Work

Identifying Clusters of Complex Urban–Rural Issues as Part of Policy Making Process Using a Network Analysis Approach: A Case Study in Bahía de Los Ángeles, Mexico

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Improving human settlements diagnosis is a key factor in effective urban planning and the design of efficient policy making. In this paper, we illustrate how network theory concepts can be applied to reveal the topological structure of functional relationships in a network of heterogeneous urban–rural issues. This mapping is done using clustering algorithms and centrality value techniques. By analyzing emergent groups of urban–rural related issues, our methodology was applied to a rural community, considering in this exercise environmental matters and real estate interests as a way to better understand the structure of salient issues in the context of its urban development program design. Results show clusters that arrange themselves not by an obvious similarity in their constituent components, but by relations observed in urban–rural settings that hint on the issues that the urban development program must focus. Due to its complex nature, the classification of these emerging clusters and how they must be treated in traditional planning instruments is a new challenge that this novel methodology reveals.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su9061059

Authors: Javier Sandoval, Manuel Castañón-Puga, Carelia Gaxiola-Pacheco, Eugenio Suarez

Institutions: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Trinity University

Language: English

Topic: Urban Development and Societal Issues

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896