https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2011-10889-3
Regular Article
Urban road networks – spatial networks with universal geometric features?
A case study on Germany’s largest cities
1
Institute for Transport and Economics, Dresden University of
Technology, Würzburger Str.
35, 01187
Dresden,
Germany
2
Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong
Kong, Shatin,
N.T., Hong
Kong
3
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research,
P.O. Box 60
12 03, 14412
Potsdam,
Germany
a e-mail: reik.donner@pik-potsdam.de
Received:
17
November
2010
Received in final form:
17
February
2011
Published online:
4
April
2011
Urban road networks have distinct geometric properties that are partially determined by their (quasi-) two-dimensional structure. In this work, we study these properties for 20 of the largest German cities. We find that the small-scale geometry of all examined road networks is extremely similar. The object-size distributions of road segments and the resulting cellular structures are characterised by heavy tails. As a specific feature, a large degree of rectangularity is observed in all networks, with link angle distributions approximately described by stretched exponential functions. We present a rigorous statistical analysis of the main geometric characteristics and discuss their mutual interrelationships. Our results demonstrate the fundamental importance of cost-efficiency constraints for the time evolution of urban road networks.
© 2011 EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag
