The megaregion – forms, functions, and potential? A literature review and proposal for advancing research

International Journal of Urban Sciences · 2023 · 6 citations

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Regional science

The megaregion is viewed as a platform from which to address a variety of issues. Despite agreement that a megaregion is a large, globally connected urban agglomeration, there is no consensus as to how to delineate its boundaries and how it differs from other urban forms. The scholarly literature is dominated by three distinct analytic approaches: interdependent systems, nodal linkages, and satellite data. We assess the utility of each approach in delineating the boundaries of four megaregions – BosWash, Greater Tokyo, the Amsterdam-Brussels-Antwerp region, and a Global South megaregion – and conclude by proposing a sequence of steps to guide future research. HighlightsDelineating megaregion boundaries; differentiation with other urban agglomerations.Dominant approaches: interdependent systems, nodal linkages, and satellite data.Megaregion vignettes: BosWash, Tokyo, Amsterdam-Brussels-Antwerp, and Global South.Comparative analysis requires a clear, broadly accepted definition of megaregion.Combine dominant approaches to clearly define megaregion and delineate boundaries.

Lessons from case studies of flood resilience: Institutions and built systems

Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives · 2021 · 32 citations

• Environmental planning
• Environmental resource management
• Business

Climate change and natural disasters have made it essential for governments to develop system resiliency at the city, state, and national levels. This paper examines flood resilience institutions, strategies, and outcomes in selected cities – New York (U.S.), Tokyo (Japan), and Rotterdam (Netherlands), and their impacts on the transportation expressway system. Transportation systems play a key role in the event of a disaster. Hence adequate transportation system resilience to floods is critical to ensure high-performing cities in the long term. We review the laws and policies pertaining to flood resilience in each city and conduct floodplain analysis of critical transportation networks using geographic information systems to understand the relative susceptibility of expressway networks to flooding. The findings highlight differences in approaches to developing system resilience in different cities, related to geographic, cultural, and institutional factors, and linked with transportation network performance in flood events. The study is potentially useful for transportation engineers, urban planners, and policymakers, offering insights and examples for building institutional and technical capital for flood resilience. It highlights associations between political/cultural institutions and built system resilience and emphasizes the importance of holistic, long-term, and adaptive thinking in system resilience development.

Reflections on Pandemics, Civil Infrastructure and Sustainable Development: Five Lessons from COVID-19 through the Lens of Transportation

2020 · 32 citations

• Political Science
• Political Science
• Business

Humanity’s social and economic development has been challenged by a range of adversities over the millennia that have caused widespread and unimaginable suffering. At the same time, these challenges have forced humans to evolve more wisely, overcoming adversity through creativity and leading to advancements in science and technology, medicine, ethics and legal systems, and socio-political systems. The dynamics of risks and opportunities caused by COVID-19, in the built, cyber, social and economic environments, present opportunities for deepening our understanding of resilient and sustainable development and infrastructure. This article reflects on five lessons that COVID-19 is teaching us about what it means to develop sustainably through the lens of transportation: (1) sustainable development planning and analytical frameworks must be comprehensive, for long-term sustainability; (2) multi-modal transportation is a superior vision for sustainable development than any one particular mode; (3) tele-activities are part of an effective infrastructure sustainability strategy; (4) economic capital is critically important to sustainable development even when it is not a critical existential threat, and, (5) effective social capital is essential in global disaster resistance and recovery, and can and must be leveraged between fast-moving and slow-moving disasters. Resilient and sustainable infrastructure will continue to be critical to addressing evolving natural and man-made hazards in the 21st Century.