The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Structure of Urban Movements: Polycentric Activity and Entangled Hierarchical Flows
Open accessAbstract
The spatial arrangement of urban hubs and centers and how individuals interact with these centers is a crucial problem with many applications ranging from urban planning to epidemiology. We utilize here in an unprecedented manner the large scale, real-time 'Oyster' card database of individual person movements in the London subway to reveal the structure and organization of the city. We show that patterns of intraurban movement are strongly heterogeneous in terms of volume, but not in terms of distance travelled, and that there is a polycentric structure composed of large flows organized around a limited number of activity centers. For smaller flows, the pattern of connections becomes richer and more complex and is not strictly hierarchical since it mixes different levels consisting of different orders of magnitude. This new understanding can shed light on the impact of new urban projects on the evolution of the polycentric configuration of a city and the dense structure of its centers and it provides an initial approach to modeling flows in an urban system.
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“Recent findings indicate that a city's spatial structure is characterized by multiple subregions (such as urban zoning areas) connected via distribution networks (such as streets) 40,43,134,135 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Urban data analytics further show that industrial cities can be classified using characteristic spatial patterns and common principles, such as an organization centred around nodes of economic activity 42,43,129,177 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Given that these statistical commonalities of mobility patterns characterize the underlying structure of a city 41,43 and navigational behaviours 34,117,178,179 , they provide support for the notion of a spatial schema for an environment with key elements that can be generalized to other environments that belong to a superordinate category 159 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Studies that focus on mathematical analyses of topology have helped us gain insight into spatial patterns that characterize different types of environments 43,135,208 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“For example, a dominant model of modern city form is the clustering of economic activities in urban hubs, known as polycentricity 43,209 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“The patterns of individuals' movement to and from urban hubs across cities can be collected using GIS (geographic information system) tools and phone-usage data 40,43,177,210 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Roth, C., Kang, S. M., Batty, M., & Barthélemy, M.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Barthélemy, Marc
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2011-01-07
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e15923
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3017563
- OpenAlex
- W2015480405
- Cited by
- 461
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 72.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Global Urban Networks and Dynamics
- Keywords
- urban mobility, activity centers, flow heterogeneity, urban hubs
- MeSH terms
- City Planning, Humans, London, Population Dynamics, Urban Population
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