Identifying Polycentric Urban Structure Using the Minimum Cycle Basis of Road Network as Building Blocks

Area of Science:

• Network Science
• Graph Theory
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Minimum cycle basis (MCB) provides fundamental building blocks for graph cycle structures.
• MCBs are applied in electrical networks, structural engineering, and chemical processes.
• Understanding urban road network topology is crucial for infrastructure analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• Analyze topological features, node centrality, and robustness of urban road networks.
• Investigate the role of cycles in network structure and resilience.
• Explore cycle-based dual networks for urban road systems.

Main Methods:

• Minimum cycle bases (MCB) methodology.
• Motif analysis.
• Cycle contribution rate for node centrality.
• Construction of cycle-based dual networks.

Main Results:

• Urban road networks show higher motif frequencies with cycles than random networks.
• Minimum cycle lengths and surface areas follow a power-law distribution.
• Cycle contribution rate impacts network robustness.
• Cycle-based dual networks exhibit small-world and scale-free properties.

Conclusions:

• Urban road networks possess distinct cyclic characteristics influencing their structure and resilience.
• The findings provide a theoretical basis for transportation network modeling and infrastructure optimization.
• Cycle-based dual networks offer novel perspectives on urban road network analysis.