CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106820
Ying Gao , Tao Pei , Sihui Guo , Xi Wang , Mingbo Wu , Xiaorui Yan , Xiao Chen , Xiaohan Liu , Zidong Fang , Ci Song , Jie Chen
{"title":"Flow-based fractal dimensions of urban road networks: Insights from 135 global cities","authors":"Ying Gao , Tao Pei , Sihui Guo , Xi Wang , Mingbo Wu , Xiaorui Yan , Xiao Chen , Xiaohan Liu , Zidong Fang , Ci Song , Jie Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106820","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106820","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The efficiency of urban road networks is a critical determinant of traffic congestion levels. This efficiency depends not only on high road density but also on strong connectivity between regions. Conventional approaches to measuring this efficiency often adopt a density-based perspective, typically using planar fractal dimension to assess the extent to which a road network covers urban space—a metric referred to as the space-filling degree. Nevertheless, such methods tend to overlook connectivity, which may lead to an overestimation of space-filling degree in networks with high detour ratios or limited accessibility, thereby failing to reflect actual efficiency of road system. To address this limitation, we propose a flow-based box-counting fractal dimension from an origin-destination (OD) perspective, which evaluates how well a road network spatially supports real travel flows between OD pairs. We apply this method to assess the space-filling degree of major road networks in 135 cities worldwide and use multiple linear regression models to compare the explanatory power of the proposed flow-based fractal dimension against traditional planar fractal dimensions in relation to urban traffic congestion. The results demonstrate that our approach can capture the spatial structure of urban road networks. Moreover, the flow-based fractal dimension outperforms traditional metrics in explaining traffic congestion, showing a stronger negative correlation with congestion levels and greater model explanatory power than both planar fractal dimension and road density.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106820"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175161","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106873
Gülin Göksu Başaran, Jesper Bláfoss Ingvardson, Otto Anker Nielsen
{"title":"Where the station ends and surroundings begin: A holistic gender perspective on perceived safety in public transport","authors":"Gülin Göksu Başaran, Jesper Bláfoss Ingvardson, Otto Anker Nielsen","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106873","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106873","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women and gender non-conforming individuals (GNC) often feel less safe at and around public transport (PT) stations, compared to men. The built environment (BE) plays a well-documented role in shaping perceived safety, yet it remains unclear which specific features are most responsive to the safety concerns of women and GNC. Using data from a tailor-made online survey (N<!--> <!-->=<!--> <!-->3101) from 232 train stations in East Denmark, we investigate BE features explaining each gender group’s perceived safety at the home-end and activity-end travel environments. A structural equation model with multi-group analysis (SEM-MGA) shows that well-lit travel environments and clear wayfinding improve perceived safety for all groups, whereas isolated areas, parking lots, and closed facades around stations particularly harm women’s and GNC travellers’ perceived safety. There are also slight differences between trip ends: shops, urban life, and trees have a stronger positive impact at the home end, while closed facades and isolated areas more strongly reduce perceived safety at the activity end. Towards reducing the gender gap in perceived safety, and achieving a more inclusive PT system, policymakers should prioritise gender-sensitive approaches when designing stations and their urban surroundings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106873"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146147662","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-12DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106839
Yunjeong Song
{"title":"Privatization of play: Opening gated playgrounds improves access but deepens inequalities","authors":"Yunjeong Song","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106839","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106839","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Play environments are crucial for children's healthy development and growth. Childhood physical activities often occur in local environments, such as parks, schoolyards, and playgrounds, emphasizing the need for well-designed, accessible play spaces that consider children's age and physical conditions. However, the prevalence of gated communities in South Korea has led to the privatization of playgrounds, resulting in unequal play opportunities based on socioeconomic status. This study explores the relationship between regional socioeconomic deprivation and playground accessibility and diversity, critical factors for fostering children's physical activity. It also examines the impact of opening playgrounds in residential complexes for public use on regional play opportunities. Spatial and regression analyses were conducted across 250 administrative units in South Korea, including a total of 76,476 playgrounds across the country. Our finding indicated that higher socioeconomic deprivation correlates with poorer playground accessibility and diversity. While opening residential playgrounds improved overall accessibility, it also intensified regional disparities, as private playgrounds amplify inequalities in physical activity opportunities. These findings underline the need to address inequality by establishing public playgrounds with diverse designs in marginalized areas, ensuring universal welfare in children's play environments. Delegating children's play opportunities to the private sector has deepened social inequalities, even though these opportunities should ideally be universally accessible. Therefore, public initiatives to establish playgrounds with diverse spatial designs in marginalized areas are essential to mitigate inequities. These findings underscore the need for balanced policy measures that address both public and private responsibilities in providing equitable play facilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106839"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175167","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106859
Pablo Villar-Abeijón , Carme Miralles-Guasch , Oriol Marquet
{"title":"The impact of proximity to amenities on housing affordability: Insights from Mediterranean 15-minute cities","authors":"Pablo Villar-Abeijón , Carme Miralles-Guasch , Oriol Marquet","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106859","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106859","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on the 15-minute city has greatly expanded over the last decade, yet little has been studied about how this urban model affects access to affordable housing. This paper examines the relationship between proximity to everyday amenities and rental prices in four Spanish cities (Barcelona, Valencia, Palma, and Granada) that already meet the requirements of a 15-minute city. Spatial analysis and segmented regressions are employed to account for non-homogeneity and non-linearity in this relationship. Our findings yield three main insights. First, the relationship between proximity and rental prices is non-linear: prices rise in the most accessible areas, fall in moderately accessible areas, and rise slightly again in the least accessible areas. Second, education and care amenities deviate from this pattern; closer proximity to these services is consistently associated with lower rental prices. Third, these relationships are spatially heterogeneous and differ markedly between monocentric and polycentric cities. Together, these results offer policymakers a deeper understanding of how the 15-minute city framework shapes housing affordability, and therefore the social composition of the city.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106859"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175165","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106863
Tianmin Tao , Fan Yuan , Man Chen , Mingze Chen , Ye Liu
{"title":"A systematic review of the impact of the urban environment on the health of school-age children and adolescents: Current landscape and future directions","authors":"Tianmin Tao , Fan Yuan , Man Chen , Mingze Chen , Ye Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106863","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106863","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Health is an important human resource, and the healthy development of a person during school-age children and adolescents is fundamental to well-being throughout the life course. However, gaps and inequalities between health goals and health-promoting behaviors among school-age children and adolescents persist. This paper constructs a systematic review of the impact of urban environment on the health of school-age children and adolescents using the PRISMA methodology, analyzing 136 relevant studies published globally as of December 2024, examining associations between urban environment and the health of school-age children and adolescents. Our findings indicate that 263 health associations were identified from 24 urban environment independent variables and 18 health impact dependent variables. The urban environment mainly includes physical environment, environmental perception, environmental pollution, and food environment, and the health impacts mainly include health behavior, physical health, mental health, and cognitive health. By synthesizing the global distribution of existing studies, the distribution of research hotspots, and the characterization of variable associations, this paper proposes a framework for promoting the well-being of school-age children and adolescents and urban sustainability, offering guidance for future city planning and adolescent health promotion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106863"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175164","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106830
Jihan Park , Donghyun Kim
{"title":"Co-evolution of skill structure and labor market processes in US regions, 2003–2023","authors":"Jihan Park , Donghyun Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106830","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106830","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the co-evolution of regional skill structures and labor market processes across US metropolitan statistical areas. Using median occupational wages from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, we distinguished low-, middle-, and high-wage jobs and typified labor markets based on changes in their employment shares. We calculated skill relatedness from occupational skill indicators in the Occupational Information Network and constructed a skill network. Community detection identified distinct skill domains, which were then used to compute regional skill relatedness densities. We identified regional labor market dynamics as upgrading, downgrading, middling, and polarizing, with upgrading dominating in 2013–2023. Further, we grouped skills into social–cognitive and sensory–physical domains, with regions focusing on specific skill activities. However, there was no generalizable association between regional skill activities and labor market restructuring. The results indicated that labor market evolution is not shaped by deterministic skill structures but by the shifting dynamics of relatedness. In examining the co-evolution of technological change and labor markets, the evolutionary lens may provide a useful complement to deterministic perspectives. The temporal, multidimensional, and regionally contingent patterns of labor market evolution highlight the need for place-based workforce development strategies and time-sensitive policy interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106830"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146147661","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106862
Tim Jones , Nurgül Yardim Meriçliler , Micaela Mancini
{"title":"“I was a loser before, and now I'm a winner!”: Perceptions and lived experience of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods","authors":"Tim Jones , Nurgül Yardim Meriçliler , Micaela Mancini","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106862","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106862","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A recent policy intervention being implemented across UK cities is Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). The purpose of LTNs is to remove through-traffic from residential streets by strategically placing bollards and planters at key locations to block passage of motor cars while allowing cyclists and other micromobilities to pass through. LTNs are intended to bring proposed benefits including improved road safety for walking and cycling, a better-quality environment and improved public health. There has been much debate about the likely ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of LTN interventions and reactions from the public have been divided. This article reports a study that investigated the perceptions and lived experience of residents who lived in, and along the boundary of, LTNs in the east of Oxford city, UK.</div><div>Our starting premise is that LTNs reconfigure everyday lives, not just through infrastructure, but through emotion, identity, and contested claims to space, and that they are never merely infrastructural, but are political, affective, and shape, and are shaped by, how people move. To investigate this we used a combination of interviews and mobile ‘go-long’ interviews with residents who self-identified as ‘supporters’ or ‘opponents’ of the LTNs. This allowed us to reveal the complexity and nuance of opinion of LTNs based on personal and household circumstances. We highlight the disruption that such interventions can make, both positively and negatively, to a sense of belonging and point to the importance of citizen participation in the development of well-intentioned city policies that inevitably create both ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106862"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175172","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106832
Michael Osei Asibey , Francisca Agyei , Mildred Nkansah Okrah , Daniel Kwame Blija
{"title":"The politics of urban climate adaptation: informality, institutional action, and resilience in Ghana's cities","authors":"Michael Osei Asibey , Francisca Agyei , Mildred Nkansah Okrah , Daniel Kwame Blija","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106832","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106832","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As urban poor communities face increased vulnerability to climate risks, understanding their response mechanisms and the role of local institutions in fostering resilience is critical for effective climate adaptation strategies. This study, adopting the exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach—secondary data analysis, key informant interviews, and household surveys—examines residents' and institutional' awareness and action towards identified risks. Findings reveal that while residents are largely aware of climate risks, their understanding is often limited to rainfall patterns and droughts, with religious and cultural beliefs influencing their perceptions. Despite this awareness, adaptation measures are predominantly reactive, ad-hoc, and unsustainable, hindered by resource constraints, weak enforcement of urban planning regulations, and limited political will. Institutional efforts to promote proactive adaptation, such as early warning systems, are intentional but often ineffective. The study underscores the need for integrated, participatory adaptation planning that incorporates the knowledge and needs of vulnerable communities. We contribute to the growing body of knowledge on climate resilience in informal urban settings and offer policy recommendations to enhance the adaptive capacities of marginalised populations in the face of climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106832"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175160","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106815
Yaotian Xu , Ling Yang , Andi Li , Jingjie Sun , Xiao Xiao , Jingzhong Li , Bing Xue
{"title":"Mapping urban functional metabolism transformation: A geospatial analysis of policy-driven evolution","authors":"Yaotian Xu , Ling Yang , Andi Li , Jingjie Sun , Xiao Xiao , Jingzhong Li , Bing Xue","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106815","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106815","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cities, functioning as complex organic systems, face escalating metabolic imbalances in core functions due to rapid and often unregulated growth. This necessitates a paradigm shift toward sustainable development through holistic systemic regulation. This study develops an urban functional metabolism framework which integrates dual-dimensional metrics of policy-driven dynamics and functional metabolic efficiency. Through policy text analysis and urban functional metabolic accounting, the endogenous patterns and sustainability of urban functional metabolic system exemplified by Shenyang's municipal districts have been scientifically evaluated. The results demonstrate that urban functions are driven and regulated by six major policy types across a four-stage sequence—target anchoring (T1/T2/T3), spatial reconstruction (T4), system improvement (T5), and innovation incubation (T6), and concurrently uncover the spatial-temporal synergistic-tradeoff relationships, and the spatial distribution of metabolism efficiency among the three major urban functions. These findings underpin specific multi-scale spatio-temporal intervention strategies to optimize urban metabolic patterns and resolve resource misallocation. Furthermore, the study provides a transferable systemic solution, integrating institutional design, spatial response, and metabolic optimization for sustainable urban governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106815"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146147660","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}
CitiesPub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.106864
Zixin Feng, Qunshan Zhao, Alison Heppenstall
{"title":"Using agent-based models to simulate the electric vehicle driving behaviours in Great Britain","authors":"Zixin Feng, Qunshan Zhao, Alison Heppenstall","doi":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106864","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cities.2026.106864","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and the green transition of transport sectors, understanding the behaviours and charging demand of EV drivers has become increasingly important, particularly for the efficient deployment of public charging infrastructure. While previous studies have used Agent-Based Models (ABMs) to explore these patterns, many studies rely on hypothetical networks or city-scale road systems. This limits their ability to capture long-distance, inter-city travel, which has been a key concern given EV's range limitations and limited charging infrastructure. Additionally, there is limited consideration from previous models about the behavioural heterogeneity of drivers and missing validation against real-world data. This paper presents a validated ABM that simulates the driving and charging behaviours of private EV drivers across Great Britain, incorporating diverse psychological and financial preferences, and covering both inner- and inter-city trips. The results indicate that, despite concerns about the limited driving range of EVs, enroute charging is less necessary for drivers with short to medium distance trips, resulting in limited demand for more enroute public chargers. The presence of range anxiety among EV drivers often prompts them to charge their vehicles while parked at destinations and can further reduce the need for enroute charging. However, future expansion of the EV charging network is still necessary to accommodate the high charging demand from EV drivers undertaking long-distance trips. The simulation results can improve our understanding of EV driver behaviours and their charging demand distribution, providing insights for the future development of charging infrastructures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48405,"journal":{"name":"Cities","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 106864"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175064","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}