Modeling Global and Local Aspects of Spatial Structure Explicitly in Land-Use Optimization: The Case of Mek’ele City, Ethiopia

Ashenafi Mehari and Paolo Vincenzo Genovese ()
Additional contact information
Ashenafi Mehari: School of Architecture, Tianjin University, No. 92, Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China2Policy Studies Institute, The Blue Building, General Abebe Damtew Street, P. O. Box 2479, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Paolo Vincenzo Genovese: International Center of History, Critics of Architecture and Restoration of Historical Heritage (ICHCR), College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, P. R. China

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES), 2023, vol. 11, issue 02, 1-31

Abstract: Urban spatial structure remains the center of quest and modeling. The decentralization concept is among the leading literature discourses that guide spatial analyses. In line with the decentralization discourse, the application of land-use optimization as a modeling method has grown significantly. Despite decentralization dominating the contemporary spatial analysis literature, no study so far explicitly declares an end to the centers (and subcenters). While centers (and subcenters) are alive, the land-use optimization has never taken this macro-morphological structure into consideration. This case study frames land-use optimization within the agglomeration and decentralization concepts based on the view that no single conceptual framework addresses spatial analysis sufficiently. On a theoretical level, the link is between coarse morphological assumption (basis of economic geography) and decentralization (basis of sustainable built environment). The paper blends these dual theories, one governing urban macro-morphological structures and the other governing decentralization literature. On a methodological modeling level, it blends centers and other discretized uses. Optimizing four objectives across the complete centralization through multiple centers of gravity to complete the decentralization of urban spatial structures applying Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II, the case study findings justify the importance of explicit modeling of the macro-morphological element. It has been observed that multicenter urban forms perform well above both the single center and the dispersed scenarios. It is, therefore, argued that an appropriate approach to land-use optimization is modeling both the macro-spatial element and fine spatial elements. The result further indicates that local land-use planning regulations place the structure of city in a suboptimal state.

Keywords: Land-use optimization; urban form; multicenter city; decentralization; coarse spatial scale; fine spatial scale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2345748123500112
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:wsi:cjuesx:v:11:y:2023:i:02:n:s2345748123500112

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S2345748123500112

Access Statistics for this article

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES) is currently edited by PAN Jiahua

More articles in Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().