Cubic spline population density functions and subcentre delimitation. The case of Barcelona

The presence of subcentres cannot be captured by an exponential function. Cubic spline functions seem more appropriate to depict the polycentricity pattern of modern urban systems. Using data from Barcelona Metropolitan Region, two possible population subcentre delimitation procedures are discussed. One, taking an estimated derivative equal to zero, the other, a density gradient equal to zero. It is argued that, in using a cubic spline function, a delimitation strategy based on derivatives is more appropriate than one based on gradients because the estimated density can be negative in sections with very low densities and few observations, leading to sudden changes in estimated gradients. It is also argued that using as a criteria for subcentre delimitation a second derivative with value zero allow us to capture a more restricted subcentre area than using as a criteria a first derivative zero. This methodology can also be used for intermediate ring delimitation.polycentrism, cubic spline functions

Polycentrism in the Spanish metropolitan system: an analysis for 7 metro areas

Polycentrism is becoming one of the dominant structures in contemporary metropolises. Concentrated decentralization and the integration of formerly independent cities by the reduction of travel time are behind of such a process. In this paper, the spatial structure of the seven biggest metro areas in Spain is depicted. By analyzing employment density and travel-to-work data the polycentric structure of them is detected at the time that the functional borders are delimited. Results suggest a very heterogeneous image where Barcelona and Bilbao emerge as the most polycentric areas at the time that Madrid, Seville and Zaragoza have a structure more orientated towards monocentrism. Clearly polycentric structure seems to be influenced by the orographic nature in which each metropolitan area lays in.

Towards a New Methodology to evaluate the Urban structure of the Metropolitan Systems; Chicago and Barcelona Metropolitan Areas as Examples.

The specialized researches have proposed various approaches to the delimitation of urban and metropolitan systems. Administrative aspects (administrative units historically inherited), morphological (urban continuum), some linked to the economies of agglomeration (population and employment density, urban economic activities, …) or functional interaction (home-work commuting) have been used for the definition of a metropolitan area. At the same time it has developed in recent years, an extensive research that has come to reveal the progressive trend of the metropolitan areas to the polycentrism. There is no doubt that the monocentric city paradigm, structured around a single CBD, is broken. The contemporary metropolises have seen the emergence of the phenomenon of the sub centers. This changes in the internal structure of many cities has extended the hypothesis that the polycentric city is more efficient than traditional monocentric city, from an environmental perspective (ETE, 1999), representing usually shorter home-work trips, thus contributing to more sustainable mobility. However, few efforts have been directed to address the three aspects together: a) the metropolitan boundaries, b) analysis of its internal structure, and c) contrasting the hypothesis of the environmental efficiency of polycentric systems. This paper addresses the challenge of defining an integrated way of both metropolitan areas and their internal composition, structured or not around different sub centers. The methodology developed of the Interaction Value simultaneously allows delimiting these two levels of urban structure: the metropolitan system as a whole and the subsystems articulated around the emerging sub centers, by measuring the functional relationships between housing and workplaces. At the same time, the Interaction Value assesses the degree of polycentrism beyond the simple identification of sub centers developed in the literature. And, so, support the hypothesis that the polycentric city structure is more efficient, from an environmental perspective, than the monocentric. In this way, and taking the cases of Chicago and Barcelona metropolitan areas as examples of these types of organizations, the efficiency of metropolitan structures is evaluated from the dual perspective of land consumption and sustainable mobility.

Metropolisation Processes In Contemporary Space Of Poland

Published in: Origin Spatial Development of Contemporary Poland in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by T.MarszałThe last 20 years of scientific research on metropolises and metropolitan areas in Poland can be divided into three basic stages. The first one, observed at the turn of the 20 th century, focused on the implementation of the basic terminology and methodology from European and American scientific literature. That was also the time of the first attempts of identify Polish metropolises and delimit their functional areas. This period strongly influenced further achievements in this field, first of all, two basic approaches towards understanding the metropolis were applied then. The first one, according to the international terminology, refers to a big city which due to well-developed metropolitan functions is considered (or aspires) to be an important centre on the global scale (global metropolis). In Poland only the capital city, Warsaw, to some extent seems to meet such criteria. In such circumstances, this term more and more often was used to refer also to other regional and supra-regional centres. As a result, scientists who certainly acknowledged this nuance, began to equate “metropolitan areas” with “urban agglomerations”. The popularity of this approach could be explained in the context of prestige and political objectives. However, despite the fact that for many years numerous attempts to institutionalize such metropolitan areas have been made, still there is no agreement on the identification of metropolises and the delimitation of their functional areas, not mentioning other issues related to metropolitan governance. The second stage of research in the described field fell on the first decade of the 21 st century. The main focus was on identification of metropolitan functions in the biggest Polish cities, usually four or five of them. At that time a dual approach towards the understanding the idea of metropolis was clearly visible. Nowadays we experience the third stage of metropolitan research, in which the internal structure of metropolitan areas as well as the relations within them attract scientific attention. Simultaneously, numerous projects focusing on smaller territorial units (e.g. small towns located in metropolitan hinterland) are being carried out. It seems that in future this stage could be followed by focusing the interest on the institutionalisation of metropolitan areas. This ought to result in integration of transport policies, land management and performing other municipal tasks, and, in a broader perspective, in establishing complex metropolitan management. The example of considerable advancement in this field may already be found in Poznań, where local authorities, together with the scientific circ les, successfully stimulate integration of the metropolitan area. To conclude, metropolises and metropolitan areas are nowadays among the most important scientific research subjects in Poland. Not only does this refer to socio-economic geography, but also to economy, urban sociology and management. A considerable share of the scientific projects in this field has application values – their results are implemented in various planning documents prepared at each level of territorial organisation. This evidently proves the importance of research activities regarding metropolisation processes as well as the necessity of their continuation in future

The European metropolitan region of Zurich - a cluster of economic clusters?

Switzerland is a small country and possesses only two or three major economic regions of a metropolitan character. From a Swiss perspective the most important region is the European Metropolitan Region of Zurich (EMRZ). The EMRZ covers the whole of the Zurich economic area as well as adjacent areas like Zug, Lucerne and Basel. In empirical terms the EMRZ shows an above average percentage share of manufacturing industries and advanced service companies. Although the EMRZ is recognised as the prime Swiss economic engine there is only vague perception about the locational situation of its more important industries such as pharmaceuticals, machinery, financial services and others. A true-type cluster analysis for the EMRZ is still lacking. This deficit of fundamental knowledge about the region seems all the more important since several economic promotion agencies market the greater Zurich economic area as a region with clusters in financial service industries and medical equipment. The paper thus presents in a first step the EMRZ delimitation using some selected statistical data which are put into relation with the whole of Switzerland. The emphasis of this analysis lies on the identification of the major manufacturing and service industries that are located within the EMRZ. Followed by a short overview of the different cluster theories and a working definition for an empirical cluster analysis. The next section produces a cluster analysis based on data from the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics. This results in the identification of major clusters, locational coefficients as well as a first glimpse at the interrelations between selected clusters. The paper finishes off with a hypothesis whether the spatial proximity of economic clusters in the case of the EMRZ bears any causality with its economic development. Key words: cluster analysis, European metropolitan region of Zurich, regional innovation system, spillovers

Photomorphic analysis techniques: An interim spatial analysis using satellite remote sensor imagery and historical data

The use of machine scanning and/or computer-based techniques to provide greater objectivity in the photomorphic approach was investigated. Photomorphic analysis and its application in regional planning are discussed. Topics included: delineation of photomorphic regions; inadequacies of existing classification systems; tonal and textural characteristics and signature analysis techniques; pattern recognition and Fourier transform analysis; and optical experiments. A bibliography is included

Polycentric metropolitan areas in Europe towards a unified proposal of delimitation

Metropolitan areas concentrate the main share of population, production and consumption in OECD countries. They are likely to be one of the most important units for economic, social and environmental analysis as well as for the development of policy strategies. However, one of the main problems that occur when adopting metropolitan areas as units of analysis and policy in European countries is the absence of widely accepted standards for identifying them. This severe problem hinders comparative research between European countries using metropolitan areas as units of analysis. In this text we defend the necessity of a methodology to identify metropolitan areas in Europe. This methodology should fulfil three requisites: first, to be useful for analysis and planning, which requires to represent in a realistic way economic, social and environmental phenomena; second, to be applicable to all the European countries; and third, to be flexible enough to deal with the existence of different administrative and territorial structures across countries as well as to take into account that many metropolitan areas, particularly the largest ones, are polycentric. The aim of this paper is to identify metropolitan areas in Spain and Italy using similar methodologies and to evaluate their application to other European countries. The results allow comparing the metropolitan realities of these countries as well as providing the metropolitan units that can be used in subsequent comparative researches. Two methodologies are proposed: the Cheshire-GEMACA methodology (FUR) and an iterative version of the USA-MSA algorithm, particularly adapted to deal with polycentric metropolitan areas. Both methods show a good approximation to the metropolitan reality and produce very similar results: 75 FUR and 67 DMA in Spain (75% of total population and employment), and 81 FUR and 86 DMA in Italy (70% of total population and employment).

An accessibility planning tool for network transit oriented development: SNAP

In the academic debate regarding the influences between urban form, built environment and travel patterns, a specific idea that has taken hold is that more compact urban development around railway stations, often referred to as Transit Oriented Development (TOD), contributes to the control of vehicle travel and to more sustainable metropolitan systems. According to this general principle this work proposes a GIS accessibility tool for the design of polycentric transit oriented scenario: SNAP - Station Network Accessibility Planning tool. In the first part the state of the art on Transit Oriented Development policies in Europe is presented with a focus on three study cases. In the second part the SNAP tool is described, with remarks to the approach, the methodology and the used indicators. Furthermore the paper discusses an application to the metropolitan area of Naples

Uncovering the spatial structure of mobility networks

The extraction of a clear and simple footprint of the structure of large, weighted and directed networks is a general problem that has many applications. An important example is given by origin-destination matrices which contain the complete information on commuting flows, but are difficult to analyze and compare. We propose here a versatile method which extracts a coarse-grained signature of mobility networks, under the form of a $2\times 2$ matrix that separates the flows into four categories. We apply this method to origin-destination matrices extracted from mobile phone data recorded in thirty-one Spanish cities. We show that these cities essentially differ by their proportion of two types of flows: integrated (between residential and employment hotspots) and random flows, whose importance increases with city size. Finally the method allows to determine categories of networks, and in the mobility case to classify cities according to their commuting structure.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures +Supplementary informatio

Amalgamation of South Africa’s rural municipalities: is it a good idea?

The majority of South African municipalities facing the challenges of unemployment, poverty and weak infrastructure are in rural areas. To fulfil their mandate, they depend significantly on financial transfers.  This is something that the government is focused on minimising as evidenced by the recent Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs proposal of amalgamating many municipalities to make them self-reliant and functional.  This paper asks the question: ‘will amalgamations of rural municipalities correct for financial viability and functionality’? Using case studies of amalgamated municipalities, the paper observes that amalgamations will not make all rural municipalities self-sufficient and functional