Tagged / Complex systems

What 35 Cities’ Road Networks Teach Us About Urban Complexity?

Publishing

What do Urban Road Networks reveal about life in the World’s Densest Cities?

A newly published paper, “A Multi-scale Network-based Topological Analysis of Urban Road Networks in Highly Populated Cities”, by recent PhD graduate Dr. Assemgul Kozhabek and Dr. Wei Koong Chai, explores this question by analyzing road networks from 35 densely populated cities worldwide—including those in China, India, Brazil, and Côte d’Ivoire. Using network science, the study offers fascinating insights into the structural patterns of urban road systems and their implications for city planning.

Key Findings 

  1. Macro-scale Insights:
    Cities with robust networks—those resilient to disruptions—tend to be more efficient, meaning they offer shorter travel distances. This highlights the importance of balancing robustness and efficiency in urban planning to prevent congestion.
  2. Meso-scale Patterns:
    The study reveals that these cities tend to be polycentric, with multiple key hubs rather than a single central core. Strong community structures (distinct, well-connected neighborhoods) and low core-periphery structures emphasize this decentralized nature.
  3. Micro-scale Observations:
    Critical intersections emerge in all cities, with betweenness centrality following a power-law distribution. This indicates that a few key intersections handle most traffic, making them vital for smooth flow.

Why It Matters 

For city planners, these insights offer valuable guidance. Designing cities with multiple centers, identifying key intersections, and balancing network robustness with efficiency can improve traffic management and urban resilience. As cities grow, smart infrastructure design will be crucial for sustainable urban living.

This study reminds us that cities are more than just buildings and roads—they’re dynamic, interconnected systems. Understanding their structure can lead to smarter, more livable urban environments.

Reference: Kozhabek, A. and Chai, W.K., 2025. A Multi-scale Network-based Topological Analysis of Urban Road Networks in Highly Populated Cities. Environment and planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/239980832513180

This work was partially funded by the Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole (BCP) Council, UK and supported by an OpenBright Award.

         

Bournemouth Academic invited to present at Developing Social Data Science Methodologies workshop within the Alan Turing Institute

Katarzyna Musial-Gabrys was invited to present her work on complex social networks during the upcoming workshop organised by the Alan Turing Institute within the Foundation of Social Data Science initiative.tag_claud_2011

The Alan Turing Institute was established in 2015 as the UK national institute for the data sciences in response to a letter from the Council for Science and Technology (CST) to the UK Prime Minister (7 June 2013), describing the “Age of Algorithms”. The letter presents a case that “The Government, working with the universities and industry, should create a National Centre to promote advanced research and translational work in algorithms and the application of data science.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-age-of-algorithms).
Katarzyna’s presentation will contribute to shaping the portfolio of research challenges to be addressed within the Alan Turing Institute.

Title of Katarzyna’s talk: Methodological challenges in data aggregation in complex social networks.

Abstract of the talk:
For the first time in history, we have the possibility to process ‘big data’ (gathered in computer systems) about the interactions and activities of millions of individuals. It represents an increasingly important yet underutilized resource because due to the scale, complexity and dynamics, social networks extracted from this data are extremely difficult to analyse. There is no coherent and comprehensive methodological approach to analyse such networks which is crucial to advance our understanding of continuously changing people’s behaviour.
One of the methodological challenges is to cope with the variety of available big social data. This data comes from multiple systems (email, instant messengers, blogs, social networking sites, google searches, YouTube, etc.); in each system user can have one or more accounts; this data describes different types of activities (commenting, sharing, messaging, calling, etc.) and relationships (direct, quasi-direct and indirect). In order to be able to effectively process gathered data using data science approaches we need to develop new methodology that will focus on the multirelational (more than one type of connections in a network) character of data.
In general, there are two methods to do that: (i) analyse each relation type separately and then combine results from different layers or (ii) merge all relation types in one layer and analyse this newly created layer. Both approaches require effort in terms of redefining existing network analysis techniques. Analysing each network separately means that methods for combining results from different layers need to be developed. Merging some/all connection types into one heterogeneous relation means that a new approach for aggregation of data from different layers is required. Only by developing rigid approaches to data aggregation, the analytics task can be performed.

If you are interested and you would like to get some further information please contact kmusialgabrys@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Euraxess – new workshops and events

Euraxess UK is a British Council hub, which aids researchers in their career development, supporting mobility and acting as a support mechanism for researchers moving abroad or moving to the UK.

The following items have been highlighted in the current Euraxess Newsletter:

Researcher Links Workshop

Grants are now available for early career researchers to attend a Nutrition Policy to Practice in Pakistan: Exploring the Challenges and Research Opportunities workshop at the Serena Hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan between 8-11 March 2015.

Application forms can be downloaded from the website and the deadline to apply is 30 January 2015. Further eligibility criteria may apply, and applicants should read the Further Information document.

Researcher Links Complex Systems workshop in Brazil

Under the Researcher Links scheme offered by the British Council and FAPESP, there will be a workshop on Complex Systems held at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, between 8-13 March 2015. The workshop is being coordinated by Dr Murilo S. Baptista and Prof José R. C. Piqueira, and will have contributions from other leading researchers.

Early Career Researchers from the UK or Brazil are invited to apply to attend this workshop before the deadline for applications, 23 January 2015.

Newton International and Newton Advanced Fellowships- UK/Mexico/Brazil

Scholarships and grants are announced for UK Researchers focusing on Clinical and Patient oriented research from The Academy of Medical Science/CONACYT -Mexico/CONFAP-Brazil. The duration and terms of the awards vary between partners. Further detailed information can be found on specific programmes can be found on the Academy’s website.

You can sign up to receive the British Council – Euraxess alerts direct to your inbox. For more information about Euraxess, please go to the British Council website. For example, read more about FameLab, part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival, which runs from 19 Feb – 1 March 2015.