider to offer a wage to the drivers that is higher than the charged fare from the riders such that the overall profit is maximized. Ride-sourcing is a prominent transportation mode because of its cost-effectiveness and convenience. It provides an on-demand mobility platform that acts as a two-sided market by matching riders with drivers. The conventional models of ride-sourcing systems are equilibrium-based, discrete, and suitable for strategic decisions. This steady-state approach is not suitable for operational decision-making where there is noticeable variation in the state of the system, denying the market enough time to balance back into equilibrium. We introduce a dynamic non-equilibrium ride-sourcing model that tracks the time-varying number of riders, vacant ride-sourcing vehicles, and occupied ride-sourcing vehicles. The drivers are modeled as earning-sensitive, independent contractor, and self-scheduling and the riders are considered price- and quality of service-sensitive such that the supply and demand of the ride-sourcing market are endogenously dependent on (i) the fare requested from the riders and the wage paid to the drivers and (ii) the rider's waiting time and driver's cruising time. The model enables investigating how the dynamic wage and fare set by the ride-sourcing service provider affect supply, demand, and states of the market such as average waiting and search time especially when drivers can freely choose their work shifts. Furthermore, we propose a controller based on the model predictive control approach to maximize the service provider's profit by controlling the fare requested from riders and the wage offered to drivers to satisfy a certain quality of market performance. We assess three pricing strategies where the fare and wage are (i) time-varying and unconstrained, (ii) time-varying and constrained so that the fare is higher than the wage such that the instantaneous profit is positive, and (iii) time-invariant and fixed. The proposed model and controller enable the ride-sourcing service provider to offer a wage to the drivers that is higher than the fare requested from the riders. The result demonstrates that this myopic loss can potentially lead to higher overall profit when customer demand (i.e., riders who may opt to use the ride-sourcing system) increases while the supply of ride-sourcing vehicles decreases simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A backpressure approach built on macroscopic traffic theory. • A decentralized approach suitable for implementation in large urban networks. • Theoretical proof of network-wide traffic stability properties. • Very low computational costs. • Extensive experiments and comparisons that highlight the superiority of the proposed approach. Decentralized intersection control techniques have received recent attention in the literature as means to overcome scalability issues associated with network-wide intersection control. Chief among these techniques are backpressure (BP) control algorithms, which were originally developed of for large wireless networks. In addition to being light-weight computationally, they come with guarantees of performance at the network level, specifically in terms of network-wide stability. The dynamics in backpressure control are represented using networks of point queues and this also applies to all of the applications to traffic control. As such, BP in traffic fail to capture the spatial distribution of vehicles along the intersection links and, consequently, spill-back dynamics. This paper derives a position weighted backpressure (PWBP) control policy for network traffic applying continuum modeling principles of traffic dynamics and thus capture the spatial distribution of vehicles along network roads and spill-back dynamics. PWBP inherits the computational advantages of traditional BP. To prove stability of PWBP, (i) a Lyapunov functional that captures the spatial distribution of vehicles is developed; (ii) the capacity region of the network is formally defined in the context of macroscopic network traffic; and (iii) it is proved, when exogenous arrival rates are within the capacity region, that PWBP control is network stabilizing. We conduct comparisons against a real-world adaptive control implementation for an isolated intersection. Comparisons are also performed against other BP approaches in addition to optimized fixed timing control at the network level. These experiments demonstrate the superiority of PWBP over the other control policies in terms of capacity region, network-wide delay, congestion propagation speed, recoverability from heavy congestion (outside of the capacity region), and response to incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the fundamental communication properties of urban vehicle networks by exploiting the self-similarity and hierarchical organization of modern cities. We use an innovative model called “hyperfractal” that captures the self-similarities of both the traffic and vehicle locations but avoids the extremes of regularity and randomness. We use analytical tools to derive theoretical upper and lower bounds for the information propagation speed in an urban delay tolerant network (i.e., a network that is disconnected at all time, and thus uses a store-carry-and-forward routing model). We prove that the average broadcast time behaves as $n^{1-\delta }$ times a slowly varying function, where $\delta $ depends on the precise fractal dimension. Furthermore, we show that the broadcast speedup is due in part to an interesting self-similar phenomenon, that we denote as information teleportation. This phenomenon arises as a consequence of the topology of the vehicle traffic, and triggers an acceleration of the broadcast time. We show that our model fits real cities where open traffic data sets are available. We present simulations confirming the validity of the bounds in multiple realistic settings, including scenarios with variable speed, using both QualNet and a discrete-event simulator in Matlab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses local engagements with human rights norms in Amsterdam, in the context of responses to irregular migration. Specifically, the article studies the local government's development of a human rights agenda and reflects how this aligns with or contradicts (1) the local government's program for irregular migrants and (2) NGO initiatives in the realm of human rights and irregular migrants. In 2016 the municipality of Amsterdam launched an "Amsterdam Human Rights Agenda" and (irregular) migration is not mentioned, while the local government does have a progressive program for irregular migrants. Simultaneously, several NGOs contest the municipality for their approach towards irregular migrants, at times using human rights language. Analysis of stakeholder interviews, city council meetings and policy documents reveal the conflicting approaches that urban actors have towards human rights. The language of rights gives weight to claims of NGOs, precisely because of its legal dimension. Contrastingly, in the human rights agenda the municipality mainly refers to rights in their moral sense and refrains from legal language. Concrete issues that are already on the political agenda become labelled as human rights problems. Therefore, this article deliberates whether this undermines the possible strength of human rights as an urban governance framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's High-Speed Railways (HSR) network is the biggest in the world, transporting large numbers of passengers by high-speed trains through urban networks. Little is known about the analytical meaning of the use of two types of flow data, namely, time schedule (transportation mode flow) and passenger flow data, to characterise the configuration of urban networks regarding the potential spatial effects of HSR networks on urban networks. In this article, we compare HSR passenger flow data with time schedule data from 2013 in China within the same analytical framework. The findings show great differences in the strength of cities and links generated using the two different types of flow data. These differences can be explained largely by the socio-economic attributes of the cities involved, such as tertiary employment, GDP per capita, the cities' topological properties (closeness centrality) in HSR networks and institutional factors (hub status), especially for the difference in link strength. The strength of first-tier cities in China with high socio-economic performance and the HSR links connecting core cites and major cities within respective regions tends to be underestimated when using time schedule flows compared with passenger flows. When analysing the spatial structure of HSR and urban networks by means of flows, it is important for urban geographers and transportation planners to consider the meaning of the different types of data with the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The current flow betweenness centrality is a useful tool to estimate traffic status in spatial networks and, in general, to measure the intermediation of nodes in networks where the transition between them takes place in a random way. The main drawback of this centrality is its high computational cost, especially for very large networks, as it is the case of urban networks. In this paper, a new approach to the current flow betweenness centrality for its practical application in urban networks with data is presented and discussed. The new centrality measure allows the estimation of pedestrian flow developed in urban networks, taking into account both the network topology and its associated data. In addition, its computational cost makes it suitable for application in networks with a large number of nodes. Some examples are studied in order to better understand the characteristics and behaviour of the proposed centrality in the context of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of ‘Urban Networks’ has become a wide-spread phenomenon around the world. In the study of metropolitan regions, there are competing or diverging views about management and control of environmental and land-use factors as well as about scales and arrangements of settlements. Especially in China, these matters alongside of regulatory aspects, infrastructure applications, and resource allocations, are important because of population concentrations and the overlapping of urban areas with other land resources. On the other hand, the increasing sophistication of models operating on iterative computational power and widely-available spatial information and analytical techniques make it possible to simulate and investigate the spatial distribution of urban territories at a regional scale. This research applies a scenario-based Cellular Automata model to a case study of the Changjiang Delta Region, which produces useful and predictive scenario-based projections within the region, using quantitative methods and baseline conditions that address issues of regional urban development. The contribution of the research includes the improvement of computer simulation of urban growth, the application of urban form and other indices to evaluate complex urban conditions, and a heightened understanding of the performance of an urban network in the Changjiang Delta Region composed of big, medium, and small-sized cities and towns.

Resumen: Los sistemas urbanos están permanentemente sometidos a fenómenos potencialmente alteradores, a transformación; se enfrentan en definitiva a la incertidumbre. Considerando lo difícil de aspirar a conocerlos en profundidad en razón de su complejidad y ante el carácter a menudo altamente inflexible de las regulaciones normativas que sobre ellos se establecen, se hace necesario explorar las pautas por las que se organizan a fin de favorecer su capacidad de recuperarse en contextos delicados como lo son un desastre y sus consecuencias; especialmente a tenor del marco político económico en que aquellos se inscriben. El presente estudio analiza las mencionadas cuestiones a través del caso de Le Havre (la segunda ciudad más bombardeada de Francia durante la segunda guerra mundial) indagando sobre las implicaciones de su reconstrucción. Se aborda desde una perspectiva relacional porque las acciones en ella emprendidas no sólo conllevaban introducción de orden estricto sobre las áreas destruidas, sino también la alteración de probabilidades comunicativas del resto del conjunto, estando muchos de los cambios entonces introducidos en el origen de importantes desarrollos posteriores no contemplados al inicio. La estricta intervención emprendida conllevaba la limitación de la capacidad de adaptación y evolución futura de diversas áreas de la ciudad. Palabras clave Complejidad urbana, sistema de comunicaciones, incertidumbre, topología, grafos. Abstract: Urban systems are constantly subjected to a number of phenomena liable to lead to significant changes and, ultimately, faced with uncertanty. Taking into account the difficulties to fully comprehend them due to their complexity and the rigid nature of urban planning regulations imposed over them, it becomes essential to explore their organizational paths, so as to improve their ability to recover after a disaster and to deal with its effects, specially considering the economic and political frame they are in. Our research analizes the above-menthioned issues through the case-study of Le havre (The second most affected city by the WWII bombings in France), digging into the outcome of the rebuilding process from a relational perspective. Actions undertaken in this latter were not only a way to impose an order over the affected areas; they also entailed the alteration of the probabilities of communication in the non-destroyed ones, to the extent that most of those changes were in the origin of later developments.The rigid intervention carried out led to significant restrictions in later adaptive and evolving capacities in several areas of the city. Keywords: Urban complexity, urban networks, uncertainty, topology, graphs.

Our paper focuses on eliciting the factors that constitute threats and dangers for urban energy networks, information networks, and energy grids in the cities. Moreover, we attempt to determine how these threats are perceived by the inhabitants of those cities. Urban energy networks tend to play an increasing role in achieving energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in large urban centers. Even though they do not necessarily correspond to reality, public opinions can substantially influence the adoption of relevant technologies in populous urban locations. We use the public opinion representative survey data from the Czech Republic (a sample of 1023 respondents) in order to show how people perceive the dangers and threats for urban energy networks from such events as: (i) Extensive and long-term power outage; (ii) service disruption of the Internet, mobile networks or telephone landlines; (iii) cyber-attacks, and (iv) the technological dependence of the state on multinational technological companies. Our results demonstrate that people who live in small rural settlements and medium-sized cities tend to be more afraid of the threats and dangers from urban energy networks such as electricity and Internet outages, compared to people residing in some smaller towns. As far as there would always be a fear of the new technologies and their vulnerabilities, the local governments, mass media, and Internet resources alike should pay more attention to providing the relevant and updated information on the threats to urban energy networks for the general public.

There are major differences in what concerns the supply of "attractiveness" factors by different cities in Europe. One way in which less attractive cities could become more desirable is through the cooperation with other, more competitive cities of EU, by exchanging good practices and knowledge, working together for finding best solutions for common problems. The first part of the paper has drawn some conclusions regarding the main results and improvements brought by the three URBACT programmes. In this second part, the paper analyses the participation of Romanian cities in these programmes. Romanian cities were involved in many of the networks created within URBACT programmes, some of them being more involved in these urban networks than others (eg. Alba Iulia). Also, one can observe that the networks Romanian cities were involved in focused mostly on governance and economy, showing that these cities need support in building their capacities and improving the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity is an important measure that according to the context, can describe different concepts of general interest: competition, evolutionary process, immigration, emigration and production among others. It has been extensively studied in different areas, as ecology, political science, economy, sociology and others. The quality of spatial context of the city can be gauged through this measure. The spatial context with its corresponding dataset can be modelled using spatial networks. Consequently, this allows us to study the diversity of data present in this specific type of networks. In this paper we propose an algorithm to measure diversity in spatial networks based on the topology and the data associated to the network. In the experiments developed with networks of different sizes, it is observed that the proposed index is independent of the size of the network, but depends on its topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing globalization of the Chinese economy has been enabled by both Chinese financial institutions operating globally as well as international firms operating within China. In geographical terms, this has been organized through a number of strategic cities serving as gateways for the exchange of financial functions, products and practices between China and the global economy. Drawing on location data of financial service firms in China listed on stock exchanges in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong, this paper shows that Chinese financial firms are expanding globally and how Chinese financial centers are positioned and connected in the urban networks shaped by these financial service firms. It is found that Hong Kong, China, holds strategic positions in the integration of Chinese cities into global financial center networks, and that establishing a foothold in global financial centers such as New York and London has been a priority for Chinese financial institutions. The increasing capital flows directed by Chinese financial institutions suggests a shifting global financial geography, with numerous Chinese cities playing increasingly important roles within global financial center networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding our knowledge about human mobility is essential for building efficient wireless protocols and mobile applications. Previous mobility studies have typically been built upon empirical single-source data (e.g., cellphone or transit data), which inevitably introduces a bias against residents not contributing this type of data, e.g., call detail records cannot be obtained from the residents without cellphone activities, and transit data cannot cover the residents who walk or ride private vehicles. To address this issue, we propose and implement a novel architecture mPat to explore human mobility using multi-source urban network data. A reference implementation of mPat was developed at an unprecedented scale upon the urban infrastructures of Shenzhen, China. The novelty and uniqueness of mPat lie in its three layers: 1) a data feed layer consisting of real-time data feeds from various urban networks with 24 thousand vehicles, 16 million smart cards, and 10 million cellphones; 2) a mobility abstraction layer exploring correlation and divergence among multi-source data to infer human mobility with a context-aware optimization model based on block coordinate decent; and 3) an application layer to improve urban efficiency based on the human mobility findings of the study. The evaluation shows that mPat achieves a 79% inference accuracy, and that its real-world application reduces passenger travel time by 36%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain is not the first -and certainly will not be the last- network fever we will experience. This paper shows how blockchain networks will disrupt the urban context as well, similarly to what it is happening in the fintech and insurtech spaces, among many other emerging application domains. We put forward the Future Living Framework as the meta use case of a wider research called Blockchain4Cities. In this use case, which uses UN's New Urban Agenda (NUA) as exemplifying model, we show the benefits of using blockchain in the urban field and we do so by breaking down the NUA in policies, planning, regulations and standards and dissecting these further into Quito's Implementation Plan (QIP) themes and scopes. Use case results confirm that blockchain will disrupt urban networks, like Cybernetics did in 1948, Ekistics a decade later, and the Metabolists and Webbists in the late sixties. The Ubiquitous Computing arrived later, in the seventies, and disrupted all the previous network efforts, lasting until the current Internet of Things (IoT) and its sister concept Smart Cities, when IoT is used in an urban context. Blockchain is here to take on and be the next network for cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]