Abstract
Urban centers are pivotal in shaping societies, yet a systematic global
analysis of how countries are organized around multiple urban centers is
lacking. We enhance understanding by delineating city–regions worldwide,
classifying over 30,000 urban centers into four tiers—town, small,
intermediate and large city—based on population size and mapping their
catchment areas based on travel time, differentiating between primary
and secondary city–regions. Here we identify 1,403 primary city–regions
employing a 3 h travel time cutoff and increasing to 4,210 with a 1 h cutoff,
which is more indicative of commuting times. Our findings reveal substantial
interconnectedness among urban centers and with their surrounding areas,
with 3.2 billion people having physical access to multiple tiers within an
hour and 4.7 billion within 3 h. Notably, among people living in or closest to
towns or small cities, twice as many have easier access to intermediate than
to large cities, underscoring intermediate cities’ crucial role in connecting
surrounding populations. This systematic identification of city–regions
globally uncovers diverse organizational patterns across urban tiers,
influenced by geography, level of development and infrastructure, offering
a valuable spatial dataset for regional planning, economic development and
resource management.
analysis of how countries are organized around multiple urban centers is
lacking. We enhance understanding by delineating city–regions worldwide,
classifying over 30,000 urban centers into four tiers—town, small,
intermediate and large city—based on population size and mapping their
catchment areas based on travel time, differentiating between primary
and secondary city–regions. Here we identify 1,403 primary city–regions
employing a 3 h travel time cutoff and increasing to 4,210 with a 1 h cutoff,
which is more indicative of commuting times. Our findings reveal substantial
interconnectedness among urban centers and with their surrounding areas,
with 3.2 billion people having physical access to multiple tiers within an
hour and 4.7 billion within 3 h. Notably, among people living in or closest to
towns or small cities, twice as many have easier access to intermediate than
to large cities, underscoring intermediate cities’ crucial role in connecting
surrounding populations. This systematic identification of city–regions
globally uncovers diverse organizational patterns across urban tiers,
influenced by geography, level of development and infrastructure, offering
a valuable spatial dataset for regional planning, economic development and
resource management.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 469-479 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Nature Cities |
| Volume | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2024 |
Keywords
- ITC-HYBRID
