Showing papers by "Karima Kourtit published in 2022"

Place-Specific Corona Dashboards for Health Policy: Design and Application of a ‘Dutchboard’

Abstract: Since the outbreak of the corona virus in the end of 2019, many worldwide attempts have been made to monitor and control the COVID-19 pandemic. A wealth of empirical data has been collected and used by national health authorities to understand and mitigate the spread and impacts of the corona virus. In various countries this serious health concern has led to the development of corona dashboards monitoring the COVID-19 evolution. The present study aims to design and test an extended corona dashboard, in which—beside up-to-date daily core data on infections, hospital and intensive care admissions, and numbers of deceased people—also the evolution of vaccinations in a country is mapped out. This dashboard system is next extended with time-dependent contextual information on lockdown and policy stringency measures, while disaggregate information on the geographic spread of the COVID-19 disease is provided by means of big data on contact intensity and mobility motives based on detailed Google Mobility data. Finally, this context-specific corona dashboard, named ‘Dutchboard’, is further extended towards the regional and local level so as to allow also for space-specific ‘health checks’ and assessments.

Urban form character and Airbnb in Amsterdam (NL): A morphometric approach

Abstract: Proliferation of Short Term Rental (STR) in cities has generated considerable debate as it was found associated with negative externalities, such as gentrification. Nonetheless, it signals urban qualities working as attractors at different geographical scales. STRs’ relation with urban form remains largely understudied. In this paper, we explore how urban form relates to STRs registered by the Airbnb platform in Amsterdam (NL). First, we identify urban types (homogenous patterns of form) through an ‘urban morphometric’ approach. Second, we assess the relation between urban types and density of Airbnbs via a composite machine learning (ML) technique. Third, we provide profiles of the urban types most strongly associated with it. Fifteen urban types explain up to 44% of Airbnb density’s variance. Compact and diverse urban types relate more strongly with Airbnbs. Conversely, repetitive, sparse and uniform urban types are inversely related. The proposed morphometric-based method is robust, replicable and scalable, offering a novel way to study the intricate relation between urban form, STRs and, in fact, any other measurable urban dynamics at an unprecedented scale. By identifying spatial features related to urban attractiveness, it can inform evidence-based design codes incorporating place-making qualities in existing and new neighbourhoods.

Spatial Deconcentration of Tourism Concentrations: A Visitors’ Galaxy Impact Model of the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on mass tourism concentrations, such as Las Vegas. It argues that health risks and perceptions may induce a more deconcentrated pattern of mass tourism, with more geographical dispersion to rural and natural areas. The analytical framework is modeled and applied to extensive data on Las Vegas tourism. The proposition on deconcentrated tourism concentrations is confirmed. Pre-pandemic outer-inner city complementary relations between “Outdoor Activities” in 11 surrounding national parks and the “Gaming Industry” in Las Vegas have transformed into outer-inner city substitution relations in the COVID-19 pandemic. This represents the evolving deconcentration of tourism concentration facing the growing uncertainty in an inner-city due to health risks in a pandemic. Availability of diversified tourism resources may dampen the shock to a concentrated tourism destination such as Las Vegas when effectively linked to the decentralized but easily accessible tourism resources in dispersed rural and natural areas.

Causality Between Urbanization and Economic Growth: Evidence From the Indian States

Abstract: There is an abundance of studies on the urban-rural dichotomy. In the mainstream economic and regional science literature, the urban centers have usually been described as growth machines, growth poles, or growth foci, and urbanization as a driver of economic growth. It is commonly assumed that the assemblage of factors of production in urban centers will create economies of scale, and that economic growth will trickle down from these centers to the periphery. Most of these studies hypothesize a mono-directional causal relationship between urbanization and economic growth. However, there are ample possibilities of reverse causalities in regions where the propulsive powers of urban centers are weaker and where social overhead capital (SOC) is not adequately developed in non-urban regions. In this situation, even minor economic changes in non-urban economies will cause the growth of the urban population. The present paper attempts to examine the relationship between urbanization and economic growth in India at the state level during 1971–2020 by employing a bootstrap panel Granger causality test. It is found that in India the majority of the states display a unidirectional Granger causality from economic growth to urbanization. This finding indicates not only a lower propulsive power of urban centers, but also an unbalanced development of SOC between urban centers and rural areas, hence causing a migration of people to cities with a rise in their income in order to take advantage of the urban facilities.

Impacts of the COVID‐19 outbreak on older‐age cohorts in European Labor Markets: A machine learning exploration of vulnerable groups

Abstract: Abstract We identify vulnerable groups through the examination of their employment status in the face of the initial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) shock through the application of tree‐based ensemble machine learning algorithms on a sample of individuals over 50 years old. The present study elaborates on the findings through various interpretable machine learning techniques, namely Shapley values, individual conditional expectations, partial dependences, and variable importance scores. The structure of the data obtained from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) dataset enables us to specifically observe the before versus the after effects of the pandemic shock on individual job status in spatial labor markets. We identify small but distinct subgroups that may require particular policy interventions. We find that the persons in these groups are prone to pandemic‐related job loss owing to different sets of individual‐level factors such as employment type and sector, age, education, and prepandemic health status in addition to location‐specific factors such as drops in mobility and stringency policies affecting particular regions or countries.

Impact of immobility and mobility activities on the spread of COVID‐19: Evidence from European countries

Abstract: Abstract To limit the spread of COVID‐19, most countries in the world have put in place measures which restrict mobility. The co‐presence of several people in the same place of work, shopping, leisure or transport is considered a favourable vector for the transmission of the virus. However, this hypothesis remains to be verified in the light of the daily data available since the first wave of contamination. Does immobility reduce the spread of the COVID‐19 pandemic? Does mobility contribute to the increase in the number of infections for all activities? This paper applies several pooled mean group–autoregressive distributed lag (PMG–ARDL) models to investigate the impact of immobility and daily mobility activities on the spread of the COVID‐19 pandemic in European countries using daily data for the period from 12 March 2020 to 31 August 2021. The results of the PMG–ARDL models show that immobility and higher temperatures play a significant role in reducing the COVID‐19 pandemic. The increase in mobility activities (grocery, retail, use of transit) is also positively associated with the number of new COVID‐19 cases. The combined analysis with the Granger causality test shows that the relationship between mobility and COVID‐19 goes in both directions, with the exception of grocery shopping, visits to parks and commuting mobility. The former favours the spread of COVID‐19, while the next two have no causal relationship with COVID‐19. The results confirm the role of immobility in mitigating the spread of the pandemic, but call into question the drastic policies of systematically closing all places of activity.

Polluting Tanneries and Small Farmers in Kanpur, India: A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract: We focus on the interaction between a representative polluting tannery and a negatively impacted small farmer in Kanpur, India. The tannery produces leather and toxic chemical waste that ends up in wastewater used by the small farmer to irrigate agricultural land and grow vegetables. The waste generated by the tannery is functionally related to its output of leather. The small farmer faces a capacity constraint that describes the maximum amount of vegetables he can grow. In this setting, we perform three tasks. First, we determine the optimal production of leather when the tannery does not account for the negative effect it has on the small farmer. Second, on the assumption that the tannery compensates the small farmer per unit of waste it generates, we ascertain the optimal compensation amount, the optimal output of leather, and the profit levels of the tannery and the small farmer. Finally, we compare the solutions in the preceding two cases and explain what accounts for the differences between them.

Well-Being and Geography: Modelling Differences in Regional Well-Being Profiles in Case of Spatial Dependence—Evidence from Turkey

Abstract: The aim of this study is to provide a new quantitative perspective on the geography of well-being using an urban–rural typology and characteristic city size elements in order to detect where people are happier and to examine the determinants of well-being by considering spatial dependence effects. We use 81 NUTS 3 regions and the time period 2012–2019 to analyse the geography of well-being for Turkey with panel and spatial panel models. Our results show that living in an urban area, in general, makes people happy, but that density negatively affects well-being. In addition, city size matters for enhancing well-being. We also analyse the determinants of well-being by using several socio-economic well-being indicators. Next, the aspatial and spatial model results based on spatial econometric regressions show that education, health, employment, and income are all important for well-being, whereas indirect effects (spillovers) of these indicators also exist. Our results indicate that ignoring spatial effects causes a misinterpretation of the effects of critical determinants of well-being in geography.

Quantitative performance assessment of Asian stellar cities by a DEA cascade system: a capability interpretation

Abstract: Abstract Asia hosts several mega-cities with great economic power, which are often in a mutual competitive relationship. Despite smart specialisation and heterogeneity on national and global markets, they are often in pursuit of the highest possible socio-economic outcome so as to outperform their peers in this dynamic region. The present study seeks to present an operational comparative framework for judging the complex performance of several (12) large urban agglomerations in Asia. In the framework of this paper, these cities are called ‘ stellar cities ’. Two particular research challenges are addressed: (i) the development and application of a new Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, culminating—after a cascade of sequential analytical steps—in an Autoconfiguration Target Model which serves as a quantitative statistical tool for evaluating the (relative) multidimensional goal-oriented performance of the cities concerned; and (ii) a new functional interpretation of the DEA slack space for the possible improvement of inefficiently operating cities on the basis of Amartya Sen’s capability theory. In the paper, we use an extensive database on 12 Asian stellar cities, extracted from the annual Global Power City Index (GPCI) system which contains more than 60 urban performance indicators, which has been constructed by the Institute of Urban Strategies (Tokyo). We find that the performance ranking of these Asian mega-cities shows the ‘winners’, but also a high variability, with several positive and negative outliers. We conclude that there is clearly scope (‘capability’) for further improvement of the efficiency of most Asian cities in various specific policy domains, as shown by the DEA results.

Spotlight on the region analytical contributions on regional development

Abstract: Regional science has, in its great history since the 1950s, made a decisive contribution to a better scientific understanding of spatial development issues and dynamics and to a more effective implementation of knowledge-based regional policy in many countries of the world, in both developed and developing nations on our planet. This special issue of the annals of regional science, titled "Spotlight on the Region", celebrates the scholarly importance and impact of the late Roger Stough on regional science. The issue is comprised of fourteen self-standing on regional and urban development and highlights the critical importance of regional and urban dimensions in sustainable development. They confirm once more the seminal significance of the contributions of one of the great giants in regional science, Roger Stough.

Neighbourhood proximity: a microcosmic resilience perspective on cities

Abstract: In the 'urban century' cities tend to grow in number and size. We observe nowadays a world-wide interest in the socio-economic significance of cities in a global network society. The question whether cities provide an attractive and resilient homebase for people in the 'New Urban World' draws increasingly attention and calls for a thorough reflection on the essence of a city. This paper offers food for thought on the question: what makes the city a city? After an overview of arguments from the literature, we posit that cities are complex multi-layered organisms which provide a broad portfolio of services and functions to residents, visitors and the business sector. A city can be decomposed into disjoint, but geographically connected spatial units (e.g., neighbourhoods, streets), which altogether from an interactive dynamic and resilient organism. To better understand the 'raison d'etre' of cities in our urban age, we advocate a microcosmic perspective on city life, in which communities, neighbourhoods and related social-cultural proximity patterns among people or agents in a locality play a key role for urban cohesion. Common public spaces in urban districts or neighbourhoods find their origin in shared space proximity and deserve a more prominent place on the city planning agenda.