{"title":"Exploring the associations of socioeconomic characteristics and distance decay effects with two-Steps spatial interaction model","authors":"Bowen Zhang , Chen Zhong , Qi-li Gao , Zahratu Shabrina","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103646","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103646","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Spatial Interaction (SI) model is a prominent tool for predicting trip flows based on the distance decay effect. Despite extensive discussions on spatial heterogeneity and spatial structure, existing SI models are still exploring ways to incorporate local distance decay variations within small urban areas. Furthermore, non-spatial factors, such as socioeconomic characteristics, are typically underestimated in SI and other travel flow prediction models. To tackle these issues, this study introduces a novel two-step SI model that enhances travel flow predictions. This study utilises a k-means clustering algorithm to group areas based on residents' socioeconomic characteristics, then calibrates the localised distance-decay parameter in the origin-specific gravity model for each group and predicts the travel flows. Demonstrated by a case study of the Greater London Area (GLA), we uncovered local distance decay patterns in commuting trips and explained their associations with spatial structure and non-spatial factors using census data. Most importantly, the results proved that our two-step SI model could significantly improve the accuracy of flow predictions without considerably increasing computational complexity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103646"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143904066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-05-02DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103643
Lingmin Zhao , Qingshan Yang , Jian Liu , Jie Liu
{"title":"Regional differences and driving factors of population security in China's border areas from the location perspective","authors":"Lingmin Zhao , Qingshan Yang , Jian Liu , Jie Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Population security in border areas is the foundation and an important guarantee of national security. Research on its driving mechanisms can provide a reference for promoting sustainable development in border areas and formulating national border security policies. From a locational perspective, this paper divides China's border areas into five regions, constructs a theoretical framework for the connotation and driving factors of population security in border areas, and establishes an indicator system suitable for evaluating the level of population security in border areas. Using the Topsis-entropy method and the geographic detector model, this study analyzes regional differences in population security levels in border areas from 1990 to 2020 and their driving factors. The results show that from 1990 to 2020, the population security level in border areas first increased and then declined, with an overall low level. There are significant variations in population security development types across different border areas, with growth rates gradually slowing and regional disparities narrowing. The population security level in border areas is influenced by various factors and exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. To promote the coordinated development of border areas and safeguard national security, this paper proposes specific policy recommendations addressing population security issues and their underlying causes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103643"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-30DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103644
Xujing Yu , Jun Ma
{"title":"Mapping the distribution of pedestrian exposure to air pollution on urban road segments based on mobile monitoring and street view images","authors":"Xujing Yu , Jun Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103644","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103644","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban air pollution poses a significant global environmental challenge, with pedestrians being particularly vulnerable due to their proximity to road traffic and limited protection. This study investigated the spatial distribution of pedestrian exposure to PM<sub>2.5</sub> in Central London and identified high-exposure road segments using air pollution mobile monitoring data and street view images. Influential factors were analyzed through a geographically weighted regression model. The results revealed that pedestrian exposure was spatially clustered, with two high-exposure hot spots identified. Commercial land use, traffic and transport facilities, points of interest (POIs), building height, and street aspect ratio were positively associated with exposure levels, while urban greenness exhibited a negative correlation. The effects of these factors varied across road segments. Based on these results and existing literature, the study also proposed a framework for green infrastructure planning to mitigate pedestrian exposure to air pollution in the study area.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103644"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143887642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-29DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103639
Ricardo Iglesias-Pascual , Teodoro Alcántara-Dormido , Raymond Lagonigro
{"title":"Living alone and electoral behavior. A contextual approach looking at single-person households in southern Europe","authors":"Ricardo Iglesias-Pascual , Teodoro Alcántara-Dormido , Raymond Lagonigro","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>According to the background literature, there has been a significant increase recently in single-person households. However, few studies have analyzed the socio-economic characteristics of single-person households, and, to our knowledge, no analysis linking this type of household with electoral geography has yet been carried out. This paper proposes a socio-territorial approach to studying single-person households in the two largest cities in Andalusia (Seville and Malaga) and their link with support for left-wing, right-wing, and populist parties, with a spatial statistical analysis carried out at census tract level to measure their isolation and spatial concentration level. Later, using Geographic Weighted Regressions models, we analyze the central and local trends in the relationship between voting for the types of parties proposed, income level, and the presence of single-person households in the territory. Our results shed light on the relationship between the presence of single-person households, with their increased degree of loneliness, and voting for right-wing parties. Finally, we project a multinomial logistic model to explain the characteristics of the census tracts in Sevilla and Malaga based on the proportions of single-person households, in which the results show varying relationships between the vote for right populist parties and the proportions of single person households.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103639"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143881640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-29DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103645
Yang Xu , Feng Xu , Guangqing Chi , Ziqiang Gong
{"title":"Carbon emissions and government interventions in urban agglomerations of China: An integrated GWR and neural network approach","authors":"Yang Xu , Feng Xu , Guangqing Chi , Ziqiang Gong","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The dual-carbon target that aims to achieve peak carbon and carbon neutrality before 2060 is a pivotal strategy for China's green and low-carbon development. As major contributors to China's economy and its carbon emissions, urban agglomerations play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions, and government interventions have attracted considerable attention. In this context, this study focuses on the spatiotemporal nonstationary characteristics of factors influencing carbon emissions in 19 urban agglomerations in China. Using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model and its extensions, we analyzed the impacts of two government intervention factors—fiscal expenditure and green cover—on carbon emissions. A comparison of multiple models revealed that the geographically and temporally neural network weighted regression (GTNNWR) model best captures the spatiotemporal nonstationary relationships. Our findings indicate that increased government fiscal expenditure generally reduces carbon emissions, with stronger effects in the northern cities we studied. Urban green cover has significant negative impacts in the core cities of most urban agglomerations. However, these impacts may reverse in a very small portion of cities, possibly due to differences in development stages. The results provide insights for the government to formulate carbon reduction strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103645"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143887641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-29DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103642
Yankai Wang , Quanyu Liu , Tao Mei , Haochen Shi , Miaoxi Zhao , Binbin Sun
{"title":"Delineating and refining the equity of revealed accessibility of express service amenities: A case study of Guangzhou","authors":"Yankai Wang , Quanyu Liu , Tao Mei , Haochen Shi , Miaoxi Zhao , Binbin Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103642","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103642","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Express service amenities are essential for efficient last-mile logistics in urban areas. However, limited data availability has hindered thorough quantitative assessments of equity in revealed accessibility, restricting targeted improvements in amenities planning. To address this issue, this study applies an enhanced two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, combined with genetic algorithms and random forest models, to evaluate and optimize equity in revealed accessibility. Using Guangzhou as a case study, results show notable spatial inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.943. The proposed optimization reduces this by 17.8 %, lowering the coefficient to 0.775. This research links market-driven logistics planning with spatial justice, contributing to applied geography and supporting SDG 11 goals. The findings provide practical guidance for urban planners aiming to improve both equity and efficiency in service provision, especially in rapidly urbanizing regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103642"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143881639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-26DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103618
Guoqiang Cheng , Chuntian Pan , Yang Zhou
{"title":"Urban-rural disparities in the ecological impact of built-up land expansion: A comprehensive assessment from China","authors":"Guoqiang Cheng , Chuntian Pan , Yang Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103618","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103618","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is still a lack of systematic understanding on whether urban or rural settlement expansion has a greater impact on habitat quality. Here, we assessed the urban-rural disparities in the impact of built-up land expansion on habitat quality in China for the periods 2000–2020 and 2020–2050, using high-resolution land-use data and the PLUS-InVEST models. Our findings reveal that over the past two decades, built-up land expansion had significantly degraded habitat quality, and rural settlement expansion had a substantially greater negative impact on habitat quality compared to urban growth, particularly in areas with high rural population densities. The difference in impact is mainly attributed to the lack of unified planning in rural development, while urban follows strict, intensive, and green planning, with increasing emphasis on mitigating human activities’ impact on the eco-environment. Further projections indicate that the expansion rate of built-up land in China would slow down over the next 30 years, leading to a reduced impact on habitat quality. This study highlights the critical need for targeted policy measures to mitigate the ecological risks associated with rural expansion and provides valuable insights for more effective land-use planning and ecological conservation strategies. Our findings provide critical insights for optimizing land use strategies in China and offers a valuable framework for other developing countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103618"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143876529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-24DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103640
Beniamino Murgante , Alfonso Annunziata , Marj Tonini
{"title":"Developing a taxonomy framework for assessing human capital provision: A case study of Southern Italian municipalities","authors":"Beniamino Murgante , Alfonso Annunziata , Marj Tonini","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103640","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103640","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The decline of rural areas emerges as a central aspect of European and national policies. Decline manifests itself in distinct forms, resulting from the interaction among exogenous and local factors. Understanding the different socio-economic trends and tangible and intangible conditions of rural areas, defined as the intra-rural divide, is central to the definition of priorities of public policies. Within this framework, the proposed study focuses on the notion of Territorial Capital (TC) with a particular focus on Human Capital (HC) as a conceptual frame for investigating the intra-rural divide. Different unsupervised learning methods have been employed to identify clusters of similar administrative units in terms of HC provision using a set of 12 input indicators, enabling a deeper understanding of the intra-rural divide. The study area consists of six southern Italian regions, specifically chosen due to their pronounced disparities. The present work contributes to the discipline of regional and urban studies by developing a novel taxonomy framework specifically for assessing HC disparities at a detailed local level, thereby making the concept of the intra-rural divide measurable and analyzable and enabling the definition of targeted policies respondent to individual areas’ needs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103640"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143868982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Applied GeographyPub Date : 2025-04-23DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103633
Xuwei Chen
{"title":"Excess mortality, COVID deaths, and spatial accessibility to health care services in the conterminous United States","authors":"Xuwei Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since the onset of COVID 19, the pandemic has put extra burden on mortality in the United States. This study aims to investigate the regional variations of death rates and the associations between excess deaths and the underlying population characteristic and spatial access to medical services during the pandemic. To this end, this study estimated the excess deaths in 2020 and the travel times to the nearest healthcare facilities, PCP ratios, and medical facility to population ratios at the county level in the conterminous United States. Coupling the death data with population characteristics, socio-economic factors, health factors and access to healthcare facilities, this study employed spatial statistical methods, including global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses, bivariate spatial analysis and geographically weighted generalized linear regression to investigate their relationships. The results revealed that the impact of COVID varied across the country. The South, particularly the Deep South, was hit the hardest. Compared to the spatially varying relationship between COVID deaths, unemployment, minority, smoking rates and excess deaths, poverty was the primary factor linked to excess deaths nationally. While the access to healthcare services was not associated with excess deaths in general, it did vary significantly between counties with high/low death rates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103633"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Systemic planning vs. individual Choice: The optimal matching for urban Healthcare Facilities and patient population","authors":"Lepeng Huang , Kexun Zhang , Qiyang Zheng , Yu Zhou , Jianling Li , Guoqiang Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban healthcare facilities planning faces a challenge that patient population tend to bypass lower-level for higher-level healthcare facilities despite increased distance and cost along with overcrowding at high-level facilities and underutilization at low-level ones. This phenomenon and its challenges are presumably influenced by individual behaviors of patients and urban healthcare facilities planning by local governments. This paper examines this phenomenon through optimal matching of patient population to healthcare facilities in two approaches representing top-down planning and bottom-up individual choice. More specifically, planning matching spatially assigns the patients to the closest facilities and choice matching, including multinomial logit matching or game theoretic matching, optimally selects facilities based on patient choices. Using Hangzhou, China as a test bed with 194 healthcare facilities and 588 residential communities, this research has found that: (1) the inconsistency between planning and individual choice leads to population bypassing certain facilities; (2) the trade-offs between healthcare service level and community-facility distance are consistent across matchings; (3) systemic planning outperforms individual choice concerning distance and actual utility while the reverse holds true for service level and indirect utility; (4) certain thresholds exist beyond which neither approach excels, suggesting a mix of the two approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 103641"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143855445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}