IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipe/ipetds/0189.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Quantifying Urban Centrality: A Simple Index Proposal And International Comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Rafael Henrique Moraes Pereira
  • Vanessa Nadalin
  • Leonardo Monasterio
  • Pedro Henrique Melo Albuquerque

Abstract

This study introduces a new measure of urban centrality. It identifies distinct urban structures from different spatial patterns of jobs and resident population. The proposed urban centrality index constitutes an extension of the spatial separation index (MIDELFART-KNARVIK et al., 2000). It is suggested that urban structure should be more accurately analyzed by considering a centrality scale (varying from extreme monocentricity to extreme polycentricity) rather than a binary variable (monocentric or polycentric). The proposed index controls for differences in size and shape of the geographic areas for which data is available, and can be calculated using different variables, such as employment and population densities and trip generation rates. The properties of the index are illustrated in simulated artificial data sets. Simulation results for hypothesized urban forms are compared to other similar measures proposed by previous literature. The index is then applied to the urban structure of four different metropolitan areas: Pittsburgh and Los Angeles in the United States; São Paulo, Brazil; and Paris, France, The index is compared to other traditional spatial agglomeration measures, such as global and local Moran’s I, and density gradient estimations.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Henrique Moraes Pereira & Vanessa Nadalin & Leonardo Monasterio & Pedro Henrique Melo Albuquerque, 2015. "Quantifying Urban Centrality: A Simple Index Proposal And International Comparison," Discussion Papers 0189, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipe:ipetds:0189
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/TDs/ingles/dp_189.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alex Anas & Richard Arnott & Kenneth A. Small, 1998. "Urban Spatial Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1426-1464, September.
    2. Daniel P. McMillen, 2004. "Employment Densities, Spatial Autocorrelation, and Subcenters in Large Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 225-244, May.
    3. Daniel Griffith & David Wong, 2007. "Modeling population density across major US cities: a polycentric spatial regression approach," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 53-75, April.
    4. Tim Schwanen & Frans M. Dieleman & Martin Dijst, 2004. "The Impact of Metropolitan Structure on Commute Behavior in the Netherlands: A Multilevel Approach," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 304-333, September.
    5. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1991. "Subcenters in the Los Angeles region," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 163-182, July.
    6. repec:brs:ecchap:02 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. H. Kelejian, Harry & Prucha, Ingmar R., 2001. "On the asymptotic distribution of the Moran I test statistic with applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 219-257, September.
    8. David M. Levinson & Ajay Kumar, 1997. "Density and the Journey to Work," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 147-172, March.
    9. Anderson, John E., 1982. "Cubic-spline urban-density functions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 155-167, September.
    10. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Overman, Henry G., 2004. "The spatial distribution of economic activities in the European Union," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 64, pages 2845-2909, Elsevier.
    11. Catherine Baumont & Cem Ertur & Julie Le Gallo, 2003. "Spatial Analysis Of Employment And Population Density: The Case Of The Agglomeration Of Dijon, 1999," Urban/Regional 0310003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Fujita, Masahisa & Ogawa, Hideaki, 1982. "Multiple equilibria and structural transition of non-monocentric urban configurations," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 161-196, May.
    13. Nicholas Crafts & Abay Mulatu, 2005. "What explains the location of industry in Britain, 1871–1931?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 499-518, August.
    14. McMillen, Daniel P., 2001. "Nonparametric Employment Subcenter Identification," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 448-473, November.
    15. K.H. Midelfart & H.G. Overman & S.J. Redding & A.J. Venables, 2000. "The location of European industry," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 142, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaume Masip Tresserra, 2012. "Identifying the Employment and Population Centers at regional and metropolitan scale: The Case of Catalonia and Barcelona," ERSA conference papers ersa12p70, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Jaume Masip Tresserra, 2012. "Does Employment Density death? Towards a new integrated methodology to identify and characterize Sub-Centres," ERSA conference papers ersa12p71, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Frederic Gilli, 2009. "Sprawl or Reagglomeration? The Dynamics of Employment Deconcentration and Industrial Transformation in Greater Paris," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1385-1420, June.
    4. Josep Roca Cladera & Carlos R. Marmolejo Duarte & Montserrat Moix, 2009. "Urban Structure and Polycentrism: Towards a Redefinition of the Sub-centre Concept," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(13), pages 2841-2868, December.
    5. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel, 2010. "Population suburbanization in Barcelona, 1991-2005: Is its spatial structure changing?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 119-132, June.
    6. Juan Zhu & Xinyi Niu & Yao Wang, 2024. "Polycentric Urban Spatial Structure Identification Based on Morphological and Functional Dimensions: Evidence from Three Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-22, March.
    7. Bumsoo Lee & Peter Gordon, 2010. "Urban Structure: It's Role in Urban Growth, Net New Business Formation and Industrial Churn," Working Paper 8515, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    8. Ivan Muñiz & Miguel-Àngel García-López, 2012. "Chaos and order in the contemporary city. The impact of urban spatial structure on population density and commuting distance in Barcelona, 1986-2001," Working Papers wpdea1207, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    9. Blanca Arellano & Montserrat Moix & Josep Roca, 2011. "Towards a New Methodology to evaluate the Urban structure of the Metropolitan Systems; Chicago and Barcelona Metropolitan Areas as Examples," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1779, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Xuejun Liu & Qisheng Pan & Lester King & Zhonghua Jin, 2019. "Analysing the changes of employment subcentres: A comparison study of Houston and Dallas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(12), pages 2532-2548, September.
    11. McMillen, Daniel P. & Smith, Stefani C., 2003. "The number of subcenters in large urban areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 321-338, May.
    12. Chunil Kim & Choongik Choi, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.
    13. Vicente Romero de à vila Serrano, 2019. "The Intrametropolitan Geography of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS): A Comparative Analysis of Six European and U.S. City-Regions," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(4), pages 279-295, November.
    14. Lee, Sungwon & Lee, Bumsoo, 2014. "The influence of urban form on GHG emissions in the U.S. household sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 534-549.
    15. Peng Ji & Lilin Yuan, 2023. "Whether polycentric spatial structure is conducive to regional coordinated development: A study on urban agglomerations in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 940-961, December.
    16. Alegria, Tito, 2016. "Polycentric versus hierarchical tertiary centres: comparing San Diego and Tijuana," MPRA Paper 98145, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Jifei Ban & Richard Arnott & Jacob L. Macdonald, 2017. "Identifying Employment Subcenters: The Method of Exponentially Declining Cutoffs," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-33, March.
    18. Miquel-Àngel García-López, 2010. "The Accessibility City. When Transport Infrastructure Matters in Urban Spatial Structure," Working Papers XREAP2010-01, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Feb 2010.
    19. Miguel Angel Garcia Lopez & Ivan Muñiz Olivera, 2005. "Employment descentralisation: polycentric compaction or sprawl? The case of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1986-1996," Working Papers wpdea0511, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    20. Ajay Agarwal & Genevieve Giuliano & Christian Redfearn, 2012. "Strangers in our midst: the usefulness of exploring polycentricity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(2), pages 433-450, April.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ipe:ipetds:0189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabio Schiavinatto (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipeaabr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.