Modeling the Change of Urban Spatial Structure: Use Interzonal Travel Data to Estimate Urban Growth and Expansion by Hierarchical Cluster Analyses

Background

In urban settings, characteristics of transportation system and infrastructure, and the attractiveness of transport modes shape mobility of travelers and demographic growth. Urban form is the spatial imprint of an urban transportation network. Therefore, “urban (spatial) structure can be defined as the set of relationships arising from urban form and the underlying movements of goods and people” (Rodrigue et al., 2013).

Transportation systems have long been recognized as vital parts of city systems. They affect the quality of live (Vuchic, 1999) and have strong effects on shaping the form of settlements. Urban transport systems can mainly be grouped into public, private, and freight transport systems. In most cases, they can be complementary, but they may usually compete against each other under the lack of a comprehensive planning effort (Rodrigue et al., 2013).

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  Public Transportation: The purpose is to provide publicly accessible mobility where it is demanded, especially in urban settings. Its efficiency is based on the cost per passenger or traveled km. Major public transport modes must be operated in a fully or semi-exclusive right-of-way in order to provide high capacity and reliability. It includes modes such as cable (aerial tram, funicular, and so on), rail (tram, light rail, metro, and so on), and rubber tired modes (bus and minibus). Livable cities require intermodal transport systems in which public transit systems in addition to highway network must be provided in a balanced way for maximizing the benefits of the whole system. Moreover, provisions for pedestrians, bicyclists, and paratransit should not be excluded.

Figure 1.

Map of Turkey and Sakarya Province