Ubiquitous digital technologies and spatial structure: a preliminary analysis

This paper sheds light on the potential effect that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) might generate on cities and spatial structure. The extensive theoretical discussion and speculation on how cities and geography might be affected by digital technologies, which took place before the actual adoption of such technologies, have not been coupled by in depth empirical analysis to verify early predictions. The few examples of such studies, which approached such research questions both analytically and empirically, were insightful, but their results were to a certain extend contradictory. Most importantly, these studies took place before digital technologies such as the Internet had matured. Nowadays, these technologies have been adopted widely and we are thus in a better position to approach empirically such a research question and quantify the relation between ICTs and spatial structure. The preliminary empirical analysis presented in this paper suggests significant causal effects that ICT penetration generates on spatial structure. Internet and mobile phone penetration in non-EU/NAFTA countries have led to more spatially dispersed population and more uniform city size distribution. However, such effects are not present in non-EU/NAFTA countries, a phenomenon which might be related to the maturity of urban systems and advanced state of technological adoption in those countries. The proposed methodology, which relies on extensive econometric investigations with a number of models includes 2SLS regressions with instrumented variables, resulted to estimations which are robust against potential endogeneity problems

International Migration: A Global Complex Network

Migration has become a prominent research theme in geography and regional science and it has been approached from various methodological angles. Nonetheless, a common missing element in most migration studies is the lack of awareness of the overall network topology, which characterizes migration flows. Although gravity models focus on spatial interaction - in this case migration - between pairs of origins and destinations, they do not provide insights into the topology of a migration network. In the present paper, we will employ network analysis to address such systemic research questions, in particular: How centralized or dispersed are migration flows and how does this structure evolve over time? And how is migration activity clustered between specific countries, and if so, do such patterns change over time? Going a step further than exploratory network analysis, this paper estimates international migration models for OECD countries based on a dual ap proach: gravity models estimated using conventional econometric approaches such as panel data regressions as well as network-based regression techniques such as MRQAP. The empirical results reveal not only the determinants of international migration among OECD countries, but also the value of blending network analysis with more conventional analytic methods

Data from mobile phone operators: A tool for smarter cities?

Abstract The use of mobile phone data provides new spatio-temporal tools for improving urban planning, and for reducing inefficiencies in present-day urban systems. Data from mobile phones, originally intended as a communication tool, are increasingly used as innovative tools in geography and social sciences research. Empirical studies on complex city systems from human-centred and urban dynamics perspectives provide new insights to develop promising applications for supporting smart city initiatives. This paper provides a comprehensive review and a typology of spatial studies on mobile phone data, and highlights the applicability of such digital data to develop innovative applications for enhanced urban management

Microearthquake study of the broader Thessaloniki area (Northern Greece)

A temporary network of twelve portable digital seismological stations was operated around the city of Thessaloniki (Northern Greece) for a period of 19 months (from July 2001 to April 2002 and from October 2002 to August 2003), providing data that enabled the study of the interconnection between microseismicity and active tectonics in the area. During the operation period 277 microearthquakes that were recorded in more than four stations were accurately located and 64 fault plane solutions were determined. Seismic activity is associated with ENE-WSW, E-W and ESE-WNW striking normal faults and is nearly confined to the first 15 km, thus defining the seismogenic layer in the study area. The mean orientation of the axis of maximum extension (T-axis) is NS to NNE-SSW, determined from fault plane solutions, in agreement with the regional extensional stress pattern, which strikes perpendicular to the orientation of the main WNW-ESE active faults of the area

Relationship between National Culture and Development

Culture, as it is defined and well understood, differentiates one group from the other; in more general form, one country from the other. Culture then influences the behaviour and how we think in our everyday lives but so far culture of any group can only be measured in terms of a collection of cultural dimensions. This has made it difficult to establish whether there is any relationship between culture and any other social factors. In this study we derived national culture index from the four (4) Hofstede cultural dimensions (power (equality versus inequality), collectivism (versus individualism), uncertainty avoidance (versus uncertainty tolerance), masculinity (versus femininity)) using geo-mean formula. We then investigated whether there is any relationship between national culture index and national development index. In doing this we endeavoured to answer the question “Is There Really a Relationship Between Culture and Development?†posed by Mbakogu (2004:38). The data used for our experiments for Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture values were retrieved from Hofstede website that has an open licence for academic researchers. Data for human development national index were retrieved from UNDP website (Letter of consent was obtained from UNDP officials). The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated (r=0.083, p=0.502>0.05), which indicated that there is very negligible positive relationship between cultural index values and the development index values. Since the value of p is greater than the significance level of 0.05, we concluded that there is inconclusive evidence about the significance of the association established between National Culture Index and National Development Index. Since we currently have a national culture index, researchers can now talk about culture as a homogeneous unit. Researchers may use the national culture index to investigate relationship between culture and any other social factors. In future we intend to use other cultural dimensions proposed by other researchers to present a national culture index.&nbsp