On the relationship between the geometry and topology of cities from around the world

• Grant number: 20/08521-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science
• Principal Investigator: Cesar Henrique Comin
• Grantee: Rafael Bonin Pinto
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Cities can be studied under the most diverse aspects, such as economic, social, political or geographic. The analysis of these different aspects, which tend to be interrelated, can lead to new guidelines for planning city improvements. In this project, two important aspects of cities will be studied: I) the geometry of regions bounded by streets, such as blocks and parks; II) the topology of the network of connections between intersections and terminations of city streets. The geometry and topology have significant impacts on various activities in a city, as they directly affect vehicle and pedestrian traffic and also tend to guide the city's growth over the years. Therefore, it is relevant to investigate to what extent the topology of a city is defined by its geometry, and vice-versa. In particular, it will be studied if heterogeneities in geometry, such as blocks having very different areas and formats, tend to lead to heterogeneities in the topology, represented by dead ends and the presence of cycles of different sizes. State-of-the-art databases will be used to obtain information from hundreds of cities in different countries, which will have their geometry and topology compared through network theory, clustering and multivariate analysis methods. It is expected that the results obtained will assist studies on traffic and service optimization and that they can contribute to the improvement of city growth models.