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Network Density and the

Delimitation of Urban Areas
Article in Transactions in GIS March 2003
Impact Factor: 0.54 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9671.00139

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Transactions in GIS, 2003, 7(2): 177 191

Research Paper

Blackwell
Oxford,
Transactions
TGIS

1361-1682
March
0
1
2
7
00
Blackwell
2003
UK
Publishing
Publishing
in GIS LtdLtd 2003

Network
G
Borruso
Density

Network Density and the Delimitation

of Urban Areas
Giuseppe Borruso
Department of Geographical and Historical Sciences
University of Trieste

Abstract
This paper examines network analysis for urban areas. The research is focused on
the problem of definition and visualisation of network geography and network spaces
at different scales. The urban scale of analysis is examined and different spatial indices
are considered. The built environment of the city is considered as a reference
environment for a road network density index. The latter is implemented in order
to study the spatial interactions between network phenomena and spaces and to
provide further elements for the analysis of urban shape. The study is focused in
particular on understanding spatial patterns drawn by networks and in helping with
the delimitation of city centres. Different approaches are used to obtain the two
indices: a grid-based analysis and a spatial density estimator based on Kernel Density
Estimation. The two methodologies are analysed and compared using point data for
the urban road network junctions and street numbers as house location identifiers
in the Trieste (Italy) Municipality area. The density analysis is also used on road
network junctions data for the city of Swindon (UK) in order to test the methodology
on a different urban area.

1 Network Geography and the Geography of Networks

It is extremely difficult to provide a unique definition of network geography. Different
topologies, users, kinds, spatial distributions, services provided and representation scales
exist for different networks, together with different kinds of relations that a network
displays when realised in a geographical space. A network consists of a well-defined
geometric structure, in which relations and interactions between its basic elements are
set. Nodes and segments (or points and lines) are the basic elements that build and
characterise it. Segments (or lines) are the means by which nodes are related and linked.
Address for correspondence: Giuseppe Borruso, Department of Geographical and Historical Sciences,
University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1-34127 Trieste, Italy.
E-mail: giuseppe.borruso@econ.univ.trieste.it
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and
350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA.

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Transport and communication networks directly affect human actions from the socioeconomic point of view, contribute to the setting of spatial interaction phenomena and
play a major role in the localisation process. Networks are considered in a framework
of functional relations shaping the pattern of territory. Every localisation process involves
the idea of movement of people and goods over space. This is also a consequence of the
specialisation of different regions in the space. Such a process of specialisation creates a
reduction in the probability of two (or more) regions being similar in terms of settlement
and production patterns.
The case for habits and consumption of individuals, which contributes to the development of inter-regional interactions, is different. There is the need for the movement of
goods across space. The pattern drawn by flows of goods entering and exiting the
involved regions describes the quality and potentials of infrastructures and contributes
in explaining the relations between the production and consumption places (Capineri
1996).
In the present study the focus is mainly on the communication networks as instruments of spatial interaction and organisation. Transport networks show the patterns
of spatial interaction phenomena at regional and local levels. Variations in density of
transport networks at the local level are an integral part of central-place theory. The
proportion of space occupied by transport channels increases as centres of activity are
approached, and the proportion of space occupied by roads decreases with increasing
distance from the CBD (Haggett and Chorley 1969).

2 Networks and Urban Boundaries

We can define different levels of analysis as, for example, the case of an urban network. If we consider the urban level of analysis it is possible to visualise other different
network phenomena, so considering the interactions they generate and therefore the
spaces taking shape from such relations. There are different kinds of networks to be
analysed and different levels as well. The physical networks are without doubt among
the most important ones. These can include the road network and utility networks,
such as energy, water supply, sewage systems, telecommunications, etc. It is also possible to visualise some non-material networks, which remind the set of relations that
can be set between different points or nodes composing the network. These can be
connections as well as commercial, industrial, cultural, occupational agreements or
links among the locations considered. There can be particular proximity and affinity
relations among two locations, maybe distant from each other on the geographic space.
Within a single city such non-material networks can be set among cultural or educational places or nodes, as for instance the different sites of a university or links between
museums.
In order to introduce the first of the spatial indices considered it is useful to revise
some issues related to the urban shape and its definition. The definition of the urban
shape is not a trivial matter and this is particularly true for the definition of the urban
centre. Researchers such as Burgess, Hoyt, Ullman and Harris have studied the problem
of the definition of the spatial form of the city and hypothesised the existence of the
CBD and other functional areas (or sectors) surrounding the city centre (Taafe et al.
1996). An important factor for our analysis is the mutual dependency between the
spatial form of cities and the urban transport network. The built environment of a city
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and the transport networks are in fact closely related. Transport network development
both influences and is influenced by the development of the (urban) built environment.
Lynch (1960) pointed out the different images of a city that individual perceptions
can produce. The identification of elements and features in the city itself, like nodes,
landmarks, edges, is strongly dependent on the experiences of individuals or group of
individuals. As a consequence, the perceived shape and boundary of a city change
according to personal experiences.
It is therefore difficult to define consistent boundaries of a city as a whole and other
types of boundaries within the same cities. Such boundaries can be in fact related to
different and non-comparable concepts and separations. A possible diversification can
for instance involve areas such as the CBD, commercial and residential areas. In other
cases cultural or administrative areas can be perceived but not easily delimited.
Two different kinds of problem arise. On the one hand there is the problem of the
correct definition of the shape of a city, that considering the separation between urban
and not urban areas. On the other hand some areas inside the urban environment need
to be defined. The city centre is considered as the most important one in the present
research. Cities are usually defined using administrative boundaries or census enumeration districts and data available are usually referenced to such area features. Such official
boundaries are usually the unique homogeneous sources of city shape information. The
limits of this kind of representation are well known and cause problems in the correct
interpretation and analysis of the (urban) phenomena under examination. The cartographic result depends not only on the phenomenon under investigation but also on the
pattern of the zones used in the collection of data, their shape and areas (Unwin 1981,
Dykes and Unwin 1999). Different methods have been proposed to avoid such arearelated problems such as dasymetric mapping (Langford and Unwin 1994), using satellite remote sensing to find the built urban land cover. Similarly, Mesev and Longley
(2000) propose the use of classified imagery as a data source for advanced urban spatial
analysis. Point data can also present useful sources for information retrieval for urban
area analysis as demonstrated by Gatrell (1994) and by Thurstain-Goodwin and Unwin
(2000). In both cases a set of discrete points, represented by the unit postcode, is used to
derive the shape of the built environment of the city and to create a continuous surface
of spatial density. Both research works use kernel density estimation (KDE) methods to
derive contour lines on this surface. Gatrell (1994) used postcodes as a starting point for
population density estimation, while Thurstain-Goodwin and Unwin (2000) considered
postcodes and related socio-economic data for the definition of urban centres.

3 Density Indices for Urban Studies

In this study network density is used to enable definition of city centre boundaries using
point data for the junctions of the urban road network of Trieste. This dataset is used
to approximate the spatial distribution of the road network. The density analysis is
meant to highlight the presence of peaks in the distribution and to see where it is
possible to link them to the centres of urban settlements.
Second, an alternative density index was constructed using point data for addresses
for the Trieste Municipality area in Italy (Figure 1). This index was used essentially to
compare the results obtained using the network density analysis and allowed a raw
estimate of the shape of the urban built environment.
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Figure 1 Trieste Municipality in North Eastern Italy

Two different methods were used to derive estimates of the spatial density. First,
a grid-based index was implemented to assess the network density in the urban area
of Trieste. This was easy to compute but affected by different levels of arbitrariness
depending on the chosen grid cell size, position and orientation. The results were then
compared to the spatial distribution of the built environment in the Trieste Municipality
area. The second method used the quadratic kernel density estimation (KDE) to obtain
smooth continuous surfaces from the same sets of point features. This provides a more
consistent analysis that overcomes the limitations of the grid-based method. In the KDE
analysis the sole source of arbitrariness is given by the choice of the bandwidth used to
sample the point dataset.
The analysis was carried out on different sub-networks derived from the graph
representing the complete urban road network of Trieste and allowed the display of
different patterns of spatial interaction. The analysis was first carried out on the complete
urban road network and successively on the main urban road network allowed for private
car traffic (therefore not considering pedestrian and secondary streets and also dedicated
lanes) and on the main access roads to the city centre (i.e. State roads and motorways).
Figure 2 displays the full set of point data for junctions and the urban road network. It
consists of 1,513 nodes derived from the complete road network of the city of Trieste area.
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Figure 2 Point data for junctions and urban road network

Italian addresses are based on street numbers. Street number-based addresses allow
a precise location of houses or sets of apartments. Figure 3 shows the distribution of
the street numbers in Trieste Municipality. The limits of such an approach are known
and can be related to the use of unit postcodes in other national systems. Different street
numbers can in fact represent different population densities in different areas: a street
number in a small village can identify a household, while in the city centre it can
represent an entire block of many apartments. Secondly, not all of the street numbers
are used as habitations and thirdly different street numbers occupy different portions of
space. In the present case however the street number density provides us with a physical
index of the urban built environments extension and density. The second dataset was
used to compare the results obtained from the analysis on road networks junctions. A
set of 29,053 counts for the street numbers is used.

3.1 Grid Density Estimation

Following Borcherts (1961) study of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the grid square was used to
count the road junctions in order to provide an index of road network density. Instead
of measuring road density by length of road per unit, Borchert counted all the road
junctions on the map and discovered a high correlation between the road network
length and the road-junction density. He also found that network density decreased
when moving out from the city centre. Jones (1978) justified the use of junctions to
analyse networks. His studies on stream networks confirm the possibility of studying
linear network phenomena through the analysis of the junctions between lines. Jones
(1978) also considered the possibility of using midpoints of lines for spatial network
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Figure 3 Point data for street numbers

analysis. A linear pattern can therefore be converted into a point pattern and more easily
examined. A fine grid mesh of 100 m on side was used to sample the urban road
network of Trieste and to compute a network spatial analysis.
The use of a grid square network has been used and/or suggested in many research
works (e.g. Matti 1972, Holm 1997). The uniform size of such small network units
enables a quick co-ordination of the grid units and is ideal for statistical computation
and for providing density values without further transformation. As usual in this type
of analysis, the choice of the grid is arbitrary. The results obtained depend on the size
of the grid cell used, the orientation of the grid mesh and on the offset. A variation in
these variables can in fact produce different results in terms of spatial patterns resulting
from the density analysis. The grid contained 8,955 square cells measuring 100 m on a
side and was superimposed on a map representing the Municipality of Trieste and its
urban road network, composed of nodes of junctions and arcs connecting these nodes.
Figure 4 shows the results. There is a range in junction density from 1 to 6 per cell,
that corresponding to a range spanning from 1 to 6 junctions per hectare. Null value
cells are not represented. Grey tones are used with the darker tones clustered in the real
urban city centre of Trieste. Darker cells also highlight the small satellite centres around
Trieste, distributed following a Northwest / Southeast orientation. A side effect of the
choice of the grid square cells is the presence of both denser and less dense cells in
areas that are expected to be homogenous, such as in the city centre, where the junctions
form a Manhattan network. In order to limit the arbitrariness in the grid-based
representation, higher values of junction density where grouped. The distribution was
therefore grouped in three classes, corresponding respectively to 1, 2 and 3 to 6 junctions per hectare.
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Figure 4 Trieste municipality urban road network grid density

The map confirms the expectations of decreasing network density when moving out
from the city centre. The city centre itself is identified by higher values of grid density.
Plate 1 (see plate section) shows the shape of the city of Trieste and surrounding villages
using the same grid but counting instead the street numbers. Isarithm lines using a
100 m contour interval are also portrayed. The City of Trieste is located under the
100 m contour line. The villages surrounding the City of Trieste lay on a plateau above
the 200 and 300 m isarithm lines and are identified by clusters of street numbers. Cells
are assigned darker tones according to the higher density values represented.
The results from both network grid density and house numbers density are compared. Denser cells for both indexes are located in the core of the inhabited area. This
is particularly visible in the peripheral satellite villages and in the core of the City of
Trieste. In the southern and southeastern areas of the city density cells seem to be spread
over the land without following a well-defined pattern. For both indices causes can be
found in the nature of settlements in the southern part of Trieste that also influence the
pattern drawn by the road network. Major industrial and harbour-related facilities have
been developed in this part of the city over the years and these structures are now
interspersed with sparse houses and villages that were once not a part of the urban
settlement of Trieste. The accessibility of the industrial areas increased by means of
motorway trunks and state roads connecting them to the urban area and to the national
motorway system justifying the fuzziness in the junctions distribution.
Better results are possible after selecting only denser street number cells (values 7
street numbers per hectare) as shown in Plate 2. Clusters of built areas are more evident
and they generally match with clusters in the network distribution. The comparison of
the maps shown in Figure 4 and Plate 2 highlights the effect of the presence of junctions not related to town centredness (i.e. motorways) and also the presence of another
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Figure 5 Difference map: Junctions > 2/ha and Street numbers > 7/ha

satellite centre in the southern part of the City of Trieste. The results are also evident in
the difference map shown in Figure 5.

3.2 Kernel Density Estimation (KDE)

KDE avoids problems related to the arbitrary choice of the grid superimposed onto the
road network junctions. The kernel consists of moving three dimensional functions that
weights events within its sphere of influence according to their distance from the point
at which the intensity is being estimated (Gatrell et al. 1996). The general form of a
kernel estimator is:
n

1(s) =

s si

2 k
i=1

(1)

where 1(s) is the estimate of the intensity of the spatial point pattern measured at
location s, si the observed ith event, k( ) represents the kernel weighting function and
is the bandwidth.
For two-dimensional data the estimate of the intensity is given by:
d2
3
1(s) = 2 1 2i

d
n

(2)

where di is the distance between the location s and the observed event point si. The kernel
3
values therefore span from
at the location s to zero at distance (Gatrell et al. 1996).
2
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Figure 6 Trieste municipality main urban road network and KDE on urban road network
(500 m bandwidth)

It presents considerable advantages in studying point patterns if compared with

other techniques, as for instance the simple observation of the point pattern and the
quadrat count analysis. The intensity of a point pattern can be estimated and represented by means of a smoothed three-dimensional continuous surface on the study
region. It is therefore possible to highlight the presence of clusters or regularity in the
distribution (first order properties). The only arbitrary variable in the KDE is represented by the bandwidth (Gatrell et al. 1996). Different bandwidths produce different
patterns. Using a wider bandwidth produces smoothing of the spatial variation of the
phenomenon. On the contrary, a narrow bandwidth highlights more peaks in the distribution. Different bandwidths were tested on the junction dataset. It was observed
that bandwidths lower than 250 m produced spiky representations of the phenomenon,
providing, in extreme cases, not much more information on the distribution than the
simple observation of the point distribution. On the other hand, bandwidth values
higher than 500 m caused an excessive dilution of the spatial pattern.
Figure 6 shows the results from using the quadratic KDE with a 500 m bandwidth
on the full point dataset for road network junctions, visualised using cell junctions with
25 m spacing.
This estimator allows a more precise visualisation of the resulting network spatial
pattern than that given by the simple grid density analysis. The centre of Trieste is
highlighted as the darker area, while lighter spots identify the satellite villages on the
surrounding plateau. There is also a less clearly defined area in the South of the city,
corresponding to the industrial area and the harbour as observed in the grid analysis.
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As reported by Gatrell et al. (1996) the kernel is sensitive to the choice of the
bandwidth. A smaller bandwidth of 250 m was also tested. As expected, the resulting
surface presents several peaks and seems more suitable to highlight local interaction
phenomena (Plate 3).
Local network effects are particularly visible in the city centre of Trieste and in the
villages. Clusters of intersections are evident in different zones of the urban centre thus
drawing the shapes of towns and villages centres and highlighting areas like parks,
green areas or, more generally, non-built spaces.
The different bandwidths seem to affect positively the analysis of small centres, as
it is possible to highlight patterns comparable to those found for the urban area of
Trieste. Such a result is possible even though different absolute values of network density can be derived. It is therefore possible to reduce dramatically scale effects in this
kind of analysis. On the one hand, different size settlements can be evaluated using the
same procedure and therefore homogeneous results can be obtained. On the other hand,
regional and inter-regional effects can also be evaluated by reducing the scale and considering larger areas. Network density maps can be adapted to explore scale effects by
using varying bandwidths. A simple quadratic KDE was used on both the datasets in
this initial study for a network spatial analysis of urban shape. Techniques considering
adaptive bandwidths and edge-effect corrections, as suggested by some authors (e.g.
Silverman 1986, Bracken 1994) were not considered at this stage.
The kernel density estimator was also used on the street numbers distribution. As
shown in Plate 4, it provides better visual results of the overall distribution of the built
environment presenting more distinct peaks. The kernel used had a 500 m bandwidth
and the visualisation utilized cells with a 50 m spacing. The same 500 m KDE was
performed in order to retain a homogeneous environment for comparing the indices that
were previously generated for on the two datasets.
Peaks are visible and overall the pattern is quite similar to that derived from the
grid density analysis. This index of network density can be used to provide general
information on urban shape and to justify the decreasing density of denser cells moving
out from the city centre. For certain areas of the city and villages considered (Trieste
and satellites villages) we can see a relation between the darker areas and the urban
centre. The index is less significant for some other areas of urban centres where junction
density is not well defined. In such cases high index values display the presence of several
road network links and trunks rather than a more defined urban shape. Spatial patterns
of junctions are different for different kinds of settlements. Linear settlements in particular are difficult to detect using density analysis on junctions.
Interesting results arise after contouring the two density surfaces obtained and
selecting a defined set of contour lines. These represent respectively the network density
contour line delimiting 83.74% of the set of junctions (1,267/1,513 counts) and the street
number density contour line delimiting 89.16% of the set of street numbers (25,904/29,053
counts). There is a good match of the two contour lines and it is possible to highlight
areas or sub areas of both perfect matching and others where road effects intervene
and the network density is less coupled with the notion of town centredness (Figure 7).

3.3 Kernel Density Analysis on Sub-networks

Subsets of the urban road network were then used in order to study the sole effect of
certain roads on the network distribution.
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Figure 7 Index comparison: Selected contours for network and built environment density

In the first example only the intersections belonging to the main access roads to the
City of Trieste were selected and a KDE analysis was carried out. Plate 5 shows the
results.
As expected, the pattern follows the orientation and position of the main accesses.
It is, however, worth noting that this particular analysis helps the explanation of the
fuzziness in the junction distribution in the southern part of Trieste. There is a clustering
along the southern accesses, confirming the dominance of the main accesses (motorway
trunks and state roads) on the general pattern as derived from the estimates using the
entire network.
Peaks are highlighted in this subset of the original road network. The darker areas
therefore represent areas where main access routes converge and in most of these cases
they can be overlaid on a settlements centre. It is possible to consider the different
subsets and the original road network as different network ranks. Shaded areas exist
where a main access route intersects other secondary streets that are not considered. As
the junctions between the main access routes and the complete original network are
considered, it is possible to visualise areas where the main access routes enter the city
centre area, and therefore highlight the connection between the different network ranks.
An interesting consequence of this second analysis is the evidence of the road effects
on the junction distribution. As high values of the index can both represent an urban
centres boundaries and a clustering of junctions derived from the presence of motorways,
this latter effect can be highlighted and its effect removed from the original analysis.
A further example shown in Plate 6 is focused on the network density calculated
over the urban road network of the city of Trieste using only the junctions falling on the
main urban network where private traffic flows. As in the previous studies a 500 m bandwidth
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was used. The analysis is relevant in particular for the Trieste urban area, as the network
connecting the other villages is a simplified one containing only main access roads.
By comparing Plate 6 with Figure 6 and Plate 5 it is possible to highlight different
cores of city centredness. The resulting shape is therefore a direct consequence of planning policies of traffic management and of the major importance of certain roads among
the entire network. The traffic core can be noticed. Its orientation in particular is
different from the original core derived from junctions belonging to the entire network.
The KDE at this stage also delineates access areas to the core areas of the city from the
major access roads.
From this latter analysis some considerations can be derived. It represents a further
step in this kind of network analysis as some qualitative information on the network is
considered. The analysis is not limited to the physical road network, which is relatively
static, but can be extended to the different network subsets reflecting different aspects
of network-related phenomena. Different core areas and different shapes in the spatial
patterns drawn by networks can be derived from different uses and from the different
subsets of the same network. One example was seen above when considering private
traffic accessible roads. Bus and pedestrian networks could also be considered in order
to draw different network density maps related to public transport and people movement possibilities in an urban environment.

3.4 An Extension of the Analysis: The Case of Swindon

KDE analysis on network data was also tested on point datasets for junctions for the
city of Swindon in order to compare the results obtained for the two cities. The point data
for junctions in Swindon were extracted from an OSCAR dataset (Ordnance Survey).
The results are shown in Figure 8.
The density analysis was performed used a 500 m bandwidth in order to obtain
results comparable with those for Trieste. Higher density values are visible in the city
centre where streets and roads draw a denser network. This represents the core of the
city in terms of the network spatial distribution. Other high values can be seen in the
residential areas outside the city centre and particularly in the western part of the city.
The effect of junctions between the urban road network and major access roads are also
visible, particularly in the vicinity of the roundabouts in the southeastern and southwestern parts of the city.
Several observations arise from the application of the KDE methodology to a UK
city. The analysis highlights peaks in network density in the central part of the city as
expected and allows estimating the city centre shape. Residential areas in UK cities
present quite typical patterns organized around hierarchical road networks presenting
more regularity if compared to some Italian settlements, and characterised by high levels
of matching between urban land use and road network patterns. Residential areas in
Italy are less linked to urban road network structure and the arcs connecting private
houses to the main network are often private ones and therefore not considered as
belonging to the road network. In the Swindon case it is therefore easier to highlight the
strong relation between urban land use and the road network pattern. The same can be
said with respect to the road network structure when considering high-density values
corresponding to roundabouts and junctions between urban road networks and the
motorway system. In the Trieste case roundabouts are often generalised using a single
node connecting more arcs, rather than a cluster of nodes as in the Swindon case.
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Figure 8 Swindon urban road network and KDE (500 m bandwidth): Junctions derived from
OSCAR data (Ordnance Survey )

4 Conclusions
This paper has examined the issues related to the visualisation and analysis of network
phenomena at the local urban scale. This is a particular case of a broader analysis of
networks at different scales or levels of analysis. The focus was on the investigation of
network effects at the local level and possible links with other levels of analysis. The
examination of networks should consider both networks as a set of spatial phenomena
and the other spatial objects that are linked and influenced by the presence of the
network. In the present stage of the research purely physical elements were considered, as
the road network as the main locus of the analysis and the street numbers as the source
for comparative indices of urban boundaries and the definition of the urban centre.
A network density index was derived and used to explore different dynamics taking
place in the urban environment at different network levels. The index was derived
following two different methodologies. First, a grid-based density was considered and
plotted, and a more refined analysis was then performed that relied on Kernel Density
Estimation (KDE).
The results obtained are quite similar at certain scales of representation and analysis. The grid-based method allows the visualisation of different phenomena using the cell
as a homogeneous means of representation and allows an easy comparison between
different phenomena. The KDE is a more refined technique and allows a better visualisation of the phenomena under examination that is less dependent on size, position and
orientation of the grid chosen. This kind of estimator allows the scale of the analysis to
vary with the dimension of the phenomenon under examination. It is in fact possible to
study different spatial phenomena, as medium-sized cities (Trieste in this particular case)
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and small sized ones (villages or other cities) by simply changing a kernels bandwidth and
choosing the appropriate classes of surface representation. Similarly, different analyses
are possible by using different networks. The index derived using the urban road density
on the network considered as a whole gave good results for town centredness analyses.
Such an index was also compared with an ancillary index of the urban built environment derived from street numbers density. Other networks subsets like the urban road
network for private traffic highlighted the true shape of the drivers city while the
analysis of main access roads can help in the retrieval of point/areas of access to town
centres. By choosing different subsets of a road network, it is possible to highlight different cores in the city and therefore the density analysis can help in the examination of
urban areas from the different network users perspectives and in deriving network spaces.
When considering other cities it is possible to confirm the results obtained in terms
of city centre shape and a general correspondence between inhabited areas and high
network density values. The results however depend partly on the original data used and
partly on the planning policies in the different countries and on the characteristics of
housing. Road network datasets do not always contain information on network arcs
connecting private houses to the road network, thus weakening the general hypothesis
of high network values corresponding to inhabited areas.
Several other limitations in the methodology that was adopted can also be noted.
These are related to the strictly physical nature of the original network on which the
analysis was carried out. The full physical street and road network of a city is in fact
unlikely to change considerably in the short term and therefore only results limited to
the existing network can be derived. Some additional qualitative information was however introduced when subsets of the original networks were considered, these reflecting
more realistic situations such as the drivers network. This approach highlighted variations in the boundaries of the city centres and also the existence of different core areas
of the city depending on the different characteristics of the networks considered. No
information can be derived on other more complex spatial phenomena that characterise
the city itself. The true extension of areas like the CBD and residential and industrial
zones cannot in fact be derived from the sole distribution of networks junctions.
Finally, the density analysis on junctions does not allow solutions in highlighting
core areas in inhabited centres, usually small ones, which are located along a road trunk
as is the case of some centres surrounding the Trieste urban area. Further development
of this kind of research will therefore consider such aspects.

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