Population concentration in high-complexity regions within city during the heat wave

Hyoji Choi, Jonghyun Kim, Donghyeon Yu and Bogang Jun

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2025, vol. 18, issue 1, 41-56

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of the 2018 summer heat wave on urban mobility in Seoul and the role of economic complexity in the region’s resilience. Analysis of subway and mobile phone data reveals a significant decrease in the floating population during the extreme heat wave, underscoring the thermal vulnerability of urban areas. However, urban regions with higher complexity demonstrate resilience, attracting more visitors despite high temperatures. Our results suggest the centrality of economic complexity in urban resilience against climate-induced stressors. Additionally, high-complexity small business clusters appear to serve as focal points for sustaining urban vitality in the face of thermal shocks within the city. From a long-term perspective, our results imply that people might become more concentrated in highly complex regions in the era of global warming.

Keywords: regional economy; resilience; heat wave; mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cjres/rsae044 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cjrecs:v:18:y:2025:i:1:p:41-56.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society is currently edited by Judith Clifton, Anna Davies, Betsy Donald, Emil Evenhuis, Stefania Fiorentino (Associate Editor), Harry Garretsen, Meric Gertler, Amy Glasmeier, Mia Gray, Robert Hassink, Dieter Kogler, Michael Kitson, Linda Lobao, Charles van Marrewijk, Ron Martin, Peter Sunley, Peter Tyler and Chun Yang

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().