Road network characterization to understand city evolution

International audienceCities combine different kind of processes that drive their evolution. It is of a great interest to understand the effects of different kinds of spatial patterns on those processes, to be able to minimize space consumption and optimize mobility and transportation.In this research, we aim to contribute to the understanding of city evolution by a focus on the road network of the Eastern French city of Dijon’s. Firstly, we select three network indicators that can be used to characterize the city structure as it grows. We apply these indicators to Dijon’s historical road networks from 1650 until 2019. Finally, we discuss how we can use computational simulations of city growth with these indicators to explore the parameters leading different evolution processes. Prospectively, we aim to quantify the difference between the trajectories of these indicators, for different cities, through time.For future research we intend to combine the analysis of actual data with simulated city growth models using the model from Courtat et al. (2011) as implemented by Graftiaux (2021). Comparing the evolution of real road network and simulations will help us identify patterns that provide more insight in the different processes driving cities evolution.