A spatial analysis of overlapping urban influence and urban-rural integration: Exploring urban interconnectedness through Multi-Tier City-Regions

The rapid pace of urbanization underscores the need for stakeholders in sustainable development to view cities and their surrounding regions as interconnected systems rather than isolated entities. The recently developed Multi-Tier City-Region (MTCR) approach helps bridge this gap by introducing the concept of locations linked to multiple urban centres for different types of activities. This framework accounts not only for the connections between urban centres and their surroundings, but also for the relationships among urban centres themselves in providing diverse services. By using the framework, ITC and FAO created a global open MTCR dataset and to enable complex analyses based on it, developed the City-Region Explorer - an online geospatial data analytics platform that allows policymakers and researchers to systematically explore and interpret multi-tier urban connections.

This research proposes an in-depth spatial analysis of the MTCR dataset to explore overlapping spheres of urban influence using travel-time-based accessibility measures and settlement hierarchies. By integrating additional social, economic, and environmental spatial datasets, the study aims to uncover patterns of spatial organization, infrastructure efficiency, economic integration, environmental pressure, and service provision along the urban-rural continuum. The research aims to demonstrate how a systems-oriented, data-driven understanding of multi-tier city-regions can support more coherent territorial development strategies, aligning with the New Urban Agenda and contributing to the achievement of urban-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).