Submit to Urban Science Review for Urban Science Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue "The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities"

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 10293

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Thomas W. Sanchez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Tech, Arlington, VA 22203, USA
Interests: urban planning; transport; social equity; scholarly impact
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xinyue Ye

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning&Urban Data Science Lab, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: geospatial artificial intelligence; regional science; smart cities; urban computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The study of human mobility and transport accessibility has implications for settlement patterns and quality of life that range in scale from local to global. Opportunities for understanding individual and population mobility have rapidly increased with the relatively recent introduction and adoption of cell phones, which at the same time have dramatically increased the pervasiveness of global positioning system (GPS) technologies. Because of this, the volume of data we now have available on human communication and movement has exploded. Fortunately, this increase in data has been accompanied by more efficient data-mining approaches and continued advances in computing capabilities. However, are more sophisticated analyses of human mobility also increasing our knowledge and understanding of the quality of life and livability of urban areas?

This Special Issue focuses on human mobility, transport access, and livable cities from a multidisciplinary perspective that will both enhance our methodological approaches as well as emphasize research outcomes that a) build connections to quality-of-life indicators, b) increase our understanding of the dynamics between mobility, accessibility, and livable cities, and c) present innovative metrics that intersect mobility, accessibility, and livability. We strongly encourage submissions that highlight a broad range of disciplinary perspectives on these topics. This Special Issue will place an emphasis on the development of innovative research frameworks, theories, methods, and good case studies of tackling key challenges related to the research of human dynamics for urban life quality.

Prof. Dr. Thomas W. Sanchez
Prof. Dr. Xinyue Ye
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

human mobility
transport accessibility
livable cities

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Open AccessArticle

Formulating a Railway Station Accessibility (RsAI) Model for Station Hierarchy Classification

Rahul Vardhan Bhatnagar

and

Sewa Ram

Urban Sci. 2023, 7(2), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7020048 - 08 May 2023

Viewed by 1544

Abstract

The accessibility of railway stations plays a crucial role in assessing service quality, predicting travel patterns, and developing infrastructure in the surrounding areas. This paper proposes a railway station accessibility index (RsAI) (external) that incorporates various parameters, including network performance, into a weighted measure. We reviewed different methods for measuring accessibility levels for transit systems to identify the most suitable models for this study. The primary objective of this paper is to classify railway stations into different hierarchies based on their accessibility levels and to develop an external accessibility index to measure their performance. With increasing urbanization and congestion, accessing railway stations has become more challenging, impacting railway efficiency and leading to modal shifts to other transportation systems. This paper not only identifies critical parameters but also emphasizes the need to measure and improve last-mile network performance to enhance station accessibility, thereby benefiting both passengers and the railway industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Open AccessArticle

An Application of the Node–Place Model to Explore the Land Use–Transport Development Dynamics of the I-287 Corridor

Amirhossein Baghestani

and

Urban Sci. 2023, 7(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7010021 - 08 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1550

Abstract

A sustainable development plan should identify future urban development sites to maintain a balanced condition between transportation systems and land use. Most commonly used for Transit Oriented Development (TOD), the node–place model checks the balance between transportation systems and land use. While previous node–place research focused mostly on rail transportation, this research focuses on highway accessibility to assess future growth and urban development. To gain insight into the development dynamics, the node–place model is utilized with a focus on the I-287 Corridor located in New York, U.S. The node function describes the transport activity and connectedness of the area to other places of interest, which measures the accessibility of the locations, the type of connections, and the number of directions connected. In addition, population, number of workers in the labor force, and degree of a functional mix are also considered for place values. According to the results, four exits are in balanced areas with stable traffic and customer flow support and strong support from local government departments. This case study contributes to a deeper understanding and evaluation of highway accessibility and provides an exciting assessment tool for sustainable development planning. While node–place models cannot predict development, they can be used to understand development dynamics better. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Open AccessArticle

Impacts of Local Transit Systems on Vulnerable Populations in Michigan

and

Urban Sci. 2023, 7(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7010016 - 31 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1100

Abstract

Residents in small urban and rural areas frequently depend on unreliable personal transportation to maintain their lifestyle and get to essential destinations within their society. Especially, vulnerable populations, such as seniors and low-income residents, have lower access to personal vehicles and therefore are mobility-challenged. Being challenged in terms of mobility has effects on the health of the population concerned as this constraint not only limits economic activity that leads to perpetuation of lower means and poverty but also social activity that leads to physical and mental isolation. In a study of Michigan public and nonprofit transit systems, the customer satisfaction, particularly of vulnerable populations, with transit services is analyzed through on-board intercept surveys. Results illustrate the significance of employment, age, income, disability, and demand-response services in public transit planning and ultimately public health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities)

Open AccessArticle

Relations of Public Transport Use and Car Ownership with Neighbourhood and City-Level Travel Purposes in Kerman, Iran

Liberty Mapamba

and

Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci6030048 - 13 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1890

Abstract

There are significant deviations in travel mode choice drivers between developed and developing countries. This study investigates the determinants of car ownership and public transit ridership in Iran. Using survey data from 800 respondents, the determinants of travel behaviour of Kerman residents were investigated, based on gender, age, household size, car ownership, frequency of public transport ridership, number of working days per week, number of shopping activities in the neighbourhood per week, number of entertainment activities in the neighbourhood per week, and number of shopping activities in the city. Two multivariate models were estimated using the OLS and WLS methods. Our findings suggested that owning a car tends to increase as age, household size, number of working days and number of shopping days in the city decreases. An increase in the number of entertainment days in the neighbourhood raised the probability of car ownership while shopping in the neighbourhood did not influence car ownership. Public transport use was negatively influenced by gender, increased age and number of working days, but positively influenced by shopping in the city. Our research results have significant implications for transport planning. Firstly, changes in household size may not be a good basis to inform planning as our findings show that in Kerman as household size increases, car ownership decreases, and it does not influence public transport. Secondly, when planning road network connectivity (land use) higher working days are expected to increase both car ownership and public transport use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Open AccessArticle

A Geometric Classification of World Urban Road Networks

Mohamed Badhrudeen

Sybil Derrible

Trivik Verma

Amirhassan Kermanshah

and

Angelo Furno

Urban Sci. 2022, 6(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci6010011 - 11 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2932

Abstract

This article presents a method to uncover universal patterns and similarities in the urban road networks of the 80 most populated cities in the world. To that end, we used degree distribution, link length distribution, and intersection angle distribution as topological and geometric properties of road networks. Moreover, we used ISOMAP, a nonlinear dimension reduction technique, to better express variations across cities, and we used K-means to cluster cities. Overall, we uncovered one universal pattern between the number of nodes and links across all cities and identified five classes of cities. Gridiron Cities tend to have many 90° angles. Long Link Cities have a disproportionately high number of long links and include mostly Chinese cities that developed towards the end of the 20th century. Organic Cities tend to have short links and more non-90 and 180° angles; they also include relatively more historical cities. Hybrid Cities tend to have both short and long links; they include cities that evolved both historically and recently. Finally, Mixed Cities exhibit features from all other classes. These findings can help transport planners and policymakers identify peer cities that share similar characteristics and use their characteristics to craft tailored transport policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Special Issue "The Implications of Human Mobility and Accessibility for Transportation and Livable Cities"

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (5 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI