Cities Of Different Sizes Research Articles

City Size and Public Service Access: Evidence from Brazil and Indonesia

Most global population growth over the next two decades is projected to occur in small- and medium-sized cities in low- and middle-income countries. Expectations derived from the literature on fiscal federalism suggest that this is a cause for concern, as larger cities are thought to deliver public goods more effectively than smaller ones owing to economics of scale. Drawing on detailed cross-sectional data from Brazil and Indonesia, we show that smaller municipalities tend to possess more basic public health clinics and schools per capita, scattered throughout their territory, than larger cities. We theorize that the greater prevalence of such facilities in small cities reflects a relative lack of non-state alternatives, fewer concerns regarding “urban” problems faced in larger cities, and politicians’ greater ability to secure and claim credit for such facilities. We illustrate the logic of this argument in case studies of otherwise-similar cities of different sizes in Brazil, and with shadow cases from Indonesia. Our analysis underscores how jurisdiction size and non-state service provision can affect government services.

Do large cities have a productivity advantage in China? From the perspective of green total factor productivity growth

Green total factor productivity (GTFP) under resource and environmental constraints is becoming increasingly important. This study constructed a new productivity indicator to calculate urban GTFP growth and identify whether large cities have an advantage. The Dagum Gini coefficient was combined to reveal the difference in GTFP growth among cities of different sizes, and urban GTFP growth was decomposed from the perspective of elements and technology. In addition, an econometric model was used to test the effects of city size on the GTFP growth and its decompositions. The results show an increasingly significant GTFP growth advantage in large cities, mainly due to technical progress, scale-mix efficiency growth, technical leadership effect, input utilization efficiency growth, expected output efficiency growth, and unexpected output governance efficiency growth. Notably, the econometric model shows that after controlling some external factors, the growth rate of urban GTFP still increases with the expansion of city size, which proves that large cities have an obvious productivity advantage. However, the sources of GTFP growth advantages of large cities no longer include scale-mix efficiency growth and input utilization efficiency growth. This study's conclusion has significant theoretical and practical implications for promoting the coordinated development of large, medium and small cities. Classification codeC813, F061.2.

Assessing the carbon reduction potential of municipal solid waste management transition: Effects of incineration, technology and sorting in Chinese cities

The urban infrastructures of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal play important roles in carbon reduction and building sustainable cities. China, with the world's largest MSW generation, has witnessed a relatively slow and spatially uneven transition progress of MSW disposal management. This study analysed the MSW disposal management transition and its determinants in Chinese cities of different sizes. Furthermore, the carbon reduction potential of MSW disposal management transition was estimated under different settings of policy reform. The results indicate that the MSW disposal management transition has made faster progress in cities with larger sizes, which could be ascribed to larger contradiction between city development and public service. The prediction results suggest that 73.13%–287.28% of carbon emission could be reduced by various policy reforms compared with the baseline scenario without policy intervention. Moreover, technological transformation should be specially underlined in mega cities, and household sorting should be specially underlined in medium cities.

Lost in transformation: comparative analysis of healthcare provision dynamics within urban systems of European Russia and France

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, many countries have implemented healthcare reforms underlined by New Public Management principles and technological transformations. Although studies have examined these reforms from different viewpoints, the spatial implications of healthcare reforms have received limited attention. Scholarship focused predominantly on regional variations of healthcare provision overlooking the sharp contrasts between cities where most healthcare facilities are de facto located. Addressing this research gap, we investigate the long-term dynamics of healthcare provision on the urban level, tracing the differences (if any) between cities of different sizes and administrative statuses. The study adopts a comparative approach. We draw our data from two countries: France and Russia (mainland France and European Russia). Findings indicate that, despite some variations, healthcare reforms in both countries follow similar paths, resulting in fewer hospital beds that have been partially replaced by places in day hospitals. At the same time, we also observe diverging country-specific trends in terms of redistribution of healthcare provision. In France, some cities completely lost their hospital equipment but those cities that remained equipped tend to a uniform distribution. In European Russia, on the contrary, all cities remain equipped but there is a drastic polarization depending on size and administrative status.

Why Political Scientists Should Study Smaller Cities

In the past 20 years, Political Science research has increasingly focused on urban and local politics. We systematically review this literature and find that smaller cities are disproportionally underrepresented, particularly outside the United States. Smaller cities exhibit economic, social, and political patterns that differ from those in large metropolitan areas. Using administrative data and existing research, we show how cities of different sizes vary in their demographic characteristics; citizens’ preferences; resources and capacity; intergovernmental relationships; and electoral politics. These patterns indicate the potential to update existing theories in Political Science, including those about gender and political participation, second-order elections, and intergovernmental relationships. We suggest that scholars consider how smaller cities might differ from larger cities and include smaller municipalities in their case study research. We also highlight political issues unique to small cities as new areas of inquiry.

On Spatial Mechanisms of Social Equity: Exploring the Associations between Street Networks, Urban Compactness, and Social Equity

In several publications between 1998 and 2003, Elizabeth Burton examined whether urban compactness promotes social equity. Based on an extensive literature review, Burton developed numerous urban compactness and social equity measures. Using a sample of 25 free-standing English cities of different sizes, her studies found that urban compactness measures are often statistically correlated with social equity measures in these cities. Extending Burton’s studies, this study explores the correlations between the measures of street networks, urban compactness, and social equity in the same 25 cities that Burton studied. Correlational analyses revealed that street network measures are correlated differently with different urban compactness and social equity measures. Some street network measures are not statistically correlated with social equity and urban compactness measures. Some are statistically correlated with urban compactness measures, but not with social equity measures. Yet others are statistically correlated with social equity measures, but not with urban compactness. Still others are statistically correlated with both social equity and urban compactness measures. Therefore, it was concluded that spatial mechanisms may work differently for different aspects of social equity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Food systems and rural-urban linkages in African secondary cities

Urban populations globally are expected to increase by approximately 2.5 billion by 2050. Much of this growth is taking place in African cities, where about 40% of Africans live in urban areas with populations of less than 250,000. In many of these cities, rapid urban growth has outpaced economic and social development, resulting in high levels of urban poverty and widespread food insecurity. As one response strategy, urban households may leverage their linkages with rural areas and other towns or cities to supplement their food consumption, for example through food remittances or food purchases from remote retailers. While this strategy has been found to occur among inhabitants of large cities where existing research on urban food systems and urban food linkages with other areas has focused, the dynamics in smaller cities are likely different. In this paper, we draw on data from 837 surveys collected in 2021 to investigate household food sourcing strategies across 14 urban areas in Zambia with populations less than 100,000. We find that rural-urban food linkages are dominated by grains while urban-urban food linkages are predominantly composed of higher value foods. Our data further suggest that urban area characteristics explain more of the variability in food sourcing behaviors than household level characteristics, and that urban food purchasing preferences in secondary urban areas are sensitive to the food retail landscape available to households. These relationships highlight the disparate role that rural and urban linkages play across cities of different sizes. They suggest a need for food-related policies to consider diverse urban food systems among smaller cities.

The impact of housing pressure on subjective well-being in urban China

Housing pressure is one of the most important factors affecting urban residents' quality of life and subjective well-being (SWB). However, few studies have examined the impact of housing pressure on people's SWB and whether housing pressure has heterogeneous effects on SWB in cities of different sizes and for different social groups is still under-researched. Using data from a large-scale social satisfaction survey of 115,000 respondents across 36 cities in China, this paper employs a multiple linear regression model to explore the combined impacts of both subjective and objective housing pressure on urban residents' SWB. It also examines the heterogeneity effects of housing pressure for different city sizes and housing tenure groups. The results show that individuals' subjective housing pressure is significantly and negatively associated with SWB, and its impact intensity is greater than most perceived living environment factors. As for objective housing pressure, only the housing rent-to-income ratio has a significant negative correlation with SWB. Dimensions of individuals' perceived quality of the living environment are also significant positive predictors for the SWB level of urban residents except for the urbanscape and portrait dimension. Housing pressure has heterogeneous effects on SWB in different city sizes and housing tenure groups.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE METHODS FOR CALCULATING THE MAIN INDICATORS OF HEAT ISLANDS IN URBAN AREAS

The article is dedicated to the methods developed to calculate the main parameters of “heat islands” that appear in densely built-up urban area. Although remote sensing imaging is ideally used to track and detect frequent land cover changes in urban and surrounding areas as a result of sustainable urbanization and to calculate key parameters of "heat islands" seen in densely populated urban areas, satellite imagery is digitally manually The transformation of a parametric image into a land cover map using existing methods of classification is a long process, and therefore methods are proposed to determine the main indicators of the impact of "heat islands" in urban areas. A modified building density index has been formulated, which is highly informative, involving: (a) the proposed index reaches an extremum when the known building density index BDI and NDVI are equalized, (b) when the specified maximum is reached, it is easy to calculate the LST indicator using the known regression dependences of BDI and NDVI from LST. The method has been developed to calculate the area of “heat islands” on the base of the equivalent radius calculation using the known dependence function of the building density on the distance to the center of the urban area. Our study shows that the distribution of buildings and the slope of the relief affect the surface temperature (LST), in addition, the ratios of different LSTs vary in cities of different sizes, and each city has a temperature difference in LSTs, so the urban heating island To reduce the impact, it is important to identify the characteristics of the thermal environment in cities of different sizes. Urban greening is increasingly valued by cities around the world as an effective measure to reduce the negative effects of the urban heating islands, with different numbers and types of landscape dimensions, different statistical methods used in different surveys, as well as metric scale dependence and contextual differences between cities and we can overcome these challenges by conducting comparative research on time and space using a consistent methodology.

Ventilation Capacities of Chinese Industrial Cities and Their Influence on the Concentration of NO2

Most cities in China, especially industrial cities, are facing severe air pollution, which affects the health of the residents and the development of cities. One of the most effective ways to alleviate air pollution is to improve the urban ventilation environment; however, few studies have focused on the relationship between them. The Frontal Area Index (FAI) can reflect the obstructive effect of buildings on wind. It is influenced by urban architectural form and is an attribute of the city itself that can be used to accurately measure the ventilation capacity or ventilation potential of the city. Here, the FAIs of 45 industrial cities of different sizes in different climatic zones in China were computed, and the relationship between the FAI and the concentration of typical pollutants, i.e., NO2, were analyzed. It was found that (1) the FAIs of most of the industrial cities in China were less than 0.45, indicating that most of the industrial cities in China have excellent and good ventilation capacities; (2) there were significant differences in the ventilation capacities of different cities, and the ventilation capacity decreased from the temperate to the tropical climate zone and increased from large to small cities; (3) there was a significant difference in the ventilation capacity in winter and summer, indicating that that with the exception of building height and building density, wind direction was also the main influencing factor of FAI; (4) the concentration of NO2 was significantly correlated with the FAI, and the relative contribution of the FAI to the NO2 concentration was stable at approximately 9% and was generally higher than other socioeconomic factors. There was a turning point in the influence of the FAI on the NO2 concentration (0.18 < FAI < 0.49), below which the FAI had a strong influence on the NO2 concentration, and above which the influence of the FAI became weaker. The results of this study can provide guidance for suppressing urban air pollution through urban planning.

Efficiency of China's urban development under carbon emission constraints: A city-level analysis

This study explores the efficiency of China's urban development under carbon emission constraint from 1996 to 2017. Firstly, it uses the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) and Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) nightlight imaging to evaluate the carbon dioxide emission levels of 249 cities in China. Then, it utilises the epsilon-based measure (EBM) superefficiency model and Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index to evaluate the urbanization efficiency and changes in the total factor productivity (TFP) of urban development of the 249 cities under carbon emission constraints. Results show that from 1996 to 2017, the total carbon emissions of the 249 cities grew during a rapid development stage, while the efficiency of urban development under carbon emission constraints showed fluctuation and did not increase significantly. The redundant improvement values of government fiscal expenditure, urban employees, urban fixed asset investment, foreign direct investment, and carbon emission increased in fluctuations. From the regional spatial perspective, the urbanization efficiency of western China was the highest, followed by the northeast region, the central region, and finally the eastern region. In addition, the driving factors of TFP of urbanization in China have improved as a whole. The application of nightlight imaging data and EBM superefficiency model improves the accuracy of urban development efficiency measurement. The findings of this study can provide a scientific basis for different regions and cities of different sizes to formulate carbon emission reduction strategies, and have important policy value for improving urban development efficiency in China. In addition, the research of index system should be deepened to further improve the measurement accuracy.

Examining effects of city’s size and regional context on vehicle ownership levels in the Indian context

The growing vehicle population in Indian cities has become a concern for public policy making owing to its far reaching consequences. Most studies among the available literature in the domain of vehicle ownership (aggregate and disaggregate) do not emphasise on city scale attributes. This study seeks to explore cities’ levels of 2-wheeler (2W) and 4-wheeler (4W) ownership across urban India using a large dataset (comprising 2,075 cities) from the Socio – Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011. Using exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression, we explore for significant differences in vehicle ownership levels between cities of different sizes. Apart from confirming the significance of some conventionally well accepted covariates, we determine that a city’s regional context also bears significant influence on its level of vehicle ownership. Findings from this study are likely to contribute towards urbanisation and economic development policies in a country which continues to add more cities and urban population.

Comparing the Determinants of Rural–Urban Migrant Settlement Intention across Different-Sized Cities: Evidence from China

Comparing the Determinants of Rural–Urban Migrant Settlement Intention across Different-Sized Cities: Evidence from China

Exploring the Spatiotemporal Integration Evolution of the Urban Agglomeration through City Networks

Regional integration is a global trend and an integrated region consists of different cities of different sizes and functions, against which researching their organized structure is an important issue when discussing regional coordinated development. So, we construct the city networks, among which cities and their linkages are regarded as nodes and connections, to explore the spatial characteristics of a region and evaluate the integration level. The Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) is taken as the study area. For city nodes, this paper first evaluates the cities’ qualities comprehensively based on the multidimensional indicators during the rapid cities’ developmental period from 2005 to 2019. For city linkages, the interactions between different cities are then assessed by the improved gravity model. Then, the city networks consisting of city nodes and their linkages are constructed and analyzed by the social network analysis to deeply understand the orientations and relationships of cities in an integrated region. The results show that the developmental pace of different cities is imbalanced. The overall network of the YRDUA is relatively compact of the city-pair linkages forming the overlapping structure from primary to secondary axes, and different cities have specific functions. However, some small cities do not reach a mutual connection with big cities and face the risk of social resource outflow. In conclusion, attention to the existence of latent hierarchy should be paid to avoid the marginalization of small cities, especially under administrative intervention. The findings can enrich research on cities′ relationship and integration level of the YRDUA, and the specific characteristics of spatial organization paralleling with the leading development of the YRDUA can provide the reference to other regions under the strategy of national regional coordination.

Revisiting Hukou Transfer Intentions Among Floating Population in Chinese Cities: Spatial Differences and Multi-Level Determinants

The hukou transfer intentions (HTI), as an essential indicator of migration behaviors, is of great significance to the urbanization development and the citizenization process of China’s floating migrants. Although extant studies have devoted extensively to the influence factors of HTI, their spatial differences and multi-level determinants are comparatively under-researched. Based on the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data in 2016, we employed the spatial analysis method to discover a remarkable spatial disparity of HTI among cities of different sizes and found that HTI is affected by individual-level and city-level factors using a multilevel model. Besides city sizes and economic development levels, city amenity factors and housing prices also positively impact HTI. The cross-level interactions also indicate the greater preference of older, higher-educated, and wealthier floating migrants for larger cities than their counterparts, and the greater preference of older, higher-educated, and longer-term floating migrants for cities with higher housing prices than their counterparts, implying an accelerated agglomeration of talent with more social capital in leading cities. Several policy implications can be drawn from the discoveries of this study.

Types and determinants of migrants' settlement intention in China's new phase of urbanization: A multi-dimensional perspective

Using data from China Migrant Dynamic Survey, this paper provides an updated and comprehensive study on migrants' settlement intention and its determinants, based on a new way of conceptualizing and measuring such intention and its permanency and stability. The results suggest that although the majority of migrants have the intention to settle down in the destination cities on a permanent or long-term temporary basis, migrants with permanent settlement intention are still a minority, and there is a significant variation of migrants' settlement intention in terms of its permanency and stability among migrants, cities of different sizes, and geographical regions. The modelling results reveal that being married, higher levels of educational attainment, occupational status and income, family migration, and housing availability and stability of residence in the host city, boost migrants' long-term and permanent settlement intention. Moreover, migrants' urban origin and hukou status, higher occupational status, younger age, and the larger size, more economic prosperity and well-developed public services of their destination cities, significantly promote the permanent settlement intention. These results will facilitate relevant policy making to further advance China's urbanization, and contribute to better theoretical understanding of urban and mobility transitions in developing countries.

Do compact cities have higher efficiencies of agglomeration economies? A dynamic panel model with compactness indicators

Compact development is proposed to preserve land resources as well as promote agglomeration economies. This paper adopts a multi-indicator system of compact cities, including population density, boundary limitation, and road density, to examine the relationship between the compact city and urban efficiency through agglomeration economies. We empirically examine the relationships between compact city indicators and comprehensive/technical efficiency measures of the cities through GMM regression with panel data of 226 prefectural and upper-level cities in China during 2001–2015. We find the answers heterogeneous for each indicator-efficiency pair for each city type. Higher population density and compact urban form are beneficial to the urban economic efficiencies of large cities, but not for the technical efficiency of small cities. Road density is conducive efficiencies for small and medium cities, but not technical efficiencies for large cities. We confer that the heterogeneity may be explained by the economic structure compositions of cities of different sizes. Based on our findings, we propose tailor-made policy suggestions regarding urban compactness and economic efficiencies for cities of different sizes.

Educational Migration of Young People and Optimization of the Network of Universities in Cities of Different Sizes

As a result of measures related to the liquidation of inefficient universities and low-quality education, the university network of Russia in 2013-2019 has significantly changed its configuration. In particular, the total number of universities decreased by 42%, including parent universities by 23%, branches by 56%. At the same time, the number of students decreased by 33% over the same period, the reform occurred during a period of demographic decline in the youth age cohorts. However, the consequences of the reform to optimize the network of universities could have a different impact on the structure of urban and regional higher education systems in different parts of the country. Most of the federal and departmental statistics describing the situation in the field of higher education, and, accordingly, the results of research, are presented at the national or regional levels. However, almost all universities are located in cities, and this key level from the point of view of spatial localization of educational institutions falls out of the pool of educational analytics and research. Large cities everywhere attract young people with a wide range of factors. One of them is the possibility of choosing a university and an educational program. Other factors are related to the quality of the environment and services, the breadth and diversity of the labor market, which positively distinguish large cities from less populated places. The available data do not allow us to divide the migration attractiveness of the city for young people into those related to the presence of a university and the quality of educational services provided by it and those related to other possible factors of attractiveness. However, we can analyze whether there presentation of universities in cities of different sizes is correlated with their migration attractiveness, expressed in net migration indicators of 15-19-year olds. The conducted research has shown that the cities with a population of over 250 thousand people are the most attractive for migration and at the same time the least subjected to the reorganization of the university network. The concentration of universities in the largest cities of the country contributes to the strengthening of centripetal migration of young people. Small towns have experienced the main consequences of the implementation of state policy measures aimed at improving the quality of higher education. For many applicants from small and medium-sized cities, having one university or branch was the only opportunity to get a higher education without leaving their hometown.

A social media-based framework for tourist behaviour analysis and characterization in urban environments

Abstract. Tourism is a very important and fast growing industry worldwide that has generated 25% of all global net new jobs during the last 5 years. New tools can be valuable for relaunching the sector and provide alternative analysis and segmentation capabilities to organizations involved. We present an analysis and visualization framework for tourist behaviour study and segmentation based on tested methods and technologies, combined and extended in an innovative way. Our framework uses Flickr data as input and classifies users according to country of origin. Then, urban distribution patterns are obtained in two different spatial levels by using [Network] Kernel Density Estimation in 1D and 2D spaces, as well as spatial clustering with HDBSCAN. Basic Natural Language Processing is applied to extract and visualize semantics generated in the social media platform and a visualization of typologies of Points of Interest by nationality is proposed for the development of tourism dashboards. We have applied our framework to three European cities of different size to test the segmentation capabilities of the approach. Results suggest a good potential for tourism management in urban environments.

A comparative study of immigrant-native segregation at multiple spatial scales in urban Europe

ABSTRACT There has been a strong degree of interest over the last 30 years towards immigrant segregation in Europe. This paper aims to contribute towards the existing body of research by extending the multi-scalar analysis of patterns of immigrant residential segregation into a coherent international comparative study of cities of different sizes. We investigate the patterns of immigrant-native segregation at different geographical scales, along with their correlates, in more than a hundred cities in 2011 across Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Our findings suggest that cities in the UK are the most highly segregated in Europe. The positions of the other countries in the ‘European segregation ranking’ depend upon the considered immigrant group and spatial scale. The national context is consistently the most important factor in understanding segregation at multiple spatial scales. However, even while taking into account the national contexts, the structural-ecological factors remain important predictors of segregation patterns in Europe.