Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106720
Charles QC Li , Arianna Salazar-Miranda
Long-distance travel is a major contributor to urban CO2 emissions. This paper uses Generative AI to simulate zoning reforms and explore their potential associations with travel distances. We combine nationwide parcel-level land-use data with GPS mobility records from over 400 U.S. cities, and train a generative adversarial network (GAN) to predict the relationship between land-use mixing and the share of trips taken within a 15-minute walk. On average, simulated reforms that increase land-use mix by 20% are associated with a 7% relative increase in short-distance trips—but in one-quarter of cities, the same increase in land use mix produces gains up to three times larger. We also find that targeting low-density or single-use neighborhoods are associated with improvements comparable to citywide reforms. These results highlight new opportunities for planners to explore where zoning strategies may reduce travel distances.
{"title":"Imagining land-use reforms: Can mixing reduce long distance travel?","authors":"Charles QC Li , Arianna Salazar-Miranda","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106720","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106720","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Long-distance travel is a major contributor to urban CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. This paper uses Generative AI to simulate zoning reforms and explore their potential associations with travel distances. We combine nationwide parcel-level land-use data with GPS mobility records from over 400 U.S. cities, and train a generative adversarial network (GAN) to predict the relationship between land-use mixing and the share of trips taken within a 15-minute walk. On average, simulated reforms that increase land-use mix by 20% are associated with a 7% relative increase in short-distance trips—but in one-quarter of cities, the same increase in land use mix produces gains up to three times larger. We also find that targeting low-density or single-use neighborhoods are associated with improvements comparable to citywide reforms. These results highlight new opportunities for planners to explore where zoning strategies may reduce travel distances.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106720"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145799139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106761
Qionghuan Liu , Renzhong Guo , Zhengdong Huang , Ding Ma , Biao He , Cunjin Wang , Xiaoming Li
This study quantifies the synergistic relationship between transport flow and economic activity, as conventional methods like road accessibility and GDP are insufficient for highly mobile megacities. Synergy measures connections in complex systems, with flow data capturing the interplay between transport and economic elements. The study proposes a framework based on flow data and synergy effect theory to analyze this relationship in network space. Specifically, using highway traffic flow data and network analysis, we constructed the synergetic effects model to analyze the interplay between highway traffic flow and economy in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The results showed that highway traffic flow exhibited significant spatial discrepancy, and primary highway traffic flow was located in the GBA in Shenzhen–Dongguan and Guangzhou–Foshan. The higher comprehensive economic indices were located on the Guangzhou–Foshan–Macao and Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong. The potential economic connectivity strength of Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen was significantly higher than that of other cities. The synergistic effect between highway traffic flow and potential economic connectivity in the GBA was highly related to the strength of highway traffic flow, and it was significantly higher in Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen than in other regions. This study can support sustained economic development and the implementation of optimized transportation layouts.
{"title":"The synergistic effect between highway traffic flow and potential economic connectivity under network space in the megacity region","authors":"Qionghuan Liu , Renzhong Guo , Zhengdong Huang , Ding Ma , Biao He , Cunjin Wang , Xiaoming Li","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106761","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106761","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study quantifies the synergistic relationship between transport flow and economic activity, as conventional methods like road accessibility and GDP are insufficient for highly mobile megacities. Synergy measures connections in complex systems, with flow data capturing the interplay between transport and economic elements. The study proposes a framework based on flow data and synergy effect theory to analyze this relationship in network space. Specifically, using highway traffic flow data and network analysis, we constructed the synergetic effects model to analyze the interplay between highway traffic flow and economy in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The results showed that highway traffic flow exhibited significant spatial discrepancy, and primary highway traffic flow was located in the GBA in Shenzhen–Dongguan and Guangzhou–Foshan. The higher comprehensive economic indices were located on the Guangzhou–Foshan–Macao and Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong. The potential economic connectivity strength of Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen was significantly higher than that of other cities. The synergistic effect between highway traffic flow and potential economic connectivity in the GBA was highly related to the strength of highway traffic flow, and it was significantly higher in Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen than in other regions. This study can support sustained economic development and the implementation of optimized transportation layouts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106761"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145799134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106749
David J. Hoelzel , Joachim Scheiner
Built and social environments and parents' perceptions of these environments are major influences of children's practices. Thus, many studies consider these influences in understanding independent mobility, physical activity or mode choice. Given this importance, it is surprising that only few studies touch upon direct interconnections between built environments and parental perceptions, independent from children's practices. The present study aims to provide insights on how objectively measured built environments are associated with parental perceptions of built and social environments, with a particular focus on the role of residential environments. Furthermore, as conceptual models of children's mobility understand parental perceptions mainly as mediators of built environments, the study considers factors unrelated to built environments to assess potential limits to planning intervention. Overall, we find rather weak associations between built environments and parental perceptions. While ANOVA results show that parental perceptions of built and social environments partly vary with the residential environment families live in, variables related to school routes exhibit stronger associations than variables representing residential environments in regression analyses. Foreign citizenship emerged as a surprisingly influential factor and should be considered in future research and practice.
{"title":"How do parents' subjective perceptions about the built and social environments relate to objective indicators of the built environment? Investigating direct associations between major context factors of children's mobility","authors":"David J. Hoelzel , Joachim Scheiner","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Built and social environments and parents' perceptions of these environments are major influences of children's practices. Thus, many studies consider these influences in understanding independent mobility, physical activity or mode choice. Given this importance, it is surprising that only few studies touch upon direct interconnections between built environments and parental perceptions, independent from children's practices. The present study aims to provide insights on how objectively measured built environments are associated with parental perceptions of built and social environments, with a particular focus on the role of residential environments. Furthermore, as conceptual models of children's mobility understand parental perceptions mainly as mediators of built environments, the study considers factors unrelated to built environments to assess potential limits to planning intervention. Overall, we find rather weak associations between built environments and parental perceptions. While ANOVA results show that parental perceptions of built and social environments partly vary with the residential environment families live in, variables related to school routes exhibit stronger associations than variables representing residential environments in regression analyses. Foreign citizenship emerged as a surprisingly influential factor and should be considered in future research and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106749"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145799317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-28DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106791
Safar Ghaedrahmati , Mohamad Rezapour
Vacant housing in Iran represents a significant economic and social challenge, exacerbating housing speculation and deepening market instability. This study investigates the structural and institutional drivers behind vacant homes in Tehran using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). We triangulate 30 expert interviews (2013−2023) with national housing policy documents and empirical literature, employing Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. Our findings identify five key drivers: (1) state-market collusion, particularly through military-affiliated banks; (2) failed enforcement of vacancy-related tax laws; (3) speculative accumulation and land banking; (4) weak inter-agency coordination; and (5) inadequate regulatory oversight. Theoretically, the study advances Harvey's circuits of capital by introducing Tehran's military-financialization nexus. Empirically, it informs urban housing policies in Global South cities dealing with similar institutional vacancy traps.
{"title":"Vacant Housing in Tehran: Speculation, capitalization, and policy failures in a global context","authors":"Safar Ghaedrahmati , Mohamad Rezapour","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106791","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106791","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vacant housing in Iran represents a significant economic and social challenge, exacerbating housing speculation and deepening market instability. This study investigates the structural and institutional drivers behind vacant homes in Tehran using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). We triangulate 30 expert interviews (2013−2023) with national housing policy documents and empirical literature, employing Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. Our findings identify five key drivers: (1) state-market collusion, particularly through military-affiliated banks; (2) failed enforcement of vacancy-related tax laws; (3) speculative accumulation and land banking; (4) weak inter-agency coordination; and (5) inadequate regulatory oversight. Theoretically, the study advances Harvey's circuits of capital by introducing Tehran's military-financialization nexus. Empirically, it informs urban housing policies in Global South cities dealing with similar institutional vacancy traps.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106791"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146077875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The rise of shared transportation options emphasizes the importance of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in promoting sustainable urban mobility. While earlier studies show that several aspects, such as intermodality, technology preference, and lifestyle diversity, positively influence MaaS adoption, a few research works explicitly link travelers' views on MaaS to their willingness to purchase mobility bundles. The current study explores how individual viewpoints on advanced mobility solutions affect the willingness to adopt MaaS bundles, particularly among the users of shared mobility services. By using a stated choice experiment survey with a representative sample from Hungary, this research applies mixed logit, integrated choice, and latent variable models to analyze the preferences for MaaS bundles. The results reveal strong preferences for those bundles that combine public transport with bike-sharing, while options featuring car-sharing and e-scooter-sharing are less appealing. The latent variable analysis highlights ease of use as a critical determinant in adopting MaaS bundles. While the overall attitudes vary, young respondents are optimistic about the potential benefits of new mobility solutions, yet they have concern about the complexity of the system. The findings suggest enhancing user-friendliness in MaaS applications, strengthening the integration between transport modes, and adopting hybrid pricing strategies to facilitate MaaS adoption.
{"title":"Preferences for MaaS bundles considering shared mobility users","authors":"Ognjen Bobičić , Willy Kriswardhana , Domokos Esztergár-Kiss","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rise of shared transportation options emphasizes the importance of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in promoting sustainable urban mobility. While earlier studies show that several aspects, such as intermodality, technology preference, and lifestyle diversity, positively influence MaaS adoption, a few research works explicitly link travelers' views on MaaS to their willingness to purchase mobility bundles. The current study explores how individual viewpoints on advanced mobility solutions affect the willingness to adopt MaaS bundles, particularly among the users of shared mobility services. By using a stated choice experiment survey with a representative sample from Hungary, this research applies mixed logit, integrated choice, and latent variable models to analyze the preferences for MaaS bundles. The results reveal strong preferences for those bundles that combine public transport with bike-sharing, while options featuring car-sharing and e-scooter-sharing are less appealing. The latent variable analysis highlights ease of use as a critical determinant in adopting MaaS bundles. While the overall attitudes vary, young respondents are optimistic about the potential benefits of new mobility solutions, yet they have concern about the complexity of the system. The findings suggest enhancing user-friendliness in MaaS applications, strengthening the integration between transport modes, and adopting hybrid pricing strategies to facilitate MaaS adoption.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106747"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145799104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Social enterprises are increasingly recognized for their potential to foster social inclusion and sustainable tourism by embedding economic activities within local communities. While existing literature often focuses on the measurable impacts of these initiatives, less attention has been paid to how social enterprises construct and narrate their own roles within complex territorial contexts. This study adopts an interpretive approach to study how the social enterprise Variabile K, based in Herculaneum, Italy, frames its mission and practices as tools for transforming the city's tourism model. Through a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with enterprise members, the paper identifies five key dimensions: the contradictions of Herculaneum's landscape, the dual nature of tourism, the enterprise's commitment to community-based tourism, the role of collaborative networks, and future opportunities and challenges.
Findings indicate that Variabile K challenges the dominant “hit-and-run” tourism model by promoting experiential, relational, and locally embedded activities. Through partnerships with schools, local businesses, and third-sector organizations, it fosters a participatory tourism model that enhances social cohesion and expands economic opportunities for residents. Nevertheless, structural limitations—such as weak institutional support, inadequate infrastructure, and exclusion from mainstream tourism circuits—continue to hinder its development.
While social entrepreneurship offers a promising alternative for sustainable tourism, its consolidation requires greater policy recognition, institutional alignment, and long-term investment. The case of Variabile K contributes to broader debates on social innovation in tourism, emphasizing the importance of locally grounded, inclusive strategies for urban regeneration and cultural valorization.
{"title":"Social entrepreneurship as a driver for social inclusion and sustainable tourism: The case of Herculaneum, Italy","authors":"Salvatore Monaco, Antón Freire Varela, Ciro Prospero, Fabio Corbisiero","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106759","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106759","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social enterprises are increasingly recognized for their potential to foster social inclusion and sustainable tourism by embedding economic activities within local communities. While existing literature often focuses on the measurable impacts of these initiatives, less attention has been paid to how social enterprises construct and narrate their own roles within complex territorial contexts. This study adopts an interpretive approach to study how the social enterprise Variabile K, based in Herculaneum, Italy, frames its mission and practices as tools for transforming the city's tourism model. Through a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with enterprise members, the paper identifies five key dimensions: the contradictions of Herculaneum's landscape, the dual nature of tourism, the enterprise's commitment to community-based tourism, the role of collaborative networks, and future opportunities and challenges.</div><div>Findings indicate that Variabile K challenges the dominant “hit-and-run” tourism model by promoting experiential, relational, and locally embedded activities. Through partnerships with schools, local businesses, and third-sector organizations, it fosters a participatory tourism model that enhances social cohesion and expands economic opportunities for residents. Nevertheless, structural limitations—such as weak institutional support, inadequate infrastructure, and exclusion from mainstream tourism circuits—continue to hinder its development.</div><div>While social entrepreneurship offers a promising alternative for sustainable tourism, its consolidation requires greater policy recognition, institutional alignment, and long-term investment. The case of Variabile K contributes to broader debates on social innovation in tourism, emphasizing the importance of locally grounded, inclusive strategies for urban regeneration and cultural valorization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106759"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-05DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106757
Ashpreet Kaur , Mary Alice Haddad
Why are some municipalities diverting nearly 80 % of their municipal solid waste while others are putting everything into landfills? This article seeks to investigate the factors that explain variation in municipal solid waste diversion rates among cities that have publicly committed to ambitious climate action goals. It finds that cities that make a public commitment to reducing emissions, such as joining Cities Race to Zero, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, ICLEI, or C40, commonly have zero waste plans and goals. Many of these cities are also home to universities and are often located in states with beverage container and food waste laws. However, none of these factors had a measurable influence on the extent to which cities diverted their waste from landfills. Using an original dataset of the 132 cities in the United States that had signed the Cities Race to Zero challenge (a global initiative in which participating municipalities pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2040 or sooner), we used OLS regressions to test which factors affected a city's waste diversion rates. We found that having a higher per capita income, proximity to the ocean, and being in California were the only factors that had a statistically significant effect on increasing a municipality's waste diversion rate.
{"title":"Do zero waste pledges and goals increase municipal waste diversion rates?","authors":"Ashpreet Kaur , Mary Alice Haddad","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106757","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2025.106757","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Why are some municipalities diverting nearly 80 % of their municipal solid waste while others are putting everything into landfills? This article seeks to investigate the factors that explain variation in municipal solid waste diversion rates among cities that have publicly committed to ambitious climate action goals. It finds that cities that make a public commitment to reducing emissions, such as joining Cities Race to Zero, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, ICLEI, or C40, commonly have zero waste plans and goals. Many of these cities are also home to universities and are often located in states with beverage container and food waste laws. However, none of these factors had a measurable influence on the extent to which cities diverted their waste from landfills. Using an original dataset of the 132 cities in the United States that had signed the Cities Race to Zero challenge (a global initiative in which participating municipalities pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2040 or sooner), we used OLS regressions to test which factors affected a city's waste diversion rates. We found that having a higher per capita income, proximity to the ocean, and being in California were the only factors that had a statistically significant effect on increasing a municipality's waste diversion rate.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106757"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106772
Libang Ma , Shoucun Zhao , Xiang Wang , Cui Cao , Qing Zhu
As the frontier zone affected by urbanization, the spatio-temporal evolution of rural settlements (RSs) in urban-rural transition zones (URTZs) serves as a crucial entry point for understanding urban-rural interactions. However, targeted research in this area remains insufficient. To this end, this study innovatively constructs a reverse-tracking analytical framework that traces causes from effects. Integrating methods such as landscape pattern analysis, spatial expansion measurement, and interface effect response, it systematically reveals the evolutionary patterns of RS in URTZs in Gansu Province. This study indicates that the landscape patterns of RSs exhibit trends towards scaling, complexity and spatial clustering; the rate of RSs expansion continues to slow, with expansion directions demonstrating high adaptability to the geographical environment, while differentiated expansion behaviors further drive landscape pattern formation; The response of RSs to the interface effects of URTZs directly influences their expansion dynamics and survival status, thereby feeding back into the evolution of landscape patterns. This study offers a fresh perspective on understanding the complexities of human-land relationships in URTZs, while also providing precise spatio-temporal information support for land management in these areas.
{"title":"Unveiling the dynamics: Tracing rural settlements evolution in urban-rural transition zones","authors":"Libang Ma , Shoucun Zhao , Xiang Wang , Cui Cao , Qing Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106772","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106772","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the frontier zone affected by urbanization, the spatio-temporal evolution of rural settlements (RSs) in urban-rural transition zones (URTZs) serves as a crucial entry point for understanding urban-rural interactions. However, targeted research in this area remains insufficient. To this end, this study innovatively constructs a reverse-tracking analytical framework that traces causes from effects. Integrating methods such as landscape pattern analysis, spatial expansion measurement, and interface effect response, it systematically reveals the evolutionary patterns of RS in URTZs in Gansu Province. This study indicates that the landscape patterns of RSs exhibit trends towards scaling, complexity and spatial clustering; the rate of RSs expansion continues to slow, with expansion directions demonstrating high adaptability to the geographical environment, while differentiated expansion behaviors further drive landscape pattern formation; The response of RSs to the interface effects of URTZs directly influences their expansion dynamics and survival status, thereby feeding back into the evolution of landscape patterns. This study offers a fresh perspective on understanding the complexities of human-land relationships in URTZs, while also providing precise spatio-temporal information support for land management in these areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106772"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106866
Lingyao Li , Songhua Hu , Ly Dinh , Libby Hemphill
Due to increased reliance on private vehicles and growing travel demand, parking remains a longstanding urban challenge globally. Quantifying parking perceptions is paramount as it enables decision-makers to identify problematic areas and make informed decisions on parking management. This study introduces a cost-effective and widely accessible data source, crowdsourced online reviews, to investigate public perceptions of parking across the U.S. Specifically, we examine 4,987,483 parking-related reviews for 1,129,460 points of interest (POIs) across 911 core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) sourced from Google Maps. We employ the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model to classify the parking sentiment and conduct regression analyses to explore its relationships with socio-spatial factors. Findings reveal significant variations in parking sentiment across POI types and CBSAs, with Restaurants showing the most negative. Regression results further indicate that denser urban areas with higher proportions of African Americans and Hispanics and lower socioeconomic status are more likely to exhibit negative parking sentiment. Interestingly, an opposite relationship between parking supply and sentiment is observed, indicating that increasing supply is not always associated with improved parking experiences. Finally, our textual analysis identifies keywords associated with positive or negative sentiments and highlights disparities between urban and rural areas. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of a novel data source and methodological framework in measuring parking sentiment, offering valuable insights that help identify hyperlocal parking issues and guide targeted parking management strategies.
{"title":"Crowdsourced reviews reveal substantial disparities in public perceptions of parking","authors":"Lingyao Li , Songhua Hu , Ly Dinh , Libby Hemphill","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106866","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106866","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Due to increased reliance on private vehicles and growing travel demand, parking remains a longstanding urban challenge globally. Quantifying parking perceptions is paramount as it enables decision-makers to identify problematic areas and make informed decisions on parking management. This study introduces a cost-effective and widely accessible data source, crowdsourced online reviews, to investigate public perceptions of parking across the U.S. Specifically, we examine 4,987,483 parking-related reviews for 1,129,460 points of interest (POIs) across 911 core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) sourced from Google Maps. We employ the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model to classify the parking sentiment and conduct regression analyses to explore its relationships with socio-spatial factors. Findings reveal significant variations in parking sentiment across POI types and CBSAs, with <em>Restaurants</em> showing the most negative. Regression results further indicate that denser urban areas with higher proportions of African Americans and Hispanics and lower socioeconomic status are more likely to exhibit negative parking sentiment. Interestingly, an opposite relationship between parking supply and sentiment is observed, indicating that increasing supply is not always associated with improved parking experiences. Finally, our textual analysis identifies keywords associated with positive or negative sentiments and highlights disparities between urban and rural areas. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of a novel data source and methodological framework in measuring parking sentiment, offering valuable insights that help identify hyperlocal parking issues and guide targeted parking management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 106866"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106808
Hui Shi , Zhen You , Konstadinos G. Goulias
Research has shown that COVID-19 has impacted both short- and long-term aspects of individuals' daily schedules, yet its effects on metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan residents remain underexplored. Leveraging American Time Use Survey data from 2019 to 2023, this study applies diversity indices, sequence analysis, and statistical methods to investigate the pandemic's differential influence on metropolitan and nonmetropolitan daily routines, focusing on time allocation and travel behaviors. The results reveal a significant reduction in out-of-home activities and travel during the pandemic in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, followed by a partial recovery after vaccination; however, out-of-home activity levels remained below pre-pandemic levels, with this gap being more pronounced in metropolitan regions. Although the total number of road users declined, traffic congestion did not necessarily ease, as the travel population became less evenly distributed during a day by 2023 in both regions. In metropolitan areas, morning and midday peak hours dispersed, while evening travel remained substantially high. Moreover, seven distinct daily time allocation patterns including travel were identified over the past five years, with their frequency in the population evolving differently between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residents. Approximately 10 million metropolitan residents transitioned to working from home in 2023. These findings underscore the importance of policies supporting electromobility and decentralized energy production. Continued trend analysis with larger samples is needed, as post-vaccination behaviors have yet to reach stability.
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