Urban Hierarchy Research Articles

Understanding the spatiality of the rural poor's livelihoods in Northeast China: Geographical context, location and urban hierarchy

The livelihoods approach has become dominant for understanding poverty issues and advising on development policies. Spatial perspectives have been increasingly recognised to be important for understanding the increasing complexity and dynamics of livelihoods with regional development, urbanisation and close rural-urban interactions. This study further develops this perspective by highlighting the concepts of geographical context, location and urban hierarchy and adopts a multi-scalar analytical approach. The study examines the rural poor's livelihood strategies in Jilin Province of China based on two surveys conducted with about 3000 households in total and multiple logistic regression analysis. Our results demonstrate that half of the rural poor depend on incomes and livelihood strategies without labour input. From a macro-spatial view, the rural poor living in the Western and Eastern Areas, which have more challenging geographical contexts, are more dependent on subsidy income. From a micro-spatial view, rural livelihoods change, with spatial patterns depending on distance to urban areas and the type of these areas; small and medium-sized urban areas are more important for the rural poor's livelihoods. Geographical context makes these urban effects on rural livelihoods spatially more heterogeneous. Spatial understandings of livelihoods research help to better target and tailor poverty alleviation policies.

"Crime in the city": an analysis of the connections between crime, urban scale, and urban centrality

This study analyses the connection between crime and the structural characteristics of mu-nicipalities. The first part compares the concentration of different crime types in the municipali-ties ranked by their population size across eight countries worldwide. The second part anal-yses the relationships between crime rates, urban scale and urban hierarchy among the Italian municipalities. The analysis suggests that both urban scale and hierarchy are relevant for un-derstanding crime rates.

The Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Population in the Yangtze River Delta, China: An Urban Hierarchy Perspective

The reason for changes in ranking within urban systems is the subject of much debate. Employing the census data from 1990 to 2020, this paper investigates population dynamics across urban hierarchies and its influencing factors in the Yangtze River Delta. The results reveal an upward pattern of population dynamics and show that the advantages of high-ranking cities in population gathering are obvious, though they have declined recently. Based on a framework of urban amenity and the ridge regression model, the authors argue that concerns of residents in choosing cities in which to settle are gradually changing from economic opportunities to multidimensional amenities, finding that the influencing mechanisms vary across time. This is slightly different from Glaeser’s consumer cities; economic gains, as physiological needs, are always important for population growth. As higher-level needs, social and natural amenities, including Internet accessibility and urban green space, did not affect growth until the turn of the new millennium. In terms of negative factors, the ‘crowding-out effect’ of living costs and environmental pollution are not significant, as theoretically expected, suggesting that residents tend to care more about development opportunities than the negative impacts of living in high-ranking cities. Finally, policies are proposed to promote population growth and the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Spatial Differentiation and Influencing Factors in the Ecological Well-Being Performance of Urban Agglomerations in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River: A Hierarchical Perspective.

Improving the ecological well-being performance (EWP) of natural resources and environmental consumption in relation to human well-being, within the ecological boundary, is necessary for sustainable development. This study used the Super-SBM model to measure the urban EWP of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYRUA) in 2020. The spatial differentiation characteristics of EWP in the MRYRUA were identified. The heterogeneity in the direction and size of the influencing factors of EWP at different urban hierarchy (UH) levels was empirically tested by establishing a threshold model. The results are as follows: (1) In 2020, the EWP of the study area showed a trend of high levels in the southwest and low levels in the northeast. The EWP presented a multi-center “core–periphery” distribution, and the characteristic of “central collapse” was evident. The UH level of the middle and lower hierarchy-level cities was inconsistent with its EWP. (2) A non-single linear relationship was found between the influencing factors of the EWP of the MRYRUA and the EWP. The impacts of technological progress, industrial structure, environmental regulation, and population density on the EWP of the MRYRUA all showed threshold characteristics. (3) Heterogeneity and stages were both observed for the influencing factors of EWP under different UH levels. The effect of technological progress on EWP presented the characteristics of bidirectional and two-stage developments, and environmental regulation presented the features of a significant positive three-stage development. Both industrial structure and population density presented two-stage aspects, but the former acted in a negative direction, while the latter served in a positive order. This study provides a theoretical basis for the government to formulate differentiated regional policies and promote the coordinated improvement of EWP among cities at all hierarchy levels in the urban agglomeration. This study is of great significance to the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. Its results can provide a reference for other urban agglomerations, metropolitan areas, and city clusters worldwide to coordinate economic development, ecological protection, and to improve people’s well-being.

Equalization or polarization? The effect of the Internet on National Urban Hierarchies across the world, 2000–2018

As Internet adoption and diffusion continues worldwide, little is known about its effects on the restructuring of national urban hierarchies globally. We create a city population panel data with uniform definitions within each of the 133 countries from 2000 to 2018 to study the effect of the Internet on national urban hierarchies and to examine the channels through which the effects take place. Results show that the Internet led to the equalization of urban hierarchies in the early stage and then the polarization. Initially, the Internet helped reduce communication costs, partially replaced transportation, and weakened the agglomeration of enterprises and individuals in large cities, thereby flattening national urban hierarchies. Later, the Internet mainly enhanced the production efficiency and accelerated the shift from manufacturing to services in large cities, thus increasing the large cities' attractiveness and ultimately polarizing the urban hierarchy. Our finding demonstrates that national urban hierarchies are not static and their evolution reflects not only the trade-off between economies of scale and congestion, but increasingly by the Internet—a powerful communication tool. If the trend persists, larger cities will grow at a faster pace than smaller cities and potentially increase regional inequality in countries that have extensively adopted the Internet.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome and COVID-19 under the hierarchy of the urban network of municipalities in the state of Acre, western Brazilian Amazon region, 2020-2021: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACTBACKGROUND:The Respiratory Syndromes Surveillance System was created by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 2000 to monitor influenza in this country. With the emergence of the new coronavirus pandemic, it became incorporated into the surveillance network for influenza and other respiratory viruses.OBJECTIVE:To analyze the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the state of Acre through its hierarchical urban network.DESIGN AND SETTING:Cross-sectional, descriptive and ecological study, using a spatiotemporal approach and using secondary data. This study was conducted in the state of Acre, northern Brazil.METHODS:This study used secondary data, and epidemiological weeks and municipalities were taken to be the units of analysis. Incidence rates and kernel intensities were calculated for four study periods. Spatiotemporal analysis was performed using scan statistics to identify clusters of SARS cases and considering the population of each municipality.RESULTS:In general, it could be observed that there were higher kernel rates and intensities in municipalities located in the north and south of this state (i.e. its most populous municipalities).CONCLUSION:Priority areas for interventions to control transmission of COVID-19 were highlighted, with the aim of reducing the risks of transmission to more distant areas in the urban hierarchy of the state of Acre.

The Emperor’s Geography—City Locations, Nature and Institutional Optimisation

Abstract The emergence of cities in specific locations depends on both geographical features (such as elevation and proximity to rivers) and institutional factors (such as centrality within an administrative region). In this paper, we analyse the importance of these factors at different levels of the urban hierarchy. To do so, we exploit a unique data set on the locations of cities of different status in imperial China from 221 BCE to 1911 CE, a geographically diverse empire with a long history of centralised rule. Developing a stylised theoretical model, we combine econometrics with machine learning techniques. Our results suggest that the higher a city is in the urban hierarchy, the less important are local geographical features compared to institutional factors. At the lower end of the scale, market towns without government responsibilities are most strongly shaped by geographical characteristics. We also find evidence that many cities of political importance in imperial times still enjoy a special status nowadays, underlining the modern relevance of these historical factors.

Migration Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of New England Showing Movements down the Urban Hierarchy and Ensuing Impacts on Real Estate Markets

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States, the media began reporting stories of people leaving cities for rural destinations, setting off frenzied real estate activity in receiving communities. This article builds a case study of New England using nonconventional data collected from mobile devices as a proxy for population to explore the temporal and spatial patterns of movement down the urban hierarchy since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two research questions guide the analysis: (1) How have urban–rural migration systems in New England shifted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) In what ways have real estate markets been affected by these apparent migration shifts? The analysis reveals shifts of population away from metropolitan core areas of the region and into micropolitan and noncore counties. These population shifts were most pronounced in late summer and fall 2020 with loosening travel restrictions. By the end of 2020, migration systems in New England once more resembled prepandemic patterns. Further, these places down the urban hierarchy consistently showed more substantial increases in real estate activity as reflected in rising prices, reduced inventories, and increased sales volume. These real estate dynamics suggest urban to rural migration during the COVID-19 pandemic might be initiating new waves of rural gentrification.

New economy and national city size distribution

This paper examines the effects of the new economy on national city size distribution in 102 countries. Results show that the new economy has significant effects on city size distributions and such effects are heterogeneous across countries. Human capital contributes to the polarization of city size distribution in developed countries and service-dominated countries, while it helps to equalize city size distribution in industrial-dominated countries. While innovation promotes an equalized city size distribution in general, globalization promotes polarization and then equalization of city size distribution. Information and communication technology triggers an equalized followed by a polarized city size distribution, and has contributed to an equalized city size distribution in service-dominated countries. It is evident that thriving new economic processes are changing the global urban hierarchy and reshaping national city size distribution. This study facilitates an in-depth understanding of the effects of the new economy on city size distribution, which is of great importance to promote more equitable development and urbanization.

A dominance tree approach to systems of cities

Characterizing the spatial organization of urban systems is a challenge which points to the more general problem of describing marked point processes in spatial statistics. We propose a non-parametric method that goes beyond standard tools of point pattern analysis and which is based on a mapping between the points and a ‘dominance tree’, constructed from a recursive analysis of their Voronoi tessellation. Using toy models, we show that the height of a node in this tree encodes both its mark and the structure of its neighborhood, reflecting its importance in the system. We use historical population data in France (1876–2018) and the US (1880–2010) and show that the method highlights multiscale urban dynamics experienced by these countries. These include non-monotonous city trajectories in the US, as revealed by the evolution of their height in the tree. We show that the height of a city in the tree is less sensitive to different statistical definitions of cities than its rank in the urban hierarchy. The method also captures the attraction basins of cities at successive scales, and while in both countries these basin sizes become more homogeneous at larger scales, they are also more heterogeneous in France than in the US. Finally, we introduce a simple graphical representation – the height clock – that monitors the evolution of the role of each city in its country.

What Affects the Economic Resilience of China's Yellow River Basin Amid Economic Crisis-From the Perspective of Spatial Heterogeneity.

This paper contributes to the study of regional economic resilience by analyzing the dynamic characteristics and influence mechanisms of resilience from the perspective of spatial heterogeneity. This paper focuses on the resistance and recoverability dimensions of resilience and analyzed the dynamic changes in economic resilience in China’s Yellow River Basin in response to the 2008 economic crisis. The multi-scale geographical weighted regression model was utilized to examine the effect of key factors on regional economic resilience. Our findings show the following: (1) The resistance of the Yellow River Basin to the financial crisis was high; however, the recoverability decreased significantly over time. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of driving factors was significant, and they had different effect scales on economic resilience. Related variety, government agency, environment, and opening to the global economy had a significant effect on economic resilience only in a specific small range. Specialization, unrelated variety, and location had opposite effects in different regions of the Yellow River Basin. (3) Specialization limited the area’s resistance to shock but enhanced the recoverability. Related variety improved regional economic resilience. Unrelated variety was not conducive to regional resistance to shock and had opposite effects on the recoverability in different regions. (4) Government agency and financial market promoted regional economic resilience. Environment pollution and resource-based economic structure limited regional economic resilience. Opening to the global economy and urban hierarchy limited regional resistance to shock, but strong economic development had the opposite effect of improved regional resistance. The location in the east of the Yellow River Basin enhanced the recoverability; however, the location in the west limited the recoverability.

Continuous vs. Discrete Urban Ranks: Explaining the Evolution in the Italian Urban Hierarchy over Five Decades

The reasons for changes in ranking within urban systems are a matter of a wide and long debate. Some focus on a continuous and smooth ordering of cities by their size within the urban system, in the tradition of Zipf’s law. Others focus on discrete, discontinuous ordering, as cities take on functions at different levels, such as specialized market places or high-level education, in the tradition of Christaller. We enter the debate by empirically evaluating whether the same determinants explain continuous or discrete changes in urban ranks in the evolution of the Italian urban hierarchy over the years 1971 to 2011. We empirically show that small, continuous changes of cities’ ranks have different drivers than large, discontinuous leaps. The presence of high-level functions in a city predicts major leaps across discrete ranks. Results are robust to the use of an instrumental variable strategy based on a shift–share argument.

Urban Cultural Hierarchy through the Lens of a National TV Reporting

There are only few doubts on the importance of culture for urban life. This article deals with the culture in Czech regional metropolises as it is reflected in the frame of the national TV reporting. The main objective of this article was to analyse and assess contributions that concern culture in individual capitals of self-governing regions in Czechia and are broadcasted within national TV coverage. The focal point of this article was represented by culture-related contributions bound just to the 13 regional metropolises in Czechia. The whole issue will be monitored from both quantitative and qualitative views. Contrary to other media topics, cultural themes tend to be much more positive and generally improve images and reputations of respective towns. In spite of the relevance of this topic, an amazingly small amount of research has been accomplished on the culture in Czech regional metropolises as portrayed within national TV coverage.

An Integrated Assessment of the Competitiveness of a Sustainable City within the Context of the COVID-19 Impact

It is crucial for a city to ensure economic stability and growth, along with social security and prosperity, not only for the present, but also for future generations. Increasingly, researchers are highlighting the need to apply sustainable urban growth principles to the field of urban development, arguing that this would reduce the negative impacts of urbanization processes (poverty, air pollution, unemployment, and crime). At the same time, cities are competing with one another to maintain their position in the urban hierarchy, not only in the short term, but also in the long term. The COVID-19 pandemic affected many areas of our everyday life: over 5.85 million deaths, increased unemployment, the introduction of restrictions, the closure of national borders, and various other circumstances have all undoubtedly affected to a certain degree those factors which serve to influence competitiveness. The aim of this article is to conduct an integrated competitiveness assessment of the Baltic capitals within the context of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the period 2015–2020, according to an integrated assessment model for urban competitiveness (MDK), which is based upon the principles of sustainable development. A systematic and comparative analysis of the concepts published in the scientific literature has been performed, the concepts of sustainable city and sustainable urban competitiveness have been formed, research and methods of urban competitiveness evaluation have been carried out, and a comprehensive competitiveness assessment of the results of the study showed that the evaluation of integrated competitiveness of a sustainable city in the context of the impact of COVID-19 (using the Baltic capitals as an example in the period 2015–2020), in terms of the multi-criteria SAW and TOPSIS evaluation methods, is in the highest position in 2016–2019. Vilnius is in second place during the whole period 2016–2019. Riga takes third place in 2015–2019 (except in 2020, when it exchanges places with Vilnius and takes second place). Meanwhile, the results of the COPRAS multicriteria method differ from those discussed above. In 2016, 2019, and 2020, Tallinn is in the highest position, and in 2015, 2017, and 2018, it is surpassed by Vilnius. Riga remained in third place from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, Vilnius took over this position.

Understanding patterns of internal migration during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

Existing empirical work has analysed the impacts of COVID‐19 on mortality, fertility and international migration. Less is known about the ways in which the COVID‐19 pandemic has influenced the patterns of internal migration. Anecdotal reports of mass migration from large cities to less populated areas have emerged, but lack of data has prevented empirically assessing this hypothesis. Drawing on geographically granular administrative population register data, we aim to analyse the extent of change in the patterns of internal migration across the urban hierarchy in Spain during 2020. Our results show a decline of 2.5% in the number of internal migration moves, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic, returning to pre‐pandemic levels in late 2020. Results also reveal unusually large net migration losses in core cities and net migration gains in rural areas. Net migration losses in cities and gains in rural areas particularly accumulated following the elimination of the strict lockdown measures in June. Yet, these net losses and gains trended to pre‐pandemic levels in late 2020, and movements between cities, and between cities and suburbs, continued to dominate the internal migration system. Thus, while the COVID‐19 pandemic exerted notable changes in the geographic balance of internal migration flows, these changes appear to have been temporary and did not significantly alter the existing structures of the national migration system.

Measles resurgence in Brazil: analysis of the 2019 epidemic in the state of São Paulo.

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE To analyze the epidemiological profile of cases and the pattern of spatial diffusion of the largest measles epidemic in Brazil that occurred in the post-elimination period in the state of São Paulo.METHOD A cross-sectional study based on confirmed measles cases in 2019. Bivariate analysis was performed for socioeconomic, clinical, and epidemiological variables, according to prior vaccination and hospitalization, combined with an analysis of spatial diffusion of cases using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method.RESULTS Of the 15,598 confirmed cases, 2,039 were hospitalized and 17 progressed to death. The epidemic peak occurred in epidemiological week 33, after confirmation of the first case, in the epidemiological week 6. Most cases were male (52.1%), aged between 18 and 29 years (38.7%), identified as whites (70%). Young adults (39.7%) and children under five years (32.8%) were the most affected age groups. A higher proportion of previous vaccination was observed in whites as compared to Blacks, browns, yellows and indigenous people (p < 0.001), as well as in the most educated group compared to the other categories (p < 0.001). The risk of hospitalization was higher in children than in the older age group (RI = 2.19; 95%CI: 1.66–2.88), as well as in the unvaccinated than in the vaccinated (RI = 1.59; 95%CI: 1.45–1.75). The pattern of diffusion by contiguity combined with diffusion by relocation followed the urban hierarchy of the main cities’ regions of influence.CONCLUSION In addition to routine vaccination in children, the findings indicate the need for immunization campaigns for young adults. In addition, studies that seek to investigate the occurrence of clusters of vulnerable populations, prone to lower vaccination coverage, are essential to broaden the understanding of the dynamics of transmission and, thus, reorienting control strategies that ensure disease elimination.

The impact of borders and distance on knowledge spillovers — Evidence from cross-regional scientific and technological collaboration

Scientific and technical cooperation (STC) is an important knowledge spillover method that significantly impacts the development of regional innovation systems. Although previous studies have explored the factors influencing STC, they have often overlooked border effects. Using STC data, this study explores the heterogeneous effects of natural, administrative, and cultural borders on cross-regional STC using spatial analysis and a negative binomial regression model and reveals the knowledge spillovers' border effect and its mechanism. The empirical results suggest the following: (1) Different types of borders have different effects on STC, with administrative borders having the strongest hindering effect on knowledge spillovers. (2) Population flow significantly weakens the negative effect of administrative borders on STC and knowledge spillovers, but scientific and technological competition strengthens it. (3) There is an urban hierarchy effect and a geographical proximity effect on knowledge spillovers.

The United States Urban Hierarchy: An Update

The sole well-recognized United States (US) urban hierarchy articulation essentially is outdated, even though selected recent work seeks to upgrade it. The primary goal of this paper is to update it in a definitive and comprehensive fashion. This paper describes the conceptual framework underlying such observed orderings, itemizes certain strengths and weaknesses of the existing articulation, and then posits a justifiable renovated US urban hierarchy. Next, recapped analyses expose both contiguity and urban hierarchy spatial autocorrelation components of the upper tiers of the 2020 US metropolitan area population rank size distribution. Noteworthy is that these descriptions entail positive-negative spatial autocorrelation mixtures. Inventoried output from the research efforts leading to this paper includes: a contemporary US urban hierarchy articulation that should prove serviceable for at least the next few decades; and, an apparatus providing a practical contribution for improving cultural, environmental, and social aspects of systems of cities through, for example, better cost containment and more efficient/effective delivery of urban public health services and utilization/consumption. The Earth's scientists need this category of tool to incorporate into methodology combating negative effects of globalization that materialize via spatial diffusion.

Spatial Regression in the Presence of a Hierarchical Transportation Network: Application to Land Price Analysis

Transportation networks have a hierarchical structure, and the spatial scale of their impact on urban growth differs depending on the hierarchy. However, in empirical analyses of the impacts that transportation has on land use and prices, such hierarchy is often examined using dummy variables, and the network dependence and heterogeneity of impacts are often ignored. Thus, this study develops a spatial regression method that considers not only spatial dependence, but also network dependence within a hierarchical transportation network. This method was developed by extending the random effects eigenvector spatial filtering approach. Subsequently, it was applied to a pre-existing analysis that focused on the impacts that high-speed rail (HSR) had on residential land prices in Japan over the last 30 years. The results of the analysis suggested that HSR lines had hierarchical effects on residential land prices. The results also provide interesting insight into the ongoing problem of Japanese urban hierarchy; that is, the excessive concentration of population and industry in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Characteristics of Changes in Urban Land Use and Efficiency Evaluation in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau from 1990 to 2020

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau has seen decades of changes in land use/cover as a result of urbanization and regional planning policy. Research on the efficiency of social development aids in the pursuit of social and environmental sustainability. Based on CLUD and socioeconomic statistical data, this study systematically analyses the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of urban land use in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and evaluates its social development efficiency from three perspectives—the holistic, the municipal, and urban hierarchy—by using indicators such as the Moran index, land use efficiency, and urban expansion speed and proportion. Results show that the urbanization rate climbed from 21.26% to 54.95%, and the area of urban lands increased from 201.93 km2 to 796.59 km2 from 1990 to 2020, with urban lands expanding from the Lanzhou–Xining City Area to the central and south of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. The holistic urban land use efficiency grew from 1.14 to 1.53, while the UPD decreased slightly from 1.44 to 1.31, and the UED increased steadily from 1.40 to 12.97 per decade. Moreover, we should pay attention to the rational allocation of land in human, social and ecosystem terms to comprehensively improve the quality of urbanization across the plateau.