Fractal characteristics of urban surface transit and road networks: Case study of Strasbourg, France

Abstract

The fractal characteristics of urban forms and road networks can provide extremely useful information for urban planning. Previous research, however, has hardly acknowledged the fractal nature of transit networks, although this topic is of vital importance given the significance of public transit to city operations. In this study, the fractal characteristics of urban surface transit and road networks were analyzed based on the case study of Strasbourg, France. Two fractal dimensions that are most widely used, the length dimension and branch dimension, were calculated and analyzed using regression and correlation analysis. The results show that surface transit networks are fractal in seven sub-districts of Strasbourg. Furthermore, a relationship was found between the length dimension and branch dimension of road network. The branch dimension of transit network was related not only to the length dimension of transit network but also to the branch dimension of road network. Based on the fractal information, the results suggest possible methods for designing good road and surface transit networks that are well-coupled in urban traffic planning. The implications for urban development are that some potential problems with regard to traffic network structure may exist if current situations are not coincident with some findings in this article.

Microevolution processes in Baikal are detected in symbiotic microbiomes of Baikal sponges by the methods of fractal theory

“…Precedents where disease of sponges or corals were investigated using modern methods of molecular biology are known (Stabili et al, 2012;Prinzón et al, 2015). And there is a number of studies when a single pathogen which caused the disease was identified (Webster et al, 2002;Luter et al, 2010;Choudhury et al, 2015). But the investigations of microbial communities of diseased sponges in Lake Baikal using similar approaches just demonstrated the complexity of the problem under study (Denikina et al, 2016;Kulakova et al, 2018).…”

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Study on the location of unconventional outside left-turn lane at signalized intersections based on an entropy method

“…However, due to China's accelerated urbanization, the urban population and the number of motor vehicles have grown significantly, and the urban congestion problem has become increasingly severe (Map, 2021). Urban intersections, as nodes of urban road networks, have also become bottleneck sections of urban road networks (Wang et al, 2017;Stevanovic and Mitrovic, 2019). The severe congestion issue not only affects residents' travel efficiency and life satisfaction but also increases the emission of automotive pollutants (Zhang et al, 2013), exposing pedestrians around intersections to a high level of pollution (Franklin et al, 2019) and having a significant impact on residents' health and environmental protection.…”

Extracting the Relationship and Evolutionary Rule Connecting Residents’ Travel Demand and Traffic Supply Using Multisource Data

“…Benguigui [ 12 ] first identified the fractal features of an urban transport network and carried out case studies on the London Underground, Paris Metro, Moscow Metro, and Rhine Subway (Germany). Batty [ 13 , 14 ] linked transport analysis to urban geography on the basis of fractal dimensions, after which fractal approaches have been widely applied to different parts of cities including the city center [ 15 ], the whole scope of a city [ 16 ], and conurbations [ 11 ]. Different modes of transport have also been analyzed using fractal methods including traditional surface transport [ 15 ], subway [ 16 ], and the whole public transport network.…”

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