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Cities, towns, and rural areas form a complex spatial system influenced by governance, economic factors, and the perceptions of their residents. This paper introduces the concepts of 'cityphilia' and 'cityphobia' as metaphors for the spatial attraction and repulsion forces that shape local quality of life. It aims to create and validate an operational framework for understanding citizens' appreciation and attachment to their living environment, often referred to as 'city love.' This framework considers two key components, 'body' and 'soul,' encompassing both physical and social aspects. Building upon Charles Tiebout's work on the competitive attractiveness of cities and aligning with contemporary research on the geography of happiness, a conceptual model is developed and applied to identify and assess the components of city love using various indicators. These indicators encompass local attractiveness, local public expenditures, and inter-urban interdependencies. The model is empirically tested in the context of Flanders, Belgium, a region comprising 300 distinct municipalities, both urban and rural. A Beta regression model is employed, which incorporates spatial dependencies to examine multi-scalar effects on residential satisfaction. The results affirm the soundness of the 'city love' framework and emphasize the significance of central place systems in providing tangible and intangible well-being services to citizens within a hierarchical spatial structure. These findings carry notable implications for urban policy and management, shedding light on how local attractiveness and interdependence shape the well-being of residents in diverse urban and rural settings.

Sustainable tourism development is a major policy challenge for many cities, regions or countries. This paper describes various novel analytical ingredients to ensure a consistent and professional policy strategy in tourism destinations. In all cases, reliable and accessible data are necessary for an actionable tourism policy. In the present study advanced digital support systems for cultural resource-use in local tourism strategies are presented. The paper uses the region of South-Limburg in the Netherlands as a data-driven testcase and as a cultural tourism showcase for demonstrating the great potential of digital twins as digital visual policy and participation tools for co-creative local sustainable tourism development

This note presents the scope and contents of a special collection in the Journal of Transport and Land Use, devoted to the theme of “Modeling Choice Behavior of Cyclists and Pedestrians in Urban Activity Space.” The aim of the special issue is to explore the significance of active transport modes—specifically, cycling and walking—in promoting sustainable urban mobility. In the face of increasing urban mobility demands and the pressing need to meet environmental and climate goals, this collection of studies presents new analytical and empirical insights into the factors influencing cycling and pedestrian behaviors. The research highlights the interplay between infrastructural support, socioeconomic conditions, and user perceptions, providing recommendations for policymakers and urban planners. By examining diverse contexts, from university settings to micromobility patterns in urban centers, the findings presented in this special issue highlight the potential of active transport modes to foster healthier lifestyles and reduce reliance on motorized vehicle use.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has provided a renewed impetus for empirical research on slow and active modes of transportation, specifically bicycling and walking. Changes in modal choice appear to be sensitive to the actual quality of the environment, the attractive land use and built environment conditions, and the ultimate destination choice. This study examines and models the influence of cyclists’ health concerns during the pandemic on their spatial destination and route choices. Using a large real-time dataset on the individual daily mobility of cyclists in the province of Utrecht, the Netherlands, collected through GPS-linked sensors on bikes (VGI, or volunteered geographical information), the analysis employs spatial regression models, Shapley decomposition techniques, and spatial autocorrelation methods to unveil the backgrounds of changes in spatial behavior. The results reveal that the perceived wellbeing benefits of bicycling in green areas during the pandemic have significantly influenced cyclists’ choice behavior, in particular route and destination choice.

Abstract This paper assesses the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of EU member states and regions to uncover commonalities and differences between green and digital transitions, focusing on the role of institutions, among additional socio‐economic drivers, in modeling them. To that end, relevant indicators have been assembled, and several econometric models have been developed and tested to evaluate institutional performance in relation to green and digital transformations. The study reveals discrepancies in the two explored transition fields and highlights the power of institutional factors in boosting them. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that the green transition in EU regions is positively associated with variables such as life expectancy, institutional quality, tertiary education attainment, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with innovative activities, while the fruits of digitalization are mainly allied to population with higher studies, core creative class employment, accountability of institutions, and innovative SMEs. These insights offer valuable guidance for decision‐makers to draw lessons from high‐performing or successful regions and strategically assign resources. This includes paying attention to regional financial allocations and their alignment with territorial planning and long‐term policies.

Q analysis is a frequently used, multivariate exploratory technique in the social sciences which seeks to identify and analyse commonalities and differences in the respondents' rankings of a set of relevant individual qualitative statements. It has some intrinsic weaknesses which may be overcome by widening and deepening the underlying multivariate statistical approach. This new technique, termed a Generalized Q method, is able to handle an enlargement of the number of ranked combined statements based on a structured re-combination of the rankings of simple statements. This method will be presented in this paper. We employ a simple illustrative data set in our study. In comparing the traditional and the Generalized Q analysis, the same questionnaire data are used to apply and assess both methods, to compare the results, and to highlight the advantages of the Generalized Q method. We find that the latter technique is able to take account of many simple questionnaires with trustful responses, allows for an expansion of the number of respondents, facilitates the naming and interpretation of the extracted multivariate components, and is able to test the consistency of the responses.

Based on the geo-spatial distribution and rich social media data of many important scenic tourist places (high-level scenic spots in China), this study presents a quantitative analysis using GIS technology and several spatial statistical tools to examine the geographical distribution and network attention of these spots. It is found that there is a clear geographical imbalance in the spatial distribution of these scenic spots in China, primarily concentrated in the lower-lying and densely populated eastern regions. Using spatial autocorrelation methods to assess the degree of match between these two spatial patterns, it is observed that the spatial network attention and geographical distribution of hotspots are mutually correlated only in major coastal cities. The results enhance our understanding of effective tourism network marketing instruments and provide further insight into the geographical layout of scenic spots in the country.

This paper seeks to map out the knowledge requirements and infrastructure needed for a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the societal and geographical dimensions of effective policies regarding COVID-19 (‘coronametrics’ or ‘pandemetrics’). After a sketch of limitations and challenges in corona research, a multi-layer mind map is designed in order to systematically scan the cognitive needs in the corona domain and to address both health policy and socioeconomic-medical information requirements in a geographic context, with a particular view to the use of actionable dashboards. A systematic decomposition of the corona knowledge system is pursued to acquire a coherent insight into gaps in corona knowledge, with particular emphasis on policy and research relevance. It turns out that the study of causality patterns in the complex spacetime evolution of COVID-19 is the Achilles’ heel in the analysis of pandemetrics and calls for new effective and preventive research endeavors in support of actionable health policy.

Abstract Settlement centers of various types, including cities, produce basins of attraction whose shape can be regular or complexly irregular (from the point of view of geometry). This complexity depends in part on properties of the space surrounding a settlement. This paper demonstrates that by introducing a dynamic approach to space and by including an equation of motion and space resistance, a dramatic change in the stylized static CPT (Central Place Theory) image occurs. As a result of the interplay of gravitational forces, basins of attraction arise around cities, whose boundaries appear to be fractals. This study provides a wealth of spatial fractal complex images which may change the traditional understanding of CPT.

This paper argues that science has not been very successful in preventing wars between nations, but may play a significant role in re-building a country or region after devastations from a military conflict. This is illustrated by the case of Ukraine. The specific potential contribution of regional science to the country’s recovery process is highlighted (a ‘phoenix perspective’).

Ups and downs in city life are dependent on the citizens' appreciation for their urban ‘home’, in particular the neighbourhood liveability. Taking modern research on urban wellbeing and happiness as a point of departure, this study presents and tests a new methodology for assessing the residents' affection for their local neighbourhood. This approach is inspired by the ‘city love’ concept and seeks to examine and decompose city love through an analytical distinction into the ‘body and soul’ of the city. Using a rich multi-period and geographically detailed database on neighbourhoods in the city of Rotterdam, including distinct social capital indicators for analysing social resilience in urban areas, a microcosmic decomposition of objective and subjective socio-economic information is carried out. On the basis of geo-science visualisation methods and advanced spatial-econometric techniques for handling neighbourhood autocorrelation effects (‘urbanometrics’), a series of explanatory regression analyses is executed in order to identify and explain the determinants of city love at neighbourhood level in Rotterdam. We find that bonding and bridging social capital are prominent in shaping neighbourhood love and social resilience.

This paper addresses the multifaceted relationships between culture and urban performance. It seeks to identify and examine evidence-based characteristics of urban success (or socio-economic performance) that are related to the cultural profile (‘urban cultural value’) of a city. Also, the broader socio-economic context and significance of ‘urban cultural magnets’ is examined. The empirical analysis is based on a large international multivariate data base on the relevant characteristics of 40 global cities, and employs exploratory statistical analysis and regression models in a stepwise way. The analytical framework of our research is based on the overarching concept of an ‘urban cultural complex’. The key cultural factors for urban performance are systematically assessed in a quantitative way. The study confirms the relevance of culture for the performance of contemporary large cities.

The ‘X Factor’ is a British reality show – broadcasted all over the world – in which a heterogeneous set of contestants showcase their musical talent so as to obtain the winning bid from a jury. The X factor refers to the critical condition that has the most significant influence on the final result. This popular television series on the X factor documents in an original way how several competing candidates in a performance contest steal the show. It is not only the professionality, originality or beauty which matters, but also many other – often immeasurable or invisible – factors, such as personality or motivation which play a role. The X factor is a complex determinant of a dynamic process or competition to win a tournament.

This paper departs from the regional resilience concept - as part of a broad strand of literature on non-linear dynamic systems in a space-economy - and introduces the notion of prosilience to highlight the policy challenge of developing radically new and innovative strategies for regions in decline. The mining industry will be used as an illustrative case. The notion of phoenix regions is put forward to argue that an external disruption or shock in an established industrial sector in a region necessitates unconventional survival strategies oriented towards entirely new market demands and based on totally different product packages. Ansoff's model on product diversification in competitive markets forms an inspiration source for the Schumpeterian 'creative destruction' proposition advocated in this study. An illustrative case study is concisely described in the present paper, viz. the South-Limburg coal mining region in the Southern part of the Netherlands. Smart prosilience trajectories supported in particular by evidence-based decision support tools are sketched for such depressed regions, based on the so-called Pentagon intervention model. The paper is concluded with some general policy lessons for an intelligent transformation of regions in decline.

Urban areas provide the seedbed conditions for a variety of agglomeration advantages, including incubator conditions for the ICT sector. This study aims to present the foundations for a data-driven digital architecture based on the notion of open access platform organisations (e.g., platform cities). The principles of coordinated multi-actor data handling and exchange mechanisms centre in particular on privacy and confidentiality regulations. These are highlighted and tested on the basis of the data exchange architecture in a particular Industry 4.0 sector, viz., the medical–pharmaceutical sector. To cope with these issues, self-sovereign data trust systems are designed and tested using an OpenDSU data environment. Several building blocks of this architecture are presented and assessed. The conclusion of this study is that OpenDSU technology offers promising departures for handling privacy-sensitive and confidential data exchange in open platform organisations, such as smart cities.

There is an abundance of studies on the urban-rural dichotomy. In the mainstream economic and regional science literature, the urban centers have usually been described as growth machines, growth poles, or growth foci, and urbanization as a driver of economic growth. It is commonly assumed that the assemblage of factors of production in urban centers will create economies of scale, and that economic growth will trickle down from these centers to the periphery. Most of these studies hypothesize a mono-directional causal relationship between urbanization and economic growth. However, there are ample possibilities of reverse causalities in regions where the propulsive powers of urban centers are weaker and where social overhead capital (SOC) is not adequately developed in non-urban regions. In this situation, even minor economic changes in non-urban economies will cause the growth of the urban population. The present paper attempts to examine the relationship between urbanization and economic growth in India at the state level during 1971–2020 by employing a bootstrap panel Granger causality test. It is found that in India the majority of the states display a unidirectional Granger causality from economic growth to urbanization. This finding indicates not only a lower propulsive power of urban centers, but also an unbalanced development of SOC between urban centers and rural areas, hence causing a migration of people to cities with a rise in their income in order to take advantage of the urban facilities.

Climate change, energy transition needs and the current energy crisis have prompted cities to implement far-reaching changes in public energy supply. The present paper seeks to map out the conditions for sustainable energy provision and use, with a particular view to the role of citizens in a quadruple helix context. Citizen participation is often seen as a sine qua non for a successful local or district energy policy in an urban area but needs due scientific and digital support based on evidence-based knowledge (using proper user-oriented techniques such as Q-analysis). The paper sets out to explore the citizen engagement and knowledge base for drastic energy transitions in the city based on the newly developed “diabolo” model, in which in particular digital tools (e.g., dashboards, digital twins) are proposed as useful tools for the interface between citizens and municipal policy. The approach adopted in this paper is empirically illustrated for local energy policy in the city of Rotterdam.

As a country transitions from a lower order of development to a higher order of development, it undergoes a structural transformation. Accordingly, the spatial economy transforms from a system organized around smaller economic units distributed throughout the countryside, to one comprising larger economic units concentrated in dense urban areas. While historically this process unfolded at a rather gradual pace, it is now being redefined by the unprecedented pace and scale of the contemporary urban narrative. This has presented new patterns of urbanization. Utilizing comparable datasets for China, Nigeria and India this paper examines the evolution of national urban systems under conditions of rapid urbanization. In doing so, it scrutinizes three key dynamics: the spatial distribution of cities, the rate of growth by city size class and the size hierarchy of cities. The results are compared to see if uniform patterns emerge. The findings of this paper suggest a certain degree of heterogeneity among national urban systems; and in some instances contrasting patterns can be observed. We thus caution against a ‘one size fits all’ approach to interpreting the urban transition in developing countries. The findings of this paper have implications for both theory and policy. Keywords: National urban systems, Developing countries, Spatial Lorenz curve, Urban growth rate, Rank size distribution

Based on empirical perception data, the present paper introduces a new approach in government performance assessment in rela­tion to public innovation capacity and quality of public services. Innovation in the public sector has reached a high level of priority on the public agenda of the EU, while the interest of academ­ics in this topic has steadily increased over the last decade. However, a fundamental theory on this issue is missing, and only a limited amount of research offers an in-depth analysis of the correlations between innovation and different components associated with government effec­tiveness. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature, by developing an index of government performance for assessing the ability of EU mem­ber-state governments to adopt a strategic vision on innovation and to provide good-quality public services. In addition, the dynamics in the inter­dependencies between the innovation capacity and various drivers of government performance was highlighted, as well as the convergence/di­vergence trends between Member States. The empirical research in this paper identifies the EU states which may be considered as examples of good practices in adopting an innovative per­spective on public administrations, as well as in proposing specific policy recommendations that could foster decision-making processes related to innovation in the public sector.

This study combines three interconnected streams in tourism literature: analysis of the utilisation of common pool resources (CPR) in tourism, studies on sustainable tourism development and theoretical contributions to the articulation of roles, missions and strategies of a destination management organisation (DMO). Starting from an integrative literature review, our aim is to explore the symbiotic relationships between these approaches in order to design a conceptual framework that opens new research opportunities. Clearly, the concrete application of such a conceptual model depends on the resources of each destination, the type of tourism dynamics observed, the specific stakeholders involved and the power balance between them. Our approach integrates the principles of sustainable development into the strategic role of a DMO through the management of CPR, aiming at the achievement of significant benefits for the host communities within the three pillars of sustainable development (ecological, social and economic) through participatory processes of destination management. In addition, we present an exploratory illustration of this conceptual framework for the case of a rural destination of Kushiro-Akan (Hokkaido, Japan). Policy and managerial implications are discussed, along with the needs for further research.

Along with the increasing pace of globalization, recent decades faced a dramatically increase in international migrant flows as well. Compared to the flows of trade, capital and knowledge, we observe that contemporaneous complex institutional differences, historical backgrounds, and individuals' diverse socio-demographic characteristics make the migrant workers' choice of destination arguably much more uncontrollable. This study shows that migration is in a complex way intertwined with culture, networks and language, (i) by reviewing related studies on the barriers of culture, networks and language in international labor mobility, and (ii) by exploring missing gaps and prospective avenues for research. Nowadays, the migration pressure on Europe and the United states has created substantial challenges, leading to an urgent need to address the economic assimilation and social integration of migrants. Against this background, we emphasize that these non-economic factors have played an increasingly critical role in shaping international migration and its future socio-economic consequences for destination countries.

This paper aims to provide an advanced dynamic efficiency assessment methodology for city performance strategies in Japan, based on an extended and super-efficient Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The use of this novel efficiency-improving approach originates from earlier research based on the so-called Distance Friction Minimisation (DFM) method. In the present study we develop a new multi-period model from a blend of a Target-Oriented (TO) DFM model including a dynamic approach. This new model is able to present a more realistic efficiency improvement projection comprising a dynamic system of target-settings to achieve a target improvement level so as to programme more realistic policy actions. The above-mentioned Dynamic TO-DFM model will be applied to and tested for a multi-dimensional efficiency assessment of several large Japanese cities. In this study, we consider due to comparative data limitations, two inputs (population and city budget) and two outputs (GDP and tax revenues). Based on these items, this study assesses the relative economic performance of 16 Japanese big cities by means of the above described, extended super-efficient DEA model. Finally, we present an efficiency improvement programme based on the Dynamic TO-DFM model for enhancing the position of inefficient cites. Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Distance Friction Minimization (DFM), super-efficiency, Target-oriented (TO) model, Dynamic DEA model, performance assessment, Japanese cities

Regional development policy aims to cope with the challenge of spatial disparities. It is based on a smart combination of various critical capital assets in a region which functionally and spatially interact and which yield synergetic economic opportunities and promising challenges for innovation and progress. The present study regards sustainable territorial performance – as a manifestation of regional development – as the overarching principle for competitive advantages and economic growth in a system of regions, which is particularly induced by territorial capital, comprising human capital, infrastructural capital and social capital. In the long-standing tradition of regional development policy a wide variety of effective facilitators or drivers of accelerated spatial growth has been distinguished, for instance, industrial districts, growth poles, growth centers, industrial complexes, special economic zones, communication axes, and so forth. In the past decades, a new concept has been introduced, viz. economic-technological clusters. An avalanche of literature has been published on the conceptual, operational and policy foundation and relevance of this concept, especially in relation to previously developed regional growth concepts. In this paper, clusters will be regarded as the spatial foci of sustainable territorial performance strategies and synergetic actions by both public and private actors. The present paper aims to address the relevance of cluster concepts for an effective regional development policy, based on the above notion of territorial capital. It does so by introducing a new concept, viz. effective cluster, in which spatial-economic synergy, local/regional concentration of industry, and the supporting role of territorial capital are regarded as the main determinants of a highly performing cluster in a given territory. The effective cluster concept will be tested on the basis of a field study on the aviation and aerospace cluster ‘Dolina Lotnicza’ in the Podkarpackie region in South-East Poland. This is one of the most vibrant high-tech clusters in the country. A new approach based on a triple-layer architecture will be adopted here, viz.: a quantitative comparative analysis of the 16 Polish ‘voivodships’ (main administrative regions in the country, at a NUTS-2 level), a benchmark analysis of the 25 counties (‘powiats’) within the Podkarpackie voivodship (at a NUTS-4 level), and an effective industrial cluster analysis on the basis of the individual aviation firms located in the Podkarpackie region. In each step an extended Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), characterised by a merger of a Slack-Based Measure (SMB) and a super-efficiency (SE) DEA, will be used in order to achieve an unambiguous ranking of the various regions or Decision Making Units (DMUs). The study will employ an extensive database on individual actors in the cluster, in combination with a broadly composed territorial-capital database for the areas under study. The paper will be concluded with some strategic policy lessons.

In the currently emerging ‘urban century’, large cities and urban agglomerations are increasingly turning into (socio-)economic and political powerhouses of great importance. This paper offers a comparative assessment of the multidimensional performance profile of major cities in our world, with particular emphasis on the livability and economic features of these cities. The explanatory cohesive framework in the present study is offered by the so-called ‘urban piazza’ model. Using an extensive database on various rankings of global 40 cities (the so-called GPCI data base), the relative performance of these cities is ‘explained’ in a qualitative sense by means of a non-parametric ordinal ranking method, known as rough set analysis. The approach allows us to identify the driving forces that altogether are responsible for the economic and livability achievements of these cities. The empirical analysis highlights the combined ‘power’ of selected success conditions and drivers of these cities concerned. Our empirical results demonstrate that the geographical accessibility of these urban areas appears to play in many cases an important role.

In the aftermath of both ongoing globalisation (with both widening and deepening effects on countries, regions and cities) and structural changes resulting from the 2008 economic recession, regions and cities in our world are confronted with a different arena of players, performances and institutions. The challenges are formidable and numerous. Many regions and cities seem to resort to their indigenous strength, without much regard to other players in the field. This has enormous consequences for the competitive behaviour and profile of regional and urban actors but has at the same time deep impacts on the distribution of wealth, income and employment over and within countries, regions and cities. There is indeed much evidence that disparities among regions and in cities are increasing in this new force field. This special issue of REGION makes a solid scientific attempt (i) to map out the spatial consequences of recent transitions in growth trajectories of countries or regions, and (ii) to trace policy strategies and design effective policy information, to cope adequately with these new challenges. The present special issue does so by highlighting the new force field of regional and urban dynamics from three angles in the context of spatial quality and inequality. These will be briefly sketched hereafter.

Low levels of infrastructure quality and quantity can create trade impediments through increased transport costs. Since the late 1990s an increasing number of trade studies have taken infrastructure into account. The purpose of the present paper is to quantify the importance of infrastructure for trade by means of meta-analysis and meta-regression techniques that synthesize various studies. The type of infrastructure that we focus on is mainly public infrastructure in transportation and communication. We examine the impact of infrastructure on trade by means of estimates obtained from 36 primary studies that yielded 542 infrastructure elasticities of trade. We explicitly take into account that infrastructure can be measured in various ways and that its impact depends on the location of the infrastructure. We estimate several meta-regression models that control for observed heterogeneity in terms of variation across different methodologies, infrastructure types, geographical areas and their economic features, model specifications, and publication characteristics. Additionally, random effects account for between-study unspecified heterogeneity, while publication bias is explicitly addressed by means of the Hedges model. After controlling for all these issues we find that a 1 percent increase in own infrastructure increases exports by about 0.6 percent and imports by about 0.3 percent. Such elasticities are generally larger for developing countries, land infrastructure, IV or panel data estimation, and macro-level analyses. They also depend on the inclusion or exclusion of various common covariates in trade regressions.

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of public transportation infrastructure investments on regional economic growth in Turkish NUTS 2 regions between 2004 and 2011. To offer an advanced statistical analysis, we employ an augmented production function model for measuring the effects of different types of transportation infrastructure on regional output. We use specifically ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects, two-stage least squares (2SLS) and Hausman-Taylor IV estimation methods with both cross-section and panel data. Our results show that road and motorway infrastructure have strongly significant positive effects on regional output in all our estimations. Land infrastructure is found to play a very important role in regional economic performance in Turkey, while, somewhat surprisingly, air infrastructure has no significant impact on regional GVA, which clearly suggests the existence of different types of transportation infrastructure in the Turkish regions. Also, the high growth elasticity of land infrastructure in the Turkish regions indicates that Turkey is currently still suffering from an inadequate transport infrastructure.

The bottom line of welfare on our planet and its people is not only dependent on traditional economic measures, but also on knowledge and education and – last but not least – on human health. Human health is a critical factor for the welfare and prosperity of society. Many parameters appear to play a role in a health equation, even though the empirical measurement of health is fraught with many conceptual and empirical problems. As a consequence, we observe many disparities in empirical health conditions in a heterogeneous society; an appropriate definition and measurement of 'good health' are far from easy. Next to health disparities caused by a heterogeneity among the population, there is also an important geographical component in the spread of health patterns of the population as a result of differences in environmental quality-of-life, spatial density, quality of and access to health care facilities, and social stress conditions. From this perspective, geography matters in the field of human health. Although geographic differences in health conditions are not the only reason for people to reside or stay in a certain place, they are certainly an important decision parameter, often in combination with wellness conditions and environmental quality conditions. The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of the literature on the geography of health and wellness, while the study is concluded with some lessons for research and policy. Purpose: The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of the literature on the geography of health and wellness. Methodology/Approach: Literature review. We will outline the geography of human health, through a concise literature survey of the geographical patterns in human health outcomes to address the general research findings on spatial differences in health in relation to urban-rural patterns of life. Findings: The measurement of human health is fraught with many difficulties, as it is often not clear whether a correction is made for supply factors (such as health care facilities) or for individual characteristics of the people concerned (such as age or gender). In the social-medical research literature this has led to an increasing popularity of meta-analytic methods. Research Limitation/implication: Meta-analysis may be seen as a collection of quantitative research techniques that aim at providing a synthesis of previously undertaken impact studies in a given field. Clearly, and ideally, both the response and the moderator variables would have to be identical, but in reality this is not the case. Besides, the quality of the research may be difficult (often reflected in the quality of the journal in which the results are published), while also the contextual conditions may be completely different (such as physical-geographical conditions or socio-economic or poverty conditions). This makes the results of meta-analytic studies somewhat ambiguous, but nevertheless it is a valuable method that may shed more light on the determinants of health outcomes. There is clearly a case for more detailed spatial data on individual health situations. There may be a self-selection (or sorting) mechanism in the locational decisions of households so that there is a need for a more systematic data collection and analysis in this area. Originality/Value of paper: The paper aims to unravel the various forces that determine human health, in particular from the spatial perspective of places of residence.

Cities have in the course of history become the dominant geographic settlement pattern all over the world; we live in the ‘urban century’. Cities integrate all dimensions of modern life, ranging from socio-economic to technological aspects. The organisation of such complex entities calls for a more integrative an inclusive scientific analysis and understanding of urban systems. The aim of the Special Issue Science of the City: Towards a Higher Quality of Urban Life, is to offer a synthesis of the contributions from the Advanced Brainstorm Carrefour (ABC) meeting, held on March 22-23, 2016 in Naples, bringing together experts who have provided a significant contribution to a fundamental reflection on the roots and effects of the modern city.

The success of tourism promotion in a destination partially depends on the extent to which it successfully links varied products catering to a heterogeneous group of visitors in a multi-client system. In contemporary destination marketing, communication between the service providers at the destination and the (prospective) tourists has become increasingly important as a result of the rise in informal communication channels and social media. This paper focuses on the effect of using different information sources when booking a cruise tour in Shiretoko Peninsula (a natural World Heritage Site) by employing a multi-group structural model. Our findings revealed that a mismatch between the expectation created by the visitors based on the information about the site and the satisfaction they experience when visiting the place can be a strong factor of dissatisfaction, with negative implications on the possible recommendations and loyalty. Additionally, it was possible to conclude that information available on the internet and via guidebooks seems to negatively affect satisfaction on certain elements and routes, while local information from tourist offices, hotels and local shops was found less problematic.

ABSTRACT: Entrepreneurship among migrants – often called new, migrant or ethnic entrepreneurship – has over the past years become a significant component of the urban economy in many developed countries. Migrant entrepreneurship has a considerable welfare enhancing impact on the city, notably a contribution to innovation and growth, creation of new jobs for less favoured population groups, advancement of benefits from cultural diversity, and reinforcement of economic opportunities related to international connectivity. The present paper aims to investigate the backgrounds of migrant entrepreneurship in large Dutch cities, in particular, the critical success factors of business performance of these entrepreneurs in relation to their ethnic background, their levels of skill, and other specific and general contextual factors. To address the drivers of break-out strategies for new markets, a sample of second-generation Moroccan entrepreneurs is extensively interviewed to extract detailed information at a micro business level. The wealth of qualitative information on both input factors and output (performance) achievements is next systematically coded in a qualitative survey table which is converted into a format that is suitable for application of a rough set analysis. This is an artificial intelligence technique that is able to extract and identify the set of combinations of different drivers that altogether make up for a final outcome. The results show that longer stay in the host country, male gender, family network support and education of the entrepreneurs concerned are critical variables for the business performance of these urban diaspora entrepreneurs. KEYWORDS: Migrant entrepreneurship, break-out strategies, change agents, second-generation migrant entrepreneurs, urban economy, innovation, cultural diversity, international connectivity, business performance, rough set analysis, urban diaspora entrepreneu

This Manifesto provides a joint proposal to create a Regional Science Academy as a think-tank support platform for a strategic development of the spatial sciences. The Regional Science Academy is a strategic spatial knowledge catalyst: it acts as a global intellectual powerhouse for new knowledge network initiatives and scholarly views on regions and cities as vital centrepieces of interconnected spatial systems. This contribution highlights its role and presents various activity plans.

Disaster Management and Traffic Incident Management involves the coordinated interactions of many public and private actors. On many levels, there is clearly a strong relation between the road infrastructure and the effective handling of large scale disasters. To support these tasks in an effective way, netcentric information systems are increasingly being seen as an important constraint to improve the cooperation between different emergency services. However, in the field of information systems there are many challenges and obstacles. Information, communication and coordination tasks, and especially problems in information quality, are identified as the main hurdles. This paper addresses, from a broad perspective, the relation and challenges between the two related fields.

In the Anglo-Saxon literature in the past decade, much attention has been paid to the economic importance of ethnic (migrant) entrepreneurship. This type of self-employment appears to provide a vital and creative contribution to the urban economy. The rising size and importance of ethnic entrepreneurship has recently prompted much policy and research interest regarding migrant business in Europe. Also in The Netherlands this new phenomenon is increasingly recognised and regarded as an interesting focus for the city’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) policy. Migrant entrepreneurs do not only have a substantial impact on the urban economy, but they also act as role models for socio-economic integration. They often operate in interesting market niches and provide a positive stimulus for creative business-making in modern cities. The present article offers first an overview of the literature on this issue and investigates next empirically the economic performance of Turkish migrant entrepreneurs in the highly skilled and hightech sector in the Netherlands through the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA).

This study offers a new perspective on the evolutionary patterns of cities or urban agglomerations. Such developments can range from chaotic to fully ordered. We demonstrate that in a dynamic space of interactive human behaviour cities produce a wealth of gravitational attractors whose size and shape depend on the resistance of space emerging inter alia from transport friction costs. This finding offers original insights into the complex evolution of spatial systems and appears to be consistent with the principles of central place theory known from the spatial sciences and geography. Our approach is dynamic in nature and forms a generalisation of hierarchical principles in geographic space.

This paper addresses the fundamentals of our knowledge-based society, with a particular view to the emerging new knowledge initiatives in the European Union. After a discussion of the current R&D investment trends in Europe, several flaws in the European knowledge system and in the European Research Area (ERA) are highlighted. The need for a drastic improvement of frontier research (i.e. excellence-driven research) and for a better coordination of the great many research initiatives in the widening European Union is emphasized. A drastic change is needed in order to cope with the fragmentation and the sometimes low R&D intensity in the ERA. The paper concludes with a presentation of a recent meta-analysis which demonstrates the importance of public expenditures for education and research, based on a comparative analysis of 123 applied studies on the impact of government expenditures for knowledge investments on economic growth.

International migration has become one of the most debated topics in many developed and developing countries. Host countries are concerned about the socioeconomic consequences of international migration, while sending countries—from a developing country’s perspective—are concerned about the brain drain and loss of their younger population. This paper presents a concise literature review on existing theories of international migration, and long-run effects of international migration on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The empirical studies reviewed in this paper indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between international migration and FDI.

Below you will find an ‘In memoriam’ concerning Piet Rietveld, who until his recent passing away was member of EJTIR’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). The In Memoriam is written by Peter Nijkamp, chairman of the EAB. As EAB member, Piet has contributed to EJTIR right from the journal’s inception. He did so in the form of providing highly valued advice on strategic issues – such as our transformation towards an open-access e-journal in 2005; and also as a dedicated referee of papers submitted to EJTIR. As a referee, Piet showed a very clear eye for the (lack of) quality and relevance of papers, and always delivered his review reports well before the deadline.

Public transport traditionally has been, and still is, heavily subsidised by local or national governments, which have been motivated by declining average cost arguments, social considerations, and the desire to offer an alternative to private car use. Conventional sources for funding, including general taxes on labour, in many occasions have become harder to sustain for various reasons. This paper explores alternative, increasingly implemented, sources of funding, i.e., local charges or taxes that are hypothecated to support (urban) public transport (such as local sales taxes, parking charges etc.). Based on an overview of several case-studies all over the world, it is found that there is a large potential for applying unconventional charging mechanisms. Not only as means of raising financial support for public transport systems, but also as a method of sending appropriate (from a sustainable point of view) pricing signals to transport use.

The future of the transport sector is clearly fraught with uncertainties, as the system is influenced by many factors that can develop in various ways. The aim of this paper is to get insight into the future development of the transportation sector seen from a world-wide perspective. This is done by applying a scenario approach and by designing four possible development paths for transport. These future developments are presented here by sketching four global contrast images based on outcomes of earlier research. The outcomes for the transport sector, expressed in transported volumes for both passenger transport and freight transport, are first described qualitatively, based on expected developments of several indicators. Next, based on those descriptions, quantitative numbers of transported volumes are calculated with the year 2020 as the time horizon. It appears that all scenarios foresee a world-wide growth in transport volumes (for both passengers and freight). The achievement of sustainable mobility based on the outcomes presented in this paper may seem difficult and will be confronted with several hurdles. But policy changes and (unexpected) technology developments offer possibilities to realise this objective. Thus policy makers are faced with formidable policy challenges to achieve the Kyoto objectives in the next 20 years.

Mobility behaviour (e.g. car driving) is a complex phenomenon, the future of which is fraught with uncertainties and unpredictabilities, as the transport system is influenced by a many different key variables such as type of spatial network, (non-)governmental organisations and institutions, or local regional or national regulatory system. As a consequence, we observe on the one hand rapid growth trends in mobility (in relation to e.g. globalisation factors), but on the other hand also many barriers and impediments (e.g. congestion). Hence, there is a need for a thorough reflection on the various effects (per mode, region/city, spatial network system, policy measure, etc.) of the ever increasing traffic volume. Clearly, the emerging negative externalities (like congestion, pollution, noise annoyance and accidents) play a critical role in this framework. Keeping in mind that the ultimate Kyoto objectives focus inter alia on the achievement of a sustainable transport system, pricing of mobility is a key issue, since it aims to reach allocative efficiency and to raise social welfare within the context of political and social feasibility.

The analysis of the structure and evolution of complex networks has recently received considerable attention. Although research on networks originated in mathematical studies dating back to the nineteenth century (or earlier), and developed further in the mid-twentieth century with contributions to graph theory, interest in its application to the social sciences is currently growing---particularly in regional science and transportation, because of the spatial relevance of networks. This paper presents a dynamic outlook for the German commuting network from the perspective of the German labor market districts. The focus of this paper is to explore how the German commuting network evolves, from two perspectives: space and connectivity. We consider home-to-work commuters moving between 439 German districts for the years 1995 and 2005. The results of the present analysis make it possible to identify, among the main German districts, the most “open” and connected ones. These emerging districts can be considered as potential “hubs” in the German commuting system---that is, as attractors from the perspective of spatial economics, and as interconnectors from the perspective of networking.