The Denser the Road Network, the More Resilient It Is?—A Multi-Scale Analytical Framework for Measuring Road Network Resilience

Jianglin Lu, Shuiyu Yan (), Wentao Yan (), Zihao Li, Huihui Yang and Xin Huang
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Jianglin Lu: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Shuiyu Yan: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Wentao Yan: Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Zihao Li: Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Huihui Yang: Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Xin Huang: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-34

Abstract: A road network is an important spatial carrier for the efficient and reliable operation of urban services and material flows. In recent years, the “high road density, small block size” trend has become a major focus in urban planning practices. However, whether high-density road networks are highly resilient lacks quantitative evidence. This study presents a multi-scale analytical framework for measuring road network resilience from a topological perspective. We abstract 186 ideal orthogonal grid density models from an actual urban road network, quantifying resilience under two disturbance scenarios: random failures and intentional attacks. The results indicate that road network density indeed has a significant impact on resilience, with both scenarios showing a trend where higher densities correlate with greater resilience. However, the increase in resilience value under the intentional attack scenario is significantly higher than that under the random failure scenario. The findings indicate that network density plays a decisive role in determining resilience levels when critical edges fail. This is attributed to the greater presence of loops in denser networks, which helps maintain connectivity even under intentional disruption. In the random failure scenario, network resilience depends on the combined effects of the node degree and density. This study offers quantitative insights into the design of resilient urban forms in the face of disruptive events, establishing reference benchmarks for road network spacing at both meso- and micro-scales. The results provide practical guidance for resilient city planning in both newly developed and existing urban areas, supporting informed decision-making in urban morphology and disaster risk management.

Keywords: road network density; resilience measure; multi-scale analytical framework; threshold point; global efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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