IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v18y2026i13p6712-d1981574.html

Calculation Model for the Scale of Planning Urban Rail Transit Network Based on the Lotka–Volterra Model

Author

Listed:
  • Songsong Li

    (School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Qinghuai Liang

    (School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Kuo Han

    (School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Jiaao Guo

    (School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

Abstract

There is a typical coopetition relationship between the urban rail transit (URT) network scale and the urban development (UD) level. A reasonable URT network scale is essential for promoting sustainable UD. Currently, the determination of the URT network scale for planning primarily relies on qualitative approaches such as static estimation and analogical methods, which fail to dynamically reflect the coopetition relationship between URT and UD. An improved time-varying parameter Lotka–Volterra (LV) model derived from ecological theory is employed to describe the coopetition relationship between the URT network scale and the UD level. The sliding-window least squares method is applied to estimate parameters of the model. Based on the improved LV model, the lower bound of the URT network scale is obtained by solving for the minimum network scale required to promote sustainable UD under a cooperative relationship; the upper bound of the URT network scale is obtained by solving for the maximum network scale that urban resources can support under competitive conditions. The proposed model is validated using eight Chinese cities with different UD levels. The study offers quantitative theoretical insights for determining the reasonable URT network scale for planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Songsong Li & Qinghuai Liang & Kuo Han & Jiaao Guo, 2026. "Calculation Model for the Scale of Planning Urban Rail Transit Network Based on the Lotka–Volterra Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6712-:d:1981574
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6712/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6712/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6712-:d:1981574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.