Geometric Complexity of Urban Road Networks

An urban system has a starting point when it has been founded, and from where it has spread into its current form. Previous research has suggested that no matter how an urban system has evolved, from a larger perspective it has inherent order and organization. As a result, cities are considered as complex systems consisting of many inter-related components and features. And similar to complex living organisms, they exhibit orderly characteristics that are lying beneath their physical forms. In order to better understand the complex nature of an urban system, studies have been focused on the characterization of its components. A transportation network provides a window into the complex world of its encompassing urban system, because they have followed the same path during their evolution. This work focuses on a better understanding of the complex geometric characteristics of urban road networks. It tries to develop novel methodologies to study and characterize them, which can in turn lead to a better understanding of their corresponding urban systems. Along that line, this study develops new methodologies to characterize the complex geometry of urban road networks and develops new indicators representing their unique multi-dimensional characteristics. The study also succeeds in uncovering the coupled geometric complexity of road networks and offers a novel approach towards their characterization.