Urbanization of the United States in the nineteenth century has been described in numerous scholarly texts. As Eric Lampard, writing in 1961, pointed out, "… the urban-industrial transformation [has] now become part of the furniture displayed in every up-to-date textbook of U.S. history.…" Yet, as the same author had pointed out six years earlier, at that time "no systematic study has ever been made of the role of cities in recent [as opposed to medieval] economic development. We are still unable to counter the charge that cities are 'abnormal' and 'costly' with any account of the ways in which they have actually facilitated, let alone fostered, progressive economic change." Obviously, since 1955 significant progress has been made towards filling this lacuna.
We use a field experiment to evaluate the impact of two informational get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns to boost female electoral participation in Paraguay. We find that public rallies have no effect either on registration or on voter turnout in the 2013 presidential elections. However, households that received door-to-door (D2D) treatment are 4.6 percentage points more likely to vote. Experimental variation on the intensity of the treatment at the locality level allows us to estimate spillover effects, which are present in localities that are geographically more concentrated, and thus may favor social interactions. Reinforcement effects to the already treated population are twice as large as diffusion to the untreated. Our results underscore the importance of taking into account urbanization patterns when designing informational campaigns.
AbstractWe use a field experiment to evaluate the impact of two informational get‐out‐the‐vote campaigns to boost female electoral participation in rural areas of Paraguay. We find that public rallies had a small and insignificant effect either on registration or voter turnout in the 2013 presidential elections. Households that received door‐to‐door canvassing treatment were 4.6 percentage points more likely to vote. Experimental variation on the intensity of the treatment at the locality level allows us to estimate spillover effects, which are present in localities that are geographically more concentrated, which may favor social interactions and diffusion of information. Reinforcement effects on the already treated population are twice as large as diffusion effects on the untreated. Our results underscore the importance of taking into account urbanization patterns when designing informational campaigns.
Around the North Sea, how have port cities and cities in the hinterlands of port cities influenced one another in the past? What possible links are there between population trends in various urban areas and time periods? Is it possible to identify the origin of the urbanization patterns around the North Sea? To understand the current era of urbanization, we need to analyze historical trends and urbanization patterns in the long term. By mapping the population figures for eight moments in history and combining this with data on political boundaries and large infrastructures that facilitate flows of goods and people, this article aims to contribute to an improved understanding of contemporary and historical urbanization trends around the North Sea. It also presents the first spatial dataset on urban settlements around the North Sea by means of a series of demographic maps, from 1300 to 2015. It provides a detailed explanation of the method used for mapping and handling demographical data. Each map is accompanied by a brief explanation of the urbanization pattern, with special attention to identifying demographic and economic developments and possible clarifications for centers of gravity and shifts. The maps lay the foundation for further research on social patterns and spatial developments in urban (port) regions around the North Sea and for understanding urban culture through space and time. Port cities must be analyzed from the perspective of the sea, which requires a rethinking of data sets and data borders, to understand the ways in which these port cities have served as porous distribution hubs and as transit nodes for boundary-crossing flows.
Around the North Sea, how have port cities and cities in the hinterlands of port cities influenced one another in the past? What possible links are there between population trends in various urban areas and time periods? Is it possible to identify the origin of the urbanization patterns around the North Sea? To understand the current era of urbanization, we need to analyze historical trends and urbanization patterns in the long term. By mapping the population figures for eight moments in history and combining this with data on political boundaries and large infrastructures that facilitate flows of goods and people, this article aims to contribute to an improved understanding of contemporary and historical urbanization trends around the North Sea. It also presents the first spatial dataset on urban settlements around the North Sea by means of a series of demographic maps, from 1300 to 2015. It provides a detailed explanation of the method used for mapping and handling demographical data. Each map is accompanied by a brief explanation of the urbanization pattern, with special attention to identifying demographic and economic developments and possible clarifications for centers of gravity and shifts. The maps lay the foundation for further research on social patterns and spatial developments in urban (port) regions around the North Sea and for understanding urban culture through space and time. Port cities must be analyzed from the perspective of the sea, which requires a rethinking of data sets and data borders, to understand the ways in which these port cities have served as porous distribution hubs and as transit nodes for boundary-crossing flows.
Computer-based Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are revolutionary in that they change the meaning of distance and accessibility in society. People can now access opportunities (jobs, shopping, education, recreation etc.) in virtual space in a matter of seconds, which in physical space would have needed hours of travelling. But still due to the nature of opportunities and human need to have face to face contact, majority of the opportunities are being accessed in physical space. Hence there is now hybrid space, where physical and virtual spaces are interwoven. In this hybrid space nature of opportunities, skills and capabilities of the opportunity seekers become even more important than those were in physical space alone. People having ICTs skills, by telecommuting will have the possibilities to have access to a wider range of opportunities. In practice it was found that telecommuters still commute in physical space as well but with a lesser frequency than regular commuters. This overall saved commute time by lower number of commuting trips makes it possible for telecommuters to commute longer distances. This reduced friction of distance, between workplaces and homes by telecommuting, is expected to have profound effects on future urbanization patterns. These impacts of the use of ICTs are extensively discussed in the literature, but still lack sufficient empirical underpinning. The Netherlands is a small country in geographical context, but with a larger share of the working people telecommuting than the EU average and in the USA. It therefore is a good laboratory to explore the spatial impacts of telecommuting. The focus in this study is the spatial impact of telecommuting on job accessibility which influences residential land-use suitability surfaces. These changes can be expected to influence residential location preferences and resulting pattern of new residential land-use when telecommuting really takes off. Scenario-based projections of likely locations of new residential land-use have been made with a dedicated hybrid model that combines cellular automata, accessibility modelling, and regular GIS analysis methods. Analyses and modelling of telecommuting consequences for the Netherlands reveals that ICTs enhance job accessibility which will further widen residential location margins for telecommuters, as telecommuters are more likely to prefer their future residence located in a green urban environment and a regional town compared to other types of residential environmental settings. Spatial pattern analyses of future residential areas revealed that a strengthening of existing agglomerations continue, but in the meanwhile dispersed deconcentration to attractive regions beyond present spatial labour market borders is also observed. This will influence the processes of concentrated suburbanization and poly-centric urban development that have a long tradition in Dutch spatial policies and developments. Although, the urban deconcentration may get a new boost, but the effects will work out differently at the regional level. For example, the dominant urban-economic position of Randstad (the comprising of four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, in the western part of the Netherlands) will hardly erode. The northern and south-western part of the country will become even more peripheral. The areas next to Randstad due to the improved job accessibility in hybrid space and having attractive green environment will benefit the most. These empirical insights into possible future urbanization trends under the influence of ICTs are useful for researchers, urban and regional planners and policy makers. They can support the formulation of the future spatial land-use policies.
