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Digital urban network connectivity: Global and C hinese internet patterns
Author(s) -
Tranos Emmanouil,
Kourtit Karima,
Nijkamp Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/pirs.12097
Subject(s) - economic geography , urbanization , the internet , relevance (law) , set (abstract data type) , geography , urban studies , geographical distance , regional science , test (biology) , computer science , data science , world wide web , sociology , economics , political science , economic growth , demography , paleontology , population , law , biology , programming language
Cities are not only connected through conventional infrastructure, but also through digital infrastructure. This paper tests whether digital connectivity patterns follow traditional ones. Using a generalized spatial interaction model, this paper shows that geography (and distance) still matters for an extensive set of world cities. With a view to the rapidly rising urbanization, the attention is next focused on the emerging large cities in C hina to test the relevance of distance frictions − next to a broad set of other important explanatory variables − for digital connectivity. Various interesting results are found regarding digital connectivity within the C hinese urban system, while also here geography appears to play an important role.