Urban Currents

2026-06-28

7 arXiv categories· 96 journals· 247 candidates — 11 worth your time· 4 without an open abstract

Headline

Day-night mobility patterns of Chinese migrants in Seoul, modeled via MGWR

Today, together

tag shift
no tag ran above its 30-day average
canon
no foundational work is cited twice today
coupling
Deciphering Mobility in “Strip Cities”: Multiscale Mechanisms and Spatial Fusion of Ride-Hailing Demand Under Topographical Constraints shares 3 references with Identifying subnetworks and driving factors of intercity mobility in mega-urban agglomeration areas: A case study in the Yangtze River Delta, China (2026-06-16)
3 of them
  • Finding and evaluating community structure in networks
  • The universal visitation law of human mobility
  • Emergence of urban growth patterns from human mobility behavior
; Spatial Association of Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations and Urban Public Facilities: A Comparative Study of Historic and New Development Districts in Suzhou shares 3 references with Spatial heterogeneity in factors influencing utilization rate of electric vehicle charging stations (2026-06-22)
3 of them
  • Spatial equity analysis of urban public services for electric vehicle charging—Implications of Chinese cities
  • Influence of charging stations accessibility on charging stations utilization
  • EV charging habits and their impact on public charging infrastructure usage
; Understanding Passenger Acceptance of Autonomous Buses: Role of Experience shares 3 references with Bridging the digital divide in urban mobility: a latent class choice analysis of older adults’ preferences for autonomous vehicles in China (2026-06-14)
3 of them
  • Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology
  • User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View1
  • What influences the decision to use automated public transport? Using UTAUT to understand public acceptance of automated road transport systems
institutions
Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 14 papers in 30 days; University of Hong Kong on 13 papers in 30 days; Tsinghua University on 12 papers in 30 days; Peking University on 12 papers in 30 days

Five of today's papers carry the tag "Urban Transport and Accessibility," which includes studies on active commuting to university in Chile and Spain, transport modes and physical functioning in Brisbane, ride-hailing demand in topographically constrained strip cities, the spatial distribution of public electric vehicle charging stations in Suzhou, and the day-night mobility patterns of Chinese migrants in Seoul. Three papers share the tag "Transportation and Mobility Innovations," covering passenger acceptance of autonomous buses, the ride-hailing demand study in strip cities, and the spatial distribution of electric vehicle charging stations in Suzhou. Outside of these groups, one paper presents an ethnographic study of heritage and gentrification in Seoul's Seochon Hanok Village, another introduces a dynamic scale factor framework to correct perspective distortion in vision-based traffic speed estimation, and a third presents a conceptual framework for how nationalist projects are enacted and contested within urban environments.

published: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Hanbin Wei, Yiting Zheng, Xiaolei Sang, et al.
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Huaqiao University

Urban Transport and Accessibility · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · spatial econometrics · Seoul · Huaqiao University

Revealing Spatial Heterogeneity and Drivers of Day–Night Mobility Differentiation Among Chinese Migrants in Seoul via Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression

This study analyzes the day-night mobility patterns of Chinese migrants in Seoul, South Korea, using kernel density estimation, spatial autoregressive models, and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). The MGWR model achieved high explanatory power (R2 = 0.758) in mapping how built environment, socioeconomic, and accessibility factors drive mobility differences across the city. The analysis reveals that existing migrant stock and land-use mix reduce day-night mobility differentiation, while office space, industrial facilities, and subway access increase it.

Why it matters — It demonstrates that migrant mobility is not uniform across a metropolitan area but is shaped by highly localized neighborhood characteristics, proving that spatial regression models like MGWR capture these variations far better than global linear models.

Caveat: The findings are based on a single case study of Chinese migrants in Seoul, which may not generalize to other migrant groups or different metropolitan contexts.

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information · doi

published: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

Myung In Ji
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · was arXiv

Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Urban Planning and Governance · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Seoul

ALL POSSIBLE PASTS: Heritage, Simulacra, and Gentrification in Seoul

This paper presents an ethnographic study of Seochon Hanok Village in Seoul, South Korea, examining how diverse urban actors negotiate, conflict over, and perform different versions of the past. It challenges the traditional academic dichotomy that views heritage as an authentic model and commercialized simulacra as degraded copies, demonstrating instead how heritage is actively constructed through these competing representations.

Why it matters — It reframes urban heritage preservation by showing that heritage is not a static asset to be protected from commercialization, but an ongoing process of creation where multiple, coexisting versions of the past are continually produced and authenticated.

Caveat: The findings are based on a qualitative, ethnographic investigation of a single historic neighborhood in Seoul, which may limit direct generalizability to cities with different heritage governance frameworks.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · doi

published: Journal of Transport Geography

Ximena Palma-Leal, Sergio Campos-Sánchez, Greet Cardon, et al.
Journal of Transport Geography

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Urban Transport and Accessibility · Urban Green Space and Health · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis · Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso · Universidad de Granada · Ghent University

Healthy cities, healthy students: Macroscale-built environment and active commuting to university in Chile and Spain

This study analyzed the relationship between the built environment and active commuting among 1,419 university students across six campuses in Chile and Spain. Using QGIS, the researchers evaluated eight macro-scale built environment features and compared them against self-reported travel behaviors. Students at campuses with highly activity-friendly environments had 4.76 times higher odds of active commuting in Chile, and over 3.55 times higher odds at two campuses in Spain, compared to their counterparts at less activity-friendly campuses.

Why it matters — It establishes a direct, quantified link between campus-level urban design and active student transit across different national contexts, demonstrating that macro-scale campus environments are a significant determinant of sustainable commuting habits.

Caveat: The study relies on self-reported travel behaviors, which may introduce reporting bias.

Journal of Transport Geography · doi

published: Journal of Transportation Engineering Part A Systems

M.G. Karthika, Munavar Fairooz Cheranchery, M. Harikrishna
Journal of Transportation Engineering Part A Systems

National Institute of Technology Calicut

Traffic control and management · Traffic and Road Safety · Traffic Prediction and Management Techniques · machine learning · National Institute of Technology Calicut

Novel Machine Learning Driven Framework for Dynamic Perspective Correction in Vision-Based Traffic Speed Estimation

The study introduces a dynamic scale factor (DSF) framework that uses intrinsic camera parameters and orientation geometry to correct perspective distortion in vision-based traffic speed estimation. The machine learning-driven method was trained on a custom annotated database categorized by Highway Capacity Manual vehicle classes and validated against ground-truth, uniform scale factor, and segmented scale factor methods on a test road stretch in Kerala, India.

Why it matters — The framework eliminates the need for individual camera calibration and multiple physical field-based reference measurements, providing a highly scalable way to prevent unjust speeding penalties caused by perspective distortion in heterogeneous traffic.

Caveat: The validation of the framework is limited to a single test road stretch in Kerala, India.

Journal of Transportation Engineering Part A Systems · doi

published: International Journal of Sustainable Transportation

Pouya Molaei, Hannah Badland, Lucy Gunn
International Journal of Sustainable Transportation

RMIT University

Urban Transport and Accessibility · Older Adults Driving Studies · Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility · RMIT University

Public and private transport, neighborhood disadvantage, and physical functioning: A gender-stratified study of mid-to-older adults in Brisbane, Australia

Using survey data from 3,348 participants aged 49–76 in Brisbane, Australia, this study analyzed how transport modes and neighborhood disadvantage relate to self-reported physical functioning. The analysis revealed that women who use public transport have higher physical functioning than those relying on private transport, with physical functioning scores increasing by 10.36 points and 1.30 points for every 1 km closer they live to bus stops and train stations, respectively. No statistically significant associations between transport mode, neighborhood disadvantage, and physical functioning were found for men.

Why it matters — The study demonstrates that public transport accessibility acts as a critical moderator of physical health for mid-to-older women, particularly those residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods, establishing a gender-specific link between transit infrastructure and healthy aging.

Caveat: The study relies on self-reported measures of physical functioning rather than objective clinical assessments.

International Journal of Sustainable Transportation · pdf · doi

published: Urban Studies

J. Stefan Rokem, Öznur Yardımcı, Michael Gentile, et al.
Urban Studies

Urban Planning and Governance · Global Urban Networks and Dynamics · Urbanization and City Planning · University of York · University of Oslo · Boston University

Bringing nationalism into global urban studies

This commentary presents a conceptual framework analyzing how contemporary nationalist projects, driven by democratic backsliding and populist movements over the last two decades, are enacted and contested within urban environments. It conceptualizes cities not just as nodes of global capital, but as active infrastructures of nationalist governance and sites of grassroots political resistance where citizenship and belonging are reconfigured.

Why it matters — It challenges the state-centric bias in nationalism studies and the denationalized view of cities in global urban studies, establishing a theoretical bridge to analyze how national political agendas are physically negotiated through everyday municipal practices.

Caveat: The paper is a theoretical commentary and does not present empirical data or specific case studies to test the proposed framework.

Urban Studies · doi

published: Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Wenyun Tang, Qingyu Deng, Minyi Fu, et al.
Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Nanjing Forestry University

Human-Automation Interaction and Safety · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Transportation and Mobility Innovations · Nanjing Forestry University · Ministry of Transport · Research Institute of Highway

Understanding Passenger Acceptance of Autonomous Buses: Role of Experience

This study extends the theory of planned behavior to analyze how prior riding experience affects passenger acceptance of autonomous buses, incorporating three dimensions of perceived risk. Using survey data, the model compares behavioral intentions, risk perceptions, and sociodemographic variations between individuals who have ridden an autonomous bus and those who have not.

Why it matters — It demonstrates that first-hand experience shifts the drivers of acceptance: inexperienced riders are more influenced by social norms and operational or environmental risks, whereas experienced riders are driven more by their own attitudes and perceived behavioral control. This provides a empirical basis for tailoring public transit promotion strategies depending on whether the target population has actual experience with autonomous transit.

Caveat: The findings are based on self-reported behavioral intentions and survey responses rather than observed, real-world transit choices.

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · doi

published: Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science

Yue Wang, Xuan Luo, Mengzhu Zhang, et al.
Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science

Peking University

School Choice and Performance · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · ICT in Developing Communities · China · Peking University

Uncovering income-based unequal access to schooling using multi-source big data approach

This study analyzes the residence-to-school travel patterns of over one million students in Chinese megacities using mobile phone population mobility data. It measures how school quality, school level, and urban expansion affect student segregation and travel distances across different income groups.

Why it matters — The research provides empirical proof that urban expansion and increased school provisioning fail to resolve educational disparities, instead reproducing existing inequalities and segregation. It also demonstrates that the transition from proximity-based districting in primary schools to merit-based admission in high schools decreases income-based segregation.

Caveat: The analysis relies on mobile phone mobility data as a proxy for tracking student-school relationships, which may introduce representation biases.

Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science · pdf · doi

published: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Di Wang, Shuxin Jin, Lin Lin
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

University of Auckland

Transportation and Mobility Innovations · Urban Transport and Accessibility · Traffic control and management · network analysis · street network data · China

Deciphering Mobility in “Strip Cities”: Multiscale Mechanisms and Spatial Fusion of Ride-Hailing Demand Under Topographical Constraints

This study analyzes ride-hailing demand in Jinan, China, a topographically constrained 'strip city', using a dual-level framework that combines the Spatially Embedded Laplacian Graph Partition algorithm with a Log-Gaussian Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression model. Macroscopically, topographic barriers fragment the workday mobility network into 23 localized micro-circulations with a 41.70% intra-community retention rate, which merges into 20 larger communities on weekends. Microscopically, the model reveals that jobs-housing mismatches influence demand at a global scale (bandwidth of 1335), while public transit integration and physical road mitigation of natural barriers operate at highly localized micro scales (bandwidths of 44 and 46, respectively).

Why it matters — It demonstrates that flexible urban mobility in topographically constrained cities operates within fragmented, localized basins rather than a unified citywide market, proving that physical barriers restrict infrastructure mitigation effects to the micro scale.

Caveat: The empirical findings and specific spatial bandwidths are derived from a single case study of Jinan, China, which may limit direct generalization to strip cities with different topographical or infrastructural characteristics.

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information · doi

published: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Jiayu Wang, Can Wang
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information

Soochow University

Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure · Transportation and Mobility Innovations · Urban Transport and Accessibility · Soochow University · State Administration of Cultural Heritage

Spatial Association of Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations and Urban Public Facilities: A Comparative Study of Historic and New Development Districts in Suzhou

This study compares the spatial distribution and functional integration of public electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSes) across two contrasting urban models in Suzhou: the historic Gusu District and the newly developed Industrial Park District. Using Standard Deviational Ellipse, Kernel Density Estimation, Bivariate Spatial Autocorrelation, and Coupling Coordination Degree models, the analysis maps how charging infrastructure aligns with local roads, administrative boundaries, and public facilities.

Why it matters — It demonstrates that historic districts exhibit monocentric, road-dependent charging networks driven by high-mobility nodes, whereas planned new districts develop polycentric, fragmented networks that are more deeply integrated into daily social services and residential areas. This provides a framework for tailoring EV infrastructure planning to the specific constraints of historic preservation zones versus modern urban expansions.

Caveat: The empirical findings are limited to a comparative analysis of two specific districts within a single Chinese city, which may not fully represent EVCS spatial dynamics in other national or regulatory contexts.

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information · doi

preprint

Jingzi Huang, Claire E. Heaney, Tao Li, et al.
arXiv cs.CV

Wind and Air Flow Studies · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis · Building Energy and Comfort Optimization

Inpainting U-Net for seamless pedestrian-level wind prediction across urban morphologies

This study develops a two-stage U-Net framework to predict time-averaged pedestrian-level wind speed across realistic urban morphologies. Trained and evaluated on the UrbanTALES dataset, the first-stage model predicts wind fields patch-by-patch using normalized building heights and fetch data, while the second-stage model uses an inpainting-based refinement with a Gauss-Seidel iterative scheme to eliminate boundary discontinuities. The combined framework successfully captures spatial wind distribution and reduces patch-boundary artifacts, though it underestimates maximum wind velocities.

Why it matters — It provides a computationally efficient surrogate model capable of simulating high-resolution wind fields over urban domains of arbitrary size, bypassing the prohibitive computational costs of traditional Large Eddy Simulations during early-stage urban design.

Caveat: The model systematically underestimates peak wind velocities, which may limit its utility for safety assessments where maximum wind speeds are critical.

arXiv · pdf

Still cited

Luc Anselin (1995), Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA 1 of today's items cite it · 41 of 4454 in the archive stand on it

Also published today

These appeared today in journals we track. Their abstracts are not openly available, so we cannot summarise them.