Urban Hierarchy Research Articles

Freight flows and urban hierarchy

Varying hierarchy of freight flows between urban areas is the focus of this study. The results of a French survey that describes shipments sent by firms are used for understanding freight flows. The survey shows that the pattern of freight flows between urban areas in France is hierarchical, but varies depending upon whether the flows are generated by wholesale trade activities or by manufacturing. The differences are explained by the specific organizational characteristics of each of these two activities. Wholesale trade broadly reflects the traditional spatial organization of service activities, with interlocking areas of influence. The spatial organization of manufacturing flows is more complex, which can be attributed to the regional specialization of activities.

The City as a Focus for Human Capital Migration: Towards a Dynamic Analysis of University Human Capital Contributions

Universities’ contributions to urban development frequently focus on their micro- or macro-scale effects, ignoring the meso-scale effects they have on inter-territorial relationships. Although universities are seen as an essential part of the recipe for successful urban development, there is a lacuna to understanding how they make places and shape urban hierarchies, and this article addresses this question. This article focuses on one university–urban development process, the creation and embedding of highly skilled graduates, to explore what the aggregate effects of universities on places are; it develops a set of indicators to measure graduate attraction and retention as well as the overall composite place effect. The article develops a typology based on these three indicator sets, and tests this using a data set developed from a Polish social media website. It finds that these indicators are a good way of measuring the effects of human capital creation and mobility at the urban scale. The article concludes by arguing that a greater focus is required in studying the roles that universities play in fostering through-flow in places, changing these places’ nature as nodes within wider urban systems and hierarchies, in the context of university–regional development.

Book Review: Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City

Chuck Brown, longtime leader of the Soul Searchers and the widely acknowledged �godfather of go-go�, liked to proclaim: �I created this sound so I could eat. And everyone who plays in this band can eat� (p. 51). Musical innovation is often born out of material necessity, and go-go, a fusion of funk and hip-hop music peculiar to the Washington, DC area, has occupied a significant position in the economic life of black communities within and surrounding the US capital city. Natalie Hopkinson�s Go-Go Live explores the segregated local economy that supports the go-go scene as well as the music�s deep cultural importance to a black urban population living (at least until recently) in the shadow of the White House. For Hopkinson, the largely black-owned infrastructure of go-go � the dance clubs, recordings shops and T-shirt businesses as well as the music�s distinctive aesthetic of live performance � constitutes a uniquely local public sphere that has sustained the city�s black community through bad times and slightly better ones. Scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds have examined with growing nuance and insight the relationship between cities, musical practices and community identities. African American and Latin musical traditions have been an especially rewarding site for urban exploration in the USA (see, among many other studies, Campbell, 2004; Forman, 2002; Glasser, 1995; Grazian, 2003; Lewis, 2008; Macias, 2008). Researchers have examined such issues as how racial, ethnic and class divisions within cities have shaped musical production and reception; how the social meanings attributed to music are influenced by urban marketplaces, cultural hierarchies and political projects; and how particular communal or local identities may be enacted through musical �

Geografía Económica del conocimiento de la aglomeración metropolitana de Bilbao

La economía del conocimiento (EC) se ha erigido en un factor clave de competitividad regional y, por tanto, de diferenciación urbana en la Unión Europea, por lo que interesa conocer cómo está posicionada la aglomeración metropolitana de Bilbao (AMB), la principal del País Vasco. En las tres últimas décadas ha registrado una diversificación productiva, la consolidación de un sistema de innovación regional y el reajuste de la jerarquía urbana, que le ha valido un reconocimiento internacional. Resulta de interés conocer hasta qué punto es relevante la EC en volumen y estrategias de localización por su capacidad de transmisión de innovación al resto de los subsectores económicos y a los espacios urbanos conectados. Valorar hasta qué punto el territorio, entendido como una particular configuración socio-económica en una localización específica, importa de modo activo en la EC del AMB es el hilo conductor de este trabajo.

(Un)holy Toledo: Intersectionality, Interdependence, and Neighborhood (Trans)formation in Toledo, Ohio

Research on large metropolitan areas dominates understandings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) urban lives. Investigating cities further down the urban hierarchy can nuance accounting of LGBT and queer place-making, neighborhood formation, and cultural politics. Comparative analysis can further illuminate the local foundations of place-based logics. Through the conceptual lenses of intersectionality and interdependence, this article looks at the appropriation and formation of Toledo's LGBT neighborhood, the Old West End, and its relation to another central-city neighborhood, Vistula; the development of the local LGBT and queer community more broadly; and the interrelation of these gay and queer neighborhoods with other social sites and spaces. This qualitative study involving oral histories and archival research demonstrates that community organizing and neighborhood (trans)formation depend on a host of socio-spatial conditions. Although LGBT neighborhood transformation is often conflated with gentrification, my findings suggest that intersectionality and interdependence play a large role in LGBT neighborhood transformation. The critical quality for development of the neighborhoods I investigated was an emerging arena for local lesbian and gay cultural politics, which relied heavily on an intersectionality and interdependence between and among religion, sexuality, and class.

Urban Space and Civil War: Hefei, 1853–1854

Previous scholarship has made it abundantly clear that the Taiping War impacted urban hierarchies in the Yangzi delta region, wreaking havoc in economic, commercial, administrative, and cultural centers like Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Changzhou, and Wuxi, thereby hastening the rise of Shanghai. But how did this war affect cities beyond the core Jiangnan region? In a case study of the prefectural city of Hefei (Luzhou), this article explores the ways in which war led to the reconfiguration and reimagining of urban space, both through wartime destruction and the patronage of post-war reconstruction.

Urban Spatial Strategic Research and its Practice in China-A Case Study of the Central Plain Cities

This paper discusses the status and development of urban spatial strategic planning studies, and elaborates three dominant planning approaches of spatial strategic planning. Currently, Chinas urban spatial strategic planning does not adhere to details, but rather focus on the prospect of the city, the entire technology roadmap does not emphasize exhaustive, but the city's ability to solve practical problems. The article also combine studies on the Central Plain Cities to conclude that Chinas urban strategic spatial planning should focus on the development of several node cities, optimize the urban hierarchy and network system in region.

Discontinuities in the evolution of the city system in Texas from 1850 to 2010

We report the results of a historical investigation and quantification of discontinuous evolution, and a gap statistic analysis of discontinuities, on city size distributions of the city system in Texas, USA, over a 160-year period from 1850 to 2010. The growth of the city system exhibits four stages that are evident from our quantitative analysis of the convergence of population in large cities and qualitative analysis of historical socioeconomic and technological developments. The decadal city size distributions in the aggregate evolve with a persistent pattern while individual cities over time shift positions in the urban hierarchy as the result of adapting or passing growth opportunities in infrastructure innovations, economic change, and industrial transformations. These decadal city size distributions exhibit persistent discontinuities that mainly occur in the upper and lower tails. The observed patterns and discontinuities are indicative of the stability and resilience of a complex adaptive system of cities.

Land Politics and Local State Capacities: The Political Economy of Urban Change in China

AbstractDespite common national institutions and incentives to remake urban landscapes to anchor growth, generate land-lease revenues and display a capacious administration, Chinese urban governments exhibit varying levels of control over land. This article uses a paired comparison of Dalian and Harbin in China's north-east to link differences in local political economies to land politics. Dalian, benefiting from early access to foreign capital, consolidated its control over urban territory through the designation of a development zone, which realigned local economic interests and introduced dual pressures for enterprises to restructure and relocate. Harbin, facing capital shortages, distributed urban territory to assuage the losers of reform and promote economic growth. The findings suggest that 1) growth strategies, and the territorial politics they produce, are products of the post-Mao urban hierarchy rather than of socialist legacies, and 2), perhaps surprisingly, local governments exercise the greatest control over urban land in cities that adopted market reforms earliest.

Global-City-Formierung, Gentrifizierung und Grundrentenbildung in Frankfurt am Main

Global City formation, gentrification and the appropriation of ground rent in Frankfurt am Main. Based on statistics on land values between 1984 and 2012, this paper focuses on the relations between Global City formation, gentrification and the appropriation of ground rent in the case of Frankfurt am Main. It argues that the post-fordist urban hierarchy and the power of landowners to treat their property as a pure financial asset are reflected in rising and volatile ground rent levels in Germany’s most globalized financial center compared to the national average of urban property markets. Furthermore, it interprets the increasing potential for the appropriation of monopoly rents as a driving force behind recent gentrification processes in inner-city neighborhoods.

Geography and High-Tech Employment Growth in US Counties‡

This article investigates the role of geography in high-tech employment growth across US counties. The geographic dimensions examined include industry cluster effects, urbanization effects, proximity to a research university and proximity in the urban hierarchy. Growth is assessed for overall high-tech employment and for employment in selected high-tech subsectors. Econometric analyses are conducted separately for samples of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Among our primary findings, we do not find evidence of positive localization or within-industry cluster growth effects, generally finding negative growth effects. We instead find evidence of positive urbanization effects and growth penalties for greater distances from larger urban areas. Universities also appear to play their primary role in creating human capital rather than knowledge spillovers for nearby firms. Quantile regression analysis confirms the absence of within-industry cluster effects and importance of human capital for counties with fastest growth in high-tech industries.

Rural–Urban Hierarchies, Status Boundaries, and Labour Mobilities in Thailand

Thai national development strategies have sought to expand infrastructure and reduce poverty in the country's northern and north-eastern regions by constructing industrial estates, facilitating foreign investments, increasing market integration, and encouraging capital flexibilities. Despite government efforts to decrease material divisions between rural and urban spaces, rural–urban migration strategies commonly exist within household economic portfolios. Such labour mobilities and development initiatives rework spatial relationships between rural and urban, whereby economic activities and social networks create complex national political economies that challenge strict dualistic modelling. Yet, ethnographic data collected since 2009 illustrate that rural–urban differences were present in class and status hierarchies among northern and north-eastern migrants in Bangkok. Specifically, respondents' imaginings of their place within the Thai social order correlated to what degree they associated with urbanity and remained in Bangkok. Further, respondents' class and status identities exhibited correlations with whether they identified with culturally defined ‘migrant’ categories, which commonly represented otherness and contained ethnic undertones. This paper illustrates that while geographic and economic flexibilities necessarily problematise dualistic views of rural–urban spaces, associated labour mobilities may simultaneously reinforce perceptions of rural–urban difference and create identity and status divisions among those engaged in migration.

When are Cities Engines of Growth in China? Spread and Backwash Effects across the Urban Hierarchy

Chen A. and Partridge M. D. When are cities engines of growth in China? Spread and backwash effects across the urban hierarchy, Regional Studies. China's remarkable growth has an urban bias, but it is unclear whether it has greatly disadvantaged particular regions. To assess this question, a Central Place Theory framework is employed to assess spread and backwash effects. It is found that New Economic Geography representations do not capture the heterogeneity across urban tiers. Market potential in China's mega-cities is inversely related to growth for smaller cities and rural communities, while medium-sized cities have positive spread effects. It is concluded that China's urban-centric process should be re-evaluated because it may not maximize aggregate growth, and growth in the mega-cities may reduce growth elsewhere.

DOES URBAN PROXIMITY ENHANCE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY? EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE AGRICULTURE

ABSTRACTThis paper assesses whether cities enhance the technical efficiency of nearby rural counties by allowing for heterogeneous urban effects both by region and city type. An empirical application is demonstrated using the Chinese county‐level agricultural data from 2005 to 2009. We find that urban proximity significantly enhances efficiency in the Eastern region, while its effect is lower and less significant for the Central region and not significant at all for the Western region. In addition, urban effects vary across the urban hierarchy. We find that provincial‐level cities have a deteriorating impact on technical efficiency, while lower‐level cities enhance technical efficiency in most regions. Implications of these findings in terms of urban and regional planning are discussed.

Quantifying the speed, growth modes, and landscape pattern changes of urbanization: a hierarchical patch dynamics approach

Urbanization transforms landscape structure and profoundly affects biodiversity and ecological processes. To understand and solve these ecological problems, at least three aspects of spatiotemporal patterns of urbanization need to be quantified: the speed, urban growth modes, and resultant changes in landscape pattern. In this study, we quantified these spatiotemporal patterns of urbanization in the central Yangtze River Delta region, China from 1979 to 2008, based on a hierarchical patch dynamics framework that guided the research design and the analysis with landscape metrics. Our results show that the urbanized area in the study region increased exponentially during the 30 years at the county, prefectural, and regional levels, with increasing speed down the urban hierarchy. Three growth modes—infilling, edge-expanding, and leapfrogging—operated concurrently and their relative dominance shifted over time. As urbanization progressed, patch density and edge density generally increased, and the connectivity of urban patches in terms of the average nearest neighbor distance also increased. While landscape-level structural complexity also tended to increase, the shape of individual patches became increasingly regular. Our results suggest that whether urban landscapes are becoming more homogenous or heterogeneous may be dependent on scale in time and space as well as landscape metrics used. The speed, growth modes, and landscape pattern are related to each other in complicated fashions. This complex relationship can be better understood by conceptualizing urbanization not simply as a dichotomous diffusion-coalescence switching process, but as a spiraling process of shifting dominance among multiple growth modes: the wax and wane of infilling, edge-expansion, and leapfrog across the landscape.

Strategies to Cope with Shrinkage in the Lower End of the Urban Hierarchy in Estonia and Central Germany

Population shrinkage has become an unavoidable process in many cities and calls for new planning approaches. Typically, economic restructuring causes small urban centres in peripheral locations to lose economic functions and population. In small towns however, social capital has been considered as a specific resource. In this article, we focus on small postsocialist towns in Estonia and Central Germany that have mostly experienced severe shrinkage since the end of state socialism, especially during the first transition decade. We aim to clarify to what extent local planning strategies accept the ongoing shrinkage and how various forms of local social capital have contributed to these strategies and the development of the localities in general. Interviews with different stakeholders in selected towns in Estonia and Germany revealed that shrinkage has not been systematically accepted in local planning. Instead, planning is strongly steered by the external financial resources to strengthen the remaining urbanity. In all towns, specific key development niches have been found in the 2000s to compensate for the peripherality. We also demonstrate that local public institutions need to adjust their governance culture to the existing specific local forms of social capital in order to achieve synergy between local actors.

Johor Bahru's response to transnational and national influences in the emerging Straits Mega-City Region

A booming economy and a growing concern for sustainable development is driving many cities in the Asia-Pacific region to progressively redefine their social and physical landscape. A new Straits Transnational Urban Region is emerging as a result of two distinct dynamics: (1) the spill-over of Singapore investments into its surrounding region, and (2) the daily transnational travel of workers, visitors and school children from Johor Bahru, Malaysia, into Singapore. At the same time, the city of Johor Bahru is influenced by Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, through political, administrative and government funding structures.This study compares the linkages and exchanges between Johor Bahru and Singapore with those between Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. It will investigate the prevalent and potential impacts on Johor Bahru brought about by both transnational urbanisation and local forces emanating from the urban hierarchy within the national system.

Spatial Distribution of Tourist Flows to China's Cities

This paper investigates the spatial distribution of inbound and domestic tourist flows to cities in China and their growth rates using exploratory spatial data analysis. This method is a set of GIS spatial statistical techniques that are useful in describing and visualizing the spatial distribution, detecting patterns of hot-spots, and suggesting spatial regimes. The global Moran's I statistics for inbound and domestic tourist flows reveal strong positive and significant spatial autocorrelation. Furthermore, the Moran significance maps indicate four significant inbound tourism hot-spot areas in 1999 and 2006 (the Beijing-Tianjin cluster, the Yangtze River Delta cluster, the Fujian coast cluster and the Pearl River Delta cluster), and five significant domestic tourism hot-spot areas in 2002 and 2006 (with the addition of the Chengdu cluster). Based on the results, we show that tourism flows are polarized into clusters and remain very stable over time. As has been seen in other countries, hot-spots tend to be in insular and coastal areas, and associated with cities that are higher in China's urban hierarchy. Implications are drawn, such as priority of resource allocations for hot-spot area and the utilization of spillover effects from hot-spots.

Exploring the co-evolution of the geographies of air transport aviation and corporate networks

In this paper we aim to contribute to the literature on the empirical parallels between urban hierarchies and the transport networks supporting and/or reflecting these hierarchies. We adopt a stochastic actor-based modeling framework to analyze the co-evolution of the world city hierarchy and global air passenger networks between 2000 and 2010/2011. The data are drawn from an inventory of the location strategies of globalized service firms across world cities and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Major findings include (1) exogenous effects, such as the impact of economic development and regionality; (2) endogenous micro-level effects producing macro-level patterns, such as preferential attachment processes; and (3) the two-way impact of both networks. (i.e., cities that are well connected in the aviation network tend to attract more major offices of globalized service firms, while the co-presence of major offices of globalized service firms in cities in turn stimulates the development of aviation connections between them).

Glorified Fantasies and Masterpieces of Deception on Importing Las Vegas into the ‘New South Africa’

AbstractWith the end of apartheid, Johannesburg and other South African cities are now part of a new global race to become ‘world‐class’ tourist and business centers. At the center of this development is the importation of Vegas‐style spectacle by local entrepreneurs, firms and other city boosters who create fantasyscapes such as the Emperor's Palace and GrandWest. Financed and run by South African impresarios — whose luxurious empires transcend the continent — these resorts represent not only the globalization of gaming but the way in which South African cities see themselves within the worldwide urban hierarchy. As such, this article seeks to untangle the global and local aspects of importing fantasy into the ‘new South Africa’.