A city is not a tree: a multi-city study on street network and urban life

Huang, Jianxiang; Cui, Yuming; Chang, Haoliang; Obracht-Prondzyńska, Hanna; Kamrowska-Załuska, Dorota Dominika; Li, Lishuai

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104469

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Other scholars have measured "urban life" by tracking the relationship between spatial structures and human behaviors via Twitter. Adopting a locally sensitive analysis, they have added data on points of interest and walking behaviors to the methodology, revealing hidden correlations between the shape of streets and their liveliness [55]. The current study adds to the responsibility of the ongoing reconstruction of planning theories by adding a hidden layer in the public sphere of members beyond the human realm.…”

Section: Rinshinomori Park Twitter Account As Good Practice For More-...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Urban Forest Tweeting: Social Media as More-Than-Human Communication in Tokyo’s Rinshinomori Park

Sánchez

Lobo

2023

Land

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Urban parks are places that have significant impact on the physical and mental health of citizens, but they are also for safeguarding biodiversity and thus fostering human–nature interactions in the everyday landscape. The exploration of these spaces through social media represents a novel field of research that is contributing to revealing patterns of visitor behavior. However, there is a lack of comparable research from a non-anthropocentric perspective. What if we could use social media as a more-than-human communication medium? This research aims to reveal the possibility of communicating the urban forest’s voice through the examination of the official Twitter account of a metropolitan park in Tokyo. To this end, an analysis of the content of the messages is carried out, focusing on the narrative voice from which the message is told, the protagonists, the action performed, the network of actors deployed, and the place where it occurs. It is found that the majority of these messages are delivered from a non-human perspective, where plants, animals, or meteorological agents behave deploying complex networks of more-than-human interaction. The current study reveals the latent potential of non-humans as possible agents within the realm of social media, which can mediate the relationships between humans and their environment. It introduces a layer that can be incorporated into future lines of research, as well as provides a model case that illustrates a good practice in the management and communication of urban green spaces.

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Section: Rinshinomori Park Twitter Account As Good Practice For More-...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Urban Forest Tweeting: Social Media as More-Than-Human Communication in Tokyo’s Rinshinomori Park

Sánchez

Lobo

2023

Land

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“…This inequality was further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more pronounced effects on vulnerable groups. For instance, low-income families might face more significant challenges in obtaining suitable housing conditions during a pandemic [68]. The housing price level acts as a crucial indicator of spatial differentiation within a specific district.…”

Section: Social-spatial Dynamic Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the distribution of educational resources, there is a high degree of consistency in the relationship between sentiment maps and community geographic spatial elements. Factors such as community internal elements, distances to public facilities, and density affect the acquisition and utilization of social resources unequally among different societal groups [68]. Urban spatial elements like distances to and density of public facilities and community layouts directly shape people's social behaviors and resource-acquisition methods [89].…”

Section: Social Perception Influential Factors Via Sentiment Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating Post-COVID-19 Social–Spatial Inequity: Unravelling the Nexus between Community Conditions, Social Perception, and Spatial Differentiation

Zhao,

Liu,

Chen

et al. 2024

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The 2023 SDGs report underscores the prolonged disruption of COVID-19 on community living spaces, infrastructure, education, and income equality, exacerbating social and spatial inequality. Against the backdrop of the dual impact of significant events and the emergence of digital technologies, a coherent research trajectory is essential for characterizing social–spatial equity and understanding its influential factors within the urban planning discipline. While prior research emphasized spatial dimensions and mitigated spatial differentiation to ensure urban equity, the complexity of these interconnections necessitates a more comprehensive approach. This study adopts a holistic perspective, focusing on the “social–spatial” dynamics, utilizing social perception (sentiment maps) and spatial differentiation (housing prices index) pre- and post-pandemic to elucidate the interconnected and interactive nature of uneven development at the urban scale. It employs a multi-dimensional methodological framework integrating morphology analysis of housing conditions, GIS analysis of urban amenities, sentiment semantic analysis of public opinion, and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) analysis of correlation influential factors. Using Suzhou, China, as a pilot study, this research demonstrates how these integrated methods complement each other, exploring how community conditions and resource distribution collectively bolster resilience, thereby maintaining social–spatial equity amidst pandemic disruptions. The findings reveal that uneven resource distribution exacerbates post-pandemic social stratification and spatial differentiation. The proximity of well-maintained ecological environments, such as parks or scenic landmarks, generally exhibits consistency and positive effects on “social–spatial” measurement. Simultaneously, various spatial elements influencing housing prices and social perception show geographic heterogeneity, particularly in areas farther from the central regions of Xiangcheng and Wujiang districts. This study uncovers a bilateral mechanism between social perception and spatial differentiation, aiming to delve into the interdependent relationship between social–spatial equity and built environmental factors. Furthermore, it aspires to provide meaningful references and recommendations for urban planning and regeneration policy formulation in the digital era to sustain social–spatial equity.

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“…For example researchers measured urban vitality using the density of POI (Kang et al, 2020) or small catering business (Ye et al, 2018), a sub-category of the POI dataset which depend on and attract pedestrian foot traffic. Others used the density of Twitter or Instagram activities (Huang et al, 2021(Huang et al, , 2022 as proxies for vitality.…”

Section: Measuring the Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-examining Jane Jacobs’ doctrine using new urban data in Hong Kong

Huang

Cui

et al. 2022

Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science

Self Cite

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Jane Jacobs (1961) theorized that four urban form conditions, namely, mixed use, short block, aged buildings and density, are indispensable for the ‘exuberant diversity’ and conducive to, or perhaps even determinant of, the success of a city district. Jacobs’ theory has been used widely as a reference point in case study research and policy and design prescriptions. We found five studies that attempted to test it more formally, using various performance indicators such as mobile phone activities, walking, crime and mortality. Their findings were inconsistent and unable to settle theoretical controversies. Questions remained as what performance indicators are most strongly associated with her urban form conditions? Are these conditions independently associated with desired outcomes or in combination and what are the interaction effects? Our study aimed to test Jacobs’ theory that urban form conditions contribute to the vitality and success of city districts. Jacobs’ urban form conditions were measured using GIS data for each of Hong Kong’s Tertiary Planning Unit. Performance outcomes were gauged using a combination of ‘new urban data’, comprising Twitter activities, sentiment tones and Point-Of-Interest (POI), and ‘traditional data’, comprising walking commute, employment and mortality. Urban context, income and demographic indicators were used as controls in fitting spatial regression models to predict measures of performances based on urban conditions. Results showed that Jacobs’ urban form conditions contribute positively to ‘vitality’ indicators such as the density of tweets, walking trips and POI, but not with ‘failure and success’ indicators such as expressed sentiment on Twitter, employment, or mortality. Out findings suggest that her theory largely hold for Hong Kong, except that dwelling density should be substituted by building density, whilst tall buildings associated positively with desirable outcomes, contrary to Jacobs’ observation in the American context. More generally, we demonstrate how new urban data can be used to evaluate classic planning theories at scale.

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A city is not a tree: a multi-city study on street network and urban life

Cited by 27 publications

References 47 publications

Urban Forest Tweeting: Social Media as More-Than-Human Communication in Tokyo’s Rinshinomori Park

Urban Forest Tweeting: Social Media as More-Than-Human Communication in Tokyo’s Rinshinomori Park

Navigating Post-COVID-19 Social–Spatial Inequity: Unravelling the Nexus between Community Conditions, Social Perception, and Spatial Differentiation

Re-examining Jane Jacobs’ doctrine using new urban data in Hong Kong

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