arXiv subjects

Ignacio Morer

Publications and source records attributed to Ignacio Morer.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Infrastructures connecting people. A mechanistic model for terrestrial transportation networks

The structure and evolution of Terrestrial Transportation Infrastructures (TTIs) are shaped by both socio-political and geographical factors, hence encoding crucial information about how resources and power are distributed through a territory. Therefore, analysing pathway, railway or road networks allows us to gain a better understanding of the political and social organization of the communities that created and maintained them. Network science can provide extremely useful tools to address quantitatively this issue. Here, focusing on passengers transport, we propose a methodology for mapping a TTI into a formal network object able to capture both the spatial distribution of the population and the connections provided by the considered mean of transport. Secondly, we present a simple mechanistic model that implements a wide spectrum of decision-making mechanisms which could have driven the creation of links (connections). Thus, by adjusting few parameters, for any empirical system, it is possible to generate a synthetic counterpart such that their differences are minimized. By means of such inverse engineering approach, we are able to shed some light on the processes and forces that moulded transportation infrastructures into their current configuration, without having to rely on any additional information besides the topology of the network and the distribution of the population. An illustrative example is also provided to showcase the applications of the proposed methodology and discuss how our conclusions fit with previously acquired knowledge (and literature) on the topic.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Comparing spatial networks: A 'one size fits all' efficiency-driven approach

Spatial networks are a powerful framework for studying a large variety of systems belonging to a broad diversity of contexts: from transportation to biology, from epidemiology to communications, and migrations, to cite a few. Spatial networks can be described in terms of their total cost (i.e. the total amount of resources needed for building or traveling their connections). Here, we address the issue of how to gauge and compare the quality of spatial network designs (i.e. efficiency vs. total cost) by proposing a two-step methodology. Firstly, we assess the network's design by introducing a quality function based on the concept of network's efficiency. Second, we propose an algorithm to estimate computationally the upper bound of our quality function for a given network. Complementarily, we provide a universal expression to obtain an approximated upper bound to any spatial network, regardless of its size. Smaller differences between the upper bound and the empirical value correspond to better designs. Finally, we test the applicability of this analytic tool-set on spatial network data-sets of different nature.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2019

Modelling terrestrial route networks to understand inter-polity interactions (southern Etruria, 950-500 BC)

Ancient regional routes were vital for interactions between settlements and deeply influenced the development of past societies and their "complexification". At the same time, since any transportation infrastructure needs some level of inter-settlement cooperation to be established, they can also be regarded as an epiphenomenon of social interactions at the regional scale. Here, we propose to analyze ancient pathway networks to understand the organization of cities and villages located in a certain territory, attempting to clarify whether such organization existed and if so, how it functioned. To address such a question, we chose a quantitative approach. Adopting network science as a general framework, by means of formal models, we try to identify how the collective effort that produced the terrestrial infrastructure was directed and organized. We selected a paradigmatic case study: Iron Age southern Etruria, a very well-studied context, with detailed archaeological information about settlement patterns and an established tradition of studies on terrestrial transportation routes, perfectly suitable for testing new techniques. The results of the modelling suggest that a balanced coordinated decision-making process was shaping the route network in Etruria, a scenario which correlates well with the picture elaborated by different scholars using a more traditional technique.

physics.soc-ph↗