Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy最新文献

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted on human lives, especially local economies. However, our understanding of the relationship between COVID-19 and local economies is still limited due to the lack of empirical evidence. The objective of this study is to explore COVID-19’s impacts on sales volume of local commercial district by focusing on the city of Seoul, South Korea. To identify the spatial spillover effects among commercial districts, we conducted a spatial panel data analysis by employing spatial panel models. Our results show that the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected sales volume in commercial districts in Seoul. However, COVID-19’s impact on sales volume varies by business type and district type. For example, among the restaurant, retail, and service sectors, the business most negatively affected by COVID-19 was retail, while restaurants were the least affected. Our spatial panel models also show that spatial spillover effects exist among commercial districts, indicating that neighboring commercial districts interact spatially. Particularly, negative spatial spillover effects have appeared in traditional markets during the pandemic. It is suggested that high priority for policy support should be given to the firms and districts that have experienced the most financial damage from COVID-19, and place-based policies that consider spatial spillover effects should be carefully designed and promptly implemented.

Port-industry-city is a primary carrier of high-quality economic development, and promoting the integration of port, industry and city is an important measure to realize port reform and industry-city integration. Based on the panel data of port-industry-city in the Bohai Rim region from 2012 to 2021, this study used the ITARA-EDAS model, ArcGIS spatial analysis tool and spatial Durbin model to explore the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and spatial spillover effects of port-industry-city integration. The results show that: (1) The integration of port, industry and city in the Bohai Rim region has significant spatiotemporal differences, and the distribution pattern of "high in the south and low in the north" is more prominent, especially the gradient pattern with core cities as the center and key cities as the support. (2) The economic impact of port-industry-city integration in the Bohai Rim region has an agglomeration-diffusion effect, i.e., port-industry-city integration promotes the agglomeration of factors of production and promotes the growth of the local economy, which results in the restriction of the development of the neighboring regions; at the same time, port-industry-city integration accelerates the investment in the infrastructure of the neighboring regions through the extension of the industrial chain and its functions and leads to the inter-regional mobility of the production factors and regional cooperation. (3) There are significant regional differences in the direct and indirect effects of port-industry-city integration in provincial-level areas, and there are differences in the regression results with those in the Bohai Rim region. That is, the integration of port, industry and city in Liaoning and Shandong has a significant positive spatial spillover effect, while the economic impact of port-industry-city integration in the Tianjin-Hebei region has a diffusion boundary.

Urbanization has drastically altered the population structure of China. While existing quantitative analyses of urban scale evolution provide reference and basis for optimizing urban systems, our study goes further by enriching knowledge and insights in this field through empirical investigation of the latest census data. We explore the evolution of distribution from 2000, 2010 to 2020, utilizing Zipf 's law, Gini coefficient and a designed scale growth index. We find that the Zipf index fell from 0.850 in 2000, 0.913 in 2010, to 0.949 in 2020, revealing a growing trend of agglomeration, but excluding top-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing in the latter decade. After 2010, large cities and big cities located at the forefront are the main drivers of agglomeration, and the difference in scale increment of Tier-1 big cities has expanded significantly. Capital cities of the central and western regions became new important migration destinations. Chongqing and Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai have the largest difference in their scale growth index, representing the two evolution models of nearby urbanization and remote urbanization respectively. To achieve a higher quality of new-type urbanization in the future, it is essential to coordinate the simultaneous promotion of both remote and nearby urbanization patterns.

Unplanned and rapid urban growth in developing countries significantly deters effective planning. The absence of timely updated data and suitable tools to monitor urban growth adds to the menace of poor planning. Thus, the present study uses neighbourhood densities to compare the spatiotemporal patterns of seventeen urban local bodies of India's fast-growing Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Landsat satellite images for two decades (1999–2019) are classified, and land use/cover maps are prepared. A walkable neighbourhood of 1 sq. km is then used to determine landscape typologies. While the high-density built-up areas help identify urban cores, the low- and medium-density built-up areas help extract the ribbon development. Also, the developable lands help determine the growth mode. The results show that between 1999–2019, the built-up and vegetation increased by 89.44% and 20%, while the wetlands, waterbodies and other land declined by 13.5%, 8.5% and 16%. The urban cores analysis reveals a balanced development between 1999–2009, with both primary and secondary cores flourishing, whereas a diffusion pattern is observed between 2009–2019, with the secondary cores growing much faster than the primary core. Although the ribbon development is reduced in major urban centers due to densification, an increase is observed in the suburban fringes, mainly along the major highways. The growth typologies reveal edge expansion as the dominant growth mode, followed by infilling and leapfrog. The directional analysis shows a positive influence of road densities on urban growth. The study helps determine important aspects of urban growth that are essential for planners to ensure sustainable development.

This work presents an operational model to identify potential areas for new railway lines in Austria, utilizing a topographic and passenger potential and considering the different inclination requirements for regional and main railway lines. By applying a GIS digital terrain model based on a 500 m squared reference system, we identified 61,497 cells suitable for new regional lines and 11,347 cells suitable for main railway lines. These cells show a variety of spatial potential classes. Out of Austria’s 83,883 km² total surface, all these identified cells sum up to an area of 15,374 km² for new regional lines and 2,837 km² for new main lines. We validate the identified cells with existing and abandoned railway alignments. The model shows a fit of 80%. Furthermore, we put the results into perspective by comparing individual cell potentials with their public transport quality levels of existing supplied services, and we apply a five-scenario sensitivity analysis to identify the impact of the model’s foundations. After debating the model’s particularities and their impact on planning procedures, we conclude that our model is more comprehensive than today’s strategic rail transport planning procedures, primarily based on political desires or selected expert suggestions.

Urban growth changes spatial uses over time due to different dynamics. These processes cause many physical, environmental, and socioeconomic problems, such as climate change, pollution, and population-related events. Therefore, it is essential to predict future urban expansion to produce effective policies in sustainable urban planning and make long-term plans. Many models, such as dynamic, statistical, and Cellular Automata and Markov Chain (CA-MC) models, are used in geographic information system (GIS) environments to meet the high-performance requirements of land use modeling. This study estimated the growth of settled areas in Eskişehir city center using models developed using two different methods. In this context, settled areas in the city center were examined within the scope of 1990–2018, and the growth areas of settled areas in 2046 were predicted using the CA-Markov method in Model 1: Quantum GIS (QGIS) MOLUSCE plugin and Model 2: IDRISI Selva. While settled areas are continuously increasing, other urban areas are decreasing. Model 1 predicts an increase of 1195 ha in settled areas by 2046, while Model 2 predicts an increase of 45,022 ha. At the same time, it is concluded that settled areas will grow in a central location in Model 1, while they will spread in an east-west extension in Model 2. The study results show that QGIS-based modeling predicts more limited spatial growth than IDRISI Selva. The research interprets growth in terms of the staging of urban services, the population size of neighboring cities, distances, and income levels based on the internal and external dynamics of the city.

Increasingly frequent land evolution in China seriously impacts the sustainable supply of ecosystem services as well as the economy's steady and sustainable growth. Driven by physiographic, socioeconomic, and transportation accessibility factors, China has experienced significant mutual changes among gra ssland, forest, unused land, and cropland over the past 20 years, particularly before 2010. Projections for 2030 and 2060 indicate an increase in cropland, accompanied by a degradation of forest and grassland. Future land changes will vary under different policy scenarios. Specifically, the source of urbanization land will shift from cropland to grassland if cropland is protected, whereas cropland areas will continue to decrease under the environmental preservation scenario. In the future, China should maintain agricultural policies based on cropland protection and the ecological restoration policy that places an emphasis on natural restoration. These findings provide a reference for achieving sustainable land development.

Fengshui is extensively employed in China to determine the best locations for ancient buildings, villages, palaces, and tombs. Exploring the science of Fengshui is vital in improving the quality of urban planning, site selection, and human environment. We take the “Form School” Fengshui as the research object, take the Location Selection of Hakka Villages as an Example, and propose a comprehensive site selection model (AHP-GIS model) by combining expert consultation, hierarchical analysis, spatial superposition analysis and kernel density analysis. According to the geographical single-factor evaluation, AHP-GIS evaluation, and the distribution results of traditional Hakka villages in Ganzhou, China, a comparative analysis is conducted to verify the scientific nature of Fengshui. We also evaluate the Science of Fengshui from the micro perspective by the example of the site selection of Bailu Ancient Village. The results show that the geographic single-factor evaluation results and AHP-GIS comprehensive evaluation results coincide with the spatial distribution of Hakka traditional villages. The Fengshui has played an important guiding role in the site selection of Hakka traditional villages in Ganzhou. Its basic principles contain rich knowledge of geography, ecology, psychology and sociology, which has important reference value for guiding urban planning and construction and improving human settlements.

A significant part of the rural problems is related to infrastructure issues, which can cause economic, cultural, and social problems in villages or rural human settlements. Various methods for evaluating infrastructure issues are currently used traditionally in many countries. However, due to the rapid growth and range of infrastructure problems in the villages, as well as the need for immediate and optimal handling of the problems in the villages, the need for a tool to record and monitor the problems as best as possible is felt more than ever. Today, with the advancement of Geographic Information System (GIS) and web-based tools, a quick and easy platform for participatory and collaborative spatial problem solving has been provided at any place, at any time, and with any means. The current research involves the evaluation of infrastructures in rural human settlements using the Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) tool. The research consists of three main stages: (1) the needs assessment of the PPGIS to solve the infrastructure problems of rural human settlements, (2) the design of the system based on the needs assessment, and (3) the evaluation of the usability of the designed system in the villages. To achieve the above goals, first, a system needs assessment questionnaire was designed and distributed in the villages of Shahriar County, Tehran province, Iran. Then, based on the needs assessment results, a PPGIS was designed and implemented in the villages of Eskman, Dehshad Bala, Razi Abad Bayan, and Asil Abad. The people of these villages were invited to report their problems in a location-based manner through the PPGIS tool and finally to complete the questionnaire related to the system’s usability. The results show that 24% reported that water and sewage problems were the highest infrastructure problems. Regarding using the system’s features, 92% of the participants used point features to report problems, and 20% uploaded their problem reports along with a photo. The results of the evaluation of the system’s usability show that despite the willingness of the villagers to use the system, the need for training in the use of maps and geographic information tools, simplifying and improving the user interface, creating a culture in the field of using geographic information systems to participate in reporting problems is felt.

Some studies speak of the financial and economic benefits of urban sprawl indicating that there is little evidence that compact cities outside of high-income countries are more productive. Considering the contradictions, this research seeks to identify and analyze the financial factors driving or impeding urban sprawl in one of the Iranian large cities, Qom City. The results show that urban sprawl is a costly phenomenon for the municipality in the long term. However, urban officials have some incentives to encourage urban sprawl. The most significant advantage of urban sprawl is the increase in income from the sale of municipal (immovable) property. More than 50% of the municipality's revenues are provided from land and related developments and this increases the incentive to expand the city and the lack of control over the urban sprawl. Urban sprawl also imposes financial costs on the municipality, and the most significant financial obstacle is the increase in the costs of urban transportation and traffic improvement(26% on average up to 55% in some years). Iranian municipalities mainly rely on unsustainable revenue sources, and a large part of their revenues are provided through urban sprawl and its related revenue sources, threatening peripheral environments more than ever.